Why am I putting on weight? Causes for obesity

“OMG! My weight is increasing!” this is the commonest statement that one hears after ladies step onto a weighing scale. Not only ladies, but males today have also become conscious about putting on weight. You always feel happy and confident about yourself when you look presentable in the crowd. Who does not want to be “the life of the party”!

Obesity or weight gain has become a major subject of concern these days in everyone’s life. When you visit the doctor, the first thing you often do is weighing yourself. There are different people of various races, constitutions, lifestyles and eating habits, but they may have the same question, why am I putting on weight?

Weight gain or obesity is generally caused by eating more and doing less physical activity. There are many causes for obesity which may be responsible for you piling on the kilos despite your efforts. Following are the causes for obesity:

General causes of obesity:

• Physical inactivity – Sedentary lifestyles always make one lazy. The surroundings where you live also matters a lot. Individuals living in an isolated area where there is no access to parks, recreational activities. People who spend most of the time in their offices. Children who are lazy and spend most of the time at home watching TV for hours. All these people are at a greater risk of obesity.
• Genetics and family history – A family history of obesity plays a major role in carrying the same genetic predisposition over to the next generation. In such a case, you are born with the tendency to gain weight.
• Overeating – Overeating or binge eating (Many times due to emotional factors like anger, sadness and depression) may result in unusual weight gain. Many people cannot quantify their appetites due to which they land up eating more than what is required. Having large portion of junk food frequently, large portions of fatty food without any physical activity makes one prone to gain weight.
• Age – As age advances you tend to decrease your physical activity. In addition to the hormonal changes that occur, the amount of muscle in our body tends to reduce as we age. This lower muscle mass means a lower metabolism and a lesser calorie requirement. These factors in total lead to weight gain if one doesn’t watch what one eats.
• Hypothyroidism – Lack of thyroid hormone depresses the metabolism leading to slow digestion, poor appetite and subsequent weight gain.
• Polycysytic ovarian disease – High levels of androgens are responsible to cause weight gain in females having PCOS.
• Cushing’s syndrome – The adrenal glands in the body secrete increased quantities of the hormone called cortisol due to which individuals develop upper body obesity predominantly.
• Medications – Steroids, antidepressants, anti- seizure medications slow down the metabolism. You may develop water retention as the medicines hold water in the body. This is one of the significant causes of obesity which you may be unaware of.
• Smoking and alcohol withdrawal – People who drastically quit smoking are prone to gain their weight due to excess calorie requirement of the body in addition to slow calorie depletion.
• Lack of sleep – Research shows that inadequate sleep or a lack of sleep is a risk factor for obesity.

Medical causes of obesity:

Obesity may further become an invitation for other diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart diseases. A triad of a well planned routine, healthy diet and exercise will keep you away from getting into these unhealthy habits. Hence, if your are having any of these factors in your daily schedule, it is a high time to realize and do something positive. So, get on your toes and start working, rather – START JOGGING!

While diet and lifestyle changes are a must, your weight gain may be helped by homeopathy if there are reasons like an underactive thyroid involved. Write back to us in the form below if you would like to know how homeopathy can help you with your weight gain. You can also talk to one of Dr Rajesh Shah’s associate doctors at Lifeforce Homeopathy by writing in at info@lifeforce.in or calling at +91-22-66888888.

– Dr Kanchan, Associate Doctor to Dr Rajesh Shah, LifeForce Team