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Weight Loss
14 Reasons Causes of Obesity
Obesity, however, has
many causes. The reasons for the imbalance between calorie
intake and consumption vary by individual. Your age, sex, and
genes, psychological makeup, and environmental factors all may
contribute.
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Genes :
Obesity tends to run in families. This is
caused both by genes and by shared diet and lifestyle habits.
Having obese relatives does not guarantee that you will be
obese.
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Emotions : Some people overeat because of depression,
hopelessness, anger, boredom, and many other reasons that have
nothing to do with hunger. This doesn't mean that overweight and
obese people have more emotional problems than other people. It
just means that their feelings influence their eating habits,
causing them to overeat. In some unusual cases, obesity may be
used as a defense mechanism because of the perceived social
pressures related to being more physically desirable,
particularly in young girls. In these cases, as with the other
emotional causes, psychological intervention may be helpful.
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Environmental factors : The most important
environmental factor is lifestyle. Your eating habits and
activity level are partly learned from the people around you.
Overeating and sedentary habits (inactivity) are the most
important risk factors for obesity.
-
Sex :
Men have more muscle than women, on average.
Because muscle burns more calories than other types of tissue,
men use more calories than women, even at rest. Thus, women are
more likely than men to gain weight with the same calorie
intake.
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Age : People tend to lose muscle and gain fat as they
age. Their metabolism also slows somewhat. Both of these lower
their calorie requirements.
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Pregnancy :
Women tend to weigh an average of 4-6
pounds more after a pregnancy than they did before the
pregnancy. This can compound with each pregnancy. This weight
gain may contribute to obesity in women.
Certain medical
conditions and medications can cause or promote obesity,
although these are much less common causes of obesity than
overeating and inactivity. Some examples of these are as
follows:
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Hypothyroidism
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Cushing syndrome
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Depression
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Certain medications (examples are steroids, antidepressants,
birth control pills)
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Prader-Willi syndrome
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Polycystic ovarian syndrome
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"Glands" (hormonal problems)
are rarely the cause of obesity.
-
Obesity can be associated with other
eating disorders, such as binge eating
or bulimia.
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