THE BATTLE WITH OBESITY

I have yet to meet an overweight person who is happy being overweight.  No one wants to be “fat”. Many overweight people feel they deserve to eat anything they want despite the fact that they may gain more weight.  After all, many people have the occasional ice cream or chocolate treat; yet, we know it is not just an occasional treat for the overweight person.  Most people who are overweight are overweight because the quantity of calories they consume each day is too much given the number of calories they burn.  We live in a world where most people get from point “A” to point “B” without expending much energy; despite the number of gyms at our disposal, our level of activity has been decreasing each year; and fast-food is so much more readily accessible and cheaper than healthy foods, all of which contributes to increasing adult obesity in our society.

It is not just about the quantity of food that is being consumed.  We have to examine the emotional state of the person consuming the food and most overweight people are battling some emotional issues, whether it’s clinical or sub-clinical. You have all heard a story where an overweight person was asked why are you overweight – and they responded: “I don’t know, I hardly eat that much.  I don’t understand why I gained weight and now why I can’t lose the excess weight”.  That is called “living in De-Nial”; they do understand why they struggle with their weight and it’s because they eat too much.  This may be a conscious decision or in some rare cases, unconscious (they grab a bite here or there and lose track of how many calories they have consumed during the day). Often, it’s not a lack of knowledge, rather many feel powerless to resist the temptation of food and having failed so many times, they just give up and give in, only to feel ashamed later.  The vicious cycle begins because in order to suppress the negative feelings, they seek solace in food and shovel more food into their mouth and pretty soon their weight is out of control and added to their frustration, they now have to deal with the medical consequences of obesity.

SOURCE OF IMAGE: SHDR