Knowing and understanding the basic causes of obesity will help you to lose weight as this will enables you the determine the focus of your weight loss plan.

There are several and often very complicated factors that are blamed as the causes of obesity. But the focus here are on a few basic causes of obesity. By attending to these you can significantly contribute to your weight loss effort.

The most common reasons for obesity are:

Our modern environment

Our modern world is focused an easy way of life and fast food outlets are easily available. You don’t even have to leave your house, just order and it will be delivered! This causes many people to eat too many foods high in fat, sugar, and salt. We eat what we see advertised on the television.

Eating habits and lifestyle

Unhealthy eating habits like eating lots of fast food combined with an inactive lifestyle is a sure way of gaining weight.

Emotional causes

Some people use food as an emotional outlet to relieve psychological stress. This included eating when stressed, depressed, emotional or bored. Being hungry has nothing to do with this.

Physical inactivity

The modern world contributes to physical inactivity, things like remote controls, escalators, drive through businesses and efficient public transport causes people to get less unorganized exercise.

Age

As we grow older we tend to do less physical activities which contributes to weight gains.

Genetics

Research shows a tendency for obesity and overweight in families which indicates that genes can increase the chances for a person to become overweight. Families often share eating habits and a lack of physical activity which also plays a role in gaining weight.

Illness

Medical conditions may cause weight gain or obesity, for example hypothyroidism and depression. Consult your doctor if you think your weight gains are related to an illness.

Medicine

Some medicines may cause weight gains. If you fear that medicine is causing you to gain weight you should speak to your pharmacist or doctor about possible side effects.

By being aware of the factors that cause overweight you can work on changing your negative eating and physical activity habits. Changing these negative habits will contribute to improving your weight and health.

You may not be able to control all these factors that can lead to obesity and overweight but you can easily do something about negative eating habits and getting more exercise By changing some negative habits and by going on a proven diet suitable to your circumstances you can improve your weight and and also enjoy better health. View our list of diets and weight loss programs to select a suitable diet.

The World Health Report estimates that more than 300 million people worldwide are obese and that 750 million more are overweight. The estimate by the International Obesity Task Force that 22 million of the world’s children under 5 are overweight or obese are surely an indication that obesity is escalating.

Our list of recommended diets and weight loss programs.

Research on obesity suggests five main causes of obesity

Overconsumption of food

Consuming more calories than our daily energy needs is considered as a possible root cause of increase of obesity in our modern society. Sales figures of the fast food ads soft drink industries is a definite indication of the increased consumption of high calorie foods. When over consumption occurs the surplus calories are stored as body fat.

Eating too many high-fat and and food containing refined sugar

There is evidence that the type of food people eat an significant role play in the worldwide increase in obesity. Research continue to link more and more metabolic and digestive disorders with insufficient fiber intake combined with the overconsumption of fats and refined white flour carbohydrates. Eating patterns like this interfere with the food and energy metabolism in the body which contribute to excessive fat storage. Associated “modern” diseases include insulin resistance, types of diabetes and obesity. These diseases are rapidly increasing worldwide.

Reduced energy expenditure

If people burn less calories than they eat, their calorie surplus is stored as fat. A simple calculation illustrate this best, if a person consumes 100 more food calories a day than the person burns, the person will gain about 1 pound a month, which could lead to a weight increase of about 10 pounds in a year. Over two decades this excessive calorie intake will cause a weight gain of 200 pounds! Lack of exercise and fitness capacity is a possible root cause of obesity.

Family influence

Family diet and lifestyle patterns are considered a major contributory cause to obesity and more specific modern child obesity. Parental behavioral patterns pertaining aspects such as diet, shopping, cooking, eating and exercise, have an important influence on a child’s eating, playing and exercising habits, their body energy demand and ultimately their weight. It is clear that family influence also extends to adult obesity, it is a fact that obese children and adolescents frequently grow up to become obese adults.

Genetic causes of modern obesity

A number of weight-related processes in the body, such as blood glucose metabolism, fat-storage, metabolic rate and hormones are affected by genetic factors. Studies of adopted children indicate that adopted children tend to develop weight problems similar to their biological, rather than adoptive, parents. Infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by the age of three months than infants of normal weight mothers. Research has also indicate that normal-weight children of obese parents may have a lower metabolic rate than normal-weight children of non-obese parents, which can lead to weight problems in adulthood. This all support the theory that a predisposition to obesity can be inherited. However, the fact that obesity has increased so much in the modern society appears to discount genetics as the main cause as genetic factors can not explain the rise in obesity.

Most successful diets are directed toward a slow, steady and natural weight loss. For more information regarding weight loss please check the list of recommended diets and weight loss programs.