Obesity

Obesity is a nutritional disease involving excess weight and increased fat tissue. You can find out what you can do if you are affected by it here!

Obesity – What is it?

Obesity, also known as adiposity, is a disease. It refers to an excessive accumulation of fat tissue in the body.

Obesity – causes and the path to the disease

Obesity occurs when the energy intake (i.e. the calories consumed through food and drink) permanently exceeds the energy consumption. This means that more food and drink is consumed than the amount of energy used by the body during the day. And the body stores the excess as fat.

There are many causes of obesity:

Hereditary disposition (genetic disposition) plays a role in the development of this disease, i.e. what genes one has inherited from one’s parents, one’s family. The hereditary disposition can lead, for example, to an increased food intake, a reduced energy metabolism or a preferred energy storage in the form of fat.

Diet, lifestyle and lack of physical activity are also important factors that can lead to obesity.

Mental factors such as stress, loneliness, depression and frustration with food as a reward can also be significant.

Likewise, there are some diseases that can lead to obesity.

At what point does one speak of obesity?

Obesity is defined as an excess of fat tissue that leads to impaired health. The classification of obesity is made with the help of a body mass index, the so-called body mass index, abbreviated BMI. You may have heard of this before.

Classification:

Obesity grade I: BMI 30.0 to 34.9

Obesity grade II: BMI 35.0 to 39.9

Extreme obesity grade III: BMI 40 and above

However, the distribution of fat in the body also plays a role in the classification. Especially the fat around the belly is considered “negative” and dangerous to health.

The BMI for children and adolescents is not really a good measure if it is not classified at least in terms of age. Here you can calculate your BMI according to your age.

 Body-Mass-Index

Risk obesity

People with obesity are at a greatly increased risk of secondary diseases. It is important to recognise this condition as an illness and to get help!

Affected – what to do?

Obesity is a disease and therefore needs professional therapy! Losing weight and exercising on your own are not enough therapy. You wouldn’t treat a broken arm yourself, would you?

Ideally, successful treatment of obesity requires a variety of “caregivers”. On the one hand, a doctor must clarify whether the obesity has already led to illnesses that need to be treated. Together with a sports expert, he or she can decide which sport/exercise you can do without putting too much strain on your joints. Then you also need a nutrition expert to help you change your diet and work out delicious recipes with you. And then it’s also important to have a psychologist who can help you find out what food means to you, what needs are associated with food and how they can be met differently, and much more.

If you want to do something about your illness, you can, for example, first contact a family doctor and ask him or her to refer you to appropriate services.

TIP:

Use the growth spurt

Young people who are overweight or obese can use the growth spurt that occurs during puberty to reduce their weight. To do this, it is necessary to consciously stop the weight gain by changing their diet and getting more exercise. Because if you stop gaining weight, your BMI will be reduced by the growth spurt. And only children and adolescents can take advantage of this!

If you are affected, we want to encourage you to dare to get over it and get help!

Prejudices

“Of course, he/she eats too much, that’s why he/she is so fat now”. Many of us have heard this or another negative sentence before. Overweight people are often treated very disparagingly. It’s their own fault, they are often accused. But what about the athlete who falls? It’s actually their own fault too. Is that why he is treated so badly? Or the smoker who falls ill? You can see that if you think about it, you contribute to many other diseases, just as you do to obesity. And obesity is a serious disease! Remember this when you too have such thoughts.

First step

As already described, obesity is a serious disease and therefore needs experts to treat it. The goal is a change in lifestyle. However, we all know that it often takes courage to get help. If you want to do something for yourself and your health before you go to the doctor, you can try this, for example:

TIP:

• Replace soft drinks with low-calorie tea. Boring, you might think. We thought so too. Until we tried all kinds of teas in the supermarket! Make up your own mind! After all, iced tea is nothing more than cold tea, except that it has lots of sugar added. And you can replace it with sweetener at the beginning.
• For breakfast you can replace butter with soft, low-fat cream cheese, the “normal” toast with multigrain toast (look for the fibre information on the package, the more the better) and then some jam on top. Yes, and there too we honestly had the greatest reservations! Ewww cream cheese. But we tested it for you anyway and found out that it tastes delicious. Try it too!
• When it comes to sweets, go for those that are already packed in smaller packages. There are so-called minis of many products. One of these “small packs” is allowed per day! Then it’s easier to stop than if you keep taking a handful out of a huge bag.
• You probably know what it’s like: there’s everything from fatty to “superfat”, but nothing that tastes good and helps you keep the weight off. How about Mexican wraps with chicken or chilli? Or a wholemeal roll with crunchy peppers, lettuce, egg and ham?
• Do you like delicious spreads? No problem: Instead of mayonnaise, use low-fat curd cheese and add a little olive oil at the end. The oil provides the creaminess and contains important substances that your body needs. Egg spread tastes really good this way and is ready quickly.
• Exercise: Before you know what you can do without damaging your joints, for example, you should focus on everyday exercise. For example, take the stairs instead of the lift, get off the school bus one stop earlier, or ride your bike to school.
• There are also computer games that require you to exercise yourself – how about that?
• The more sweets and snacks you have lying around at home, the more likely you are to eat them. Ask your parents to support you and only buy certain foods.
• Pay attention to portion sizes. Take a plateful and then stick to it.

These are just a few tips that can’t replace a “treatment” tailored specifically to you. At best, they can be a small start! Experts such as nutritionists, psychologists and doctors can give you many more tips.

For further help and support  — Speak with a licensed therapist today.