Obesity Causes_

There are many factors that contribute to obesity including a person’s behaviour, environmental factors and genetics.

Behaviour: Regular physical activity, nutritious eating and eating portion sizes commensurate with energy needs are necessary for maintaining a healthy body weight. Choosing to eat high fat, high sugar or oversize portions will play a major part in putting on body fat. Similarly avoiding physical activity and adopting a sedentary lifestyle reduces the number of calories that you burn and increases the % of calories that you store as fat.

Genes: Some individuals have a genetic tendency to gain weight and store fat. Although not everyone with this tendency will become obese, several genes have been identified as contributors to obesity. If you have a genetic predisposition to put on weight you need to control this using behavioural and environmental factors.

Environment: Work and home environments that make regular physical activity and regular healthy eating difficult will contribute to weight gain. It is important if you are in a sedentary job to plan regular exercise and organise to take nutritious lunches and snack foods. You also need to compensate by undertaking regular physical activity and exercise.