Overweight: Causes, Consequences and Tips

Overweight can promote various diseases and is often caused by eating too much unhealthy food and lack of exercise. Here you can find out what helps.

What is overweight?

One speaks of overweight when the body weight is no longer in a normal relation to the height. Whether one is in a healthy weight range is determined by the so-called body mass index (“BMI”). Being overweight can promote numerous diseases – for example high blood pressure or chronic heart failure (“heart failure”). An unhealthy diet and lack of exercise are often the cause.

Obesity is a major problem, particularly in the industrialized nations: in Germany alone, around 67 percent of men and 53 percent of women are overweight, and a similarly alarming picture emerges for children at around 25 percent. And these figures have been rising continuously for decades. The same goes for obesity – which is defined as being heavily overweight with a BMI of 30 or more.

Am I overweight?

The essential factor in determining whether someone is overweight is their own height. The BMI is most often used for this: where body weight in kilograms is calculated by the square of height in square meters. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the following figures to assess the results:

BMI:

< 18.5      = underweight

18.5 - 24.9 = normal weight

25 - 29.9   = Overweight

30 - 34.9   = Grade I obesity

35 - 39.9   = Grade II obesity

> 40        = Grade III obesity

If you want to know whether your BMI is considered healthy, you can use our BMI calculator here. There you will also find a detailed table broken down by height and weight.

Important: The BMI is only of limited use as an orientation aid in the assessment, because it does not include the body type and muscle mass in the calculation. This means that even very muscular people can be considered overweight.

Dangerous abdominal fat

There are different body types that relate to where the excess fat is located:

• Android type / apple type: The fat sits increasingly on the torso, e.g. the belly. This mostly affects men.
• Gynoid type / Pear type: The fat is mainly located on the buttocks and legs – mostly women are affected.

According to study results, the so-called visceral fat, i.e. abdominal fat, is the most dangerous part: it increases the risk of possible secondary diseases such as diabetes.

Causes: How does overweight develop?

Put simply, obesity is caused by permanently consuming more calories than you consume. There can be several reasons for this. Among them are:

• Nutrition: The most obvious cause of overweight is one’s own eating habits. Some people have a disturbed sense of satiety – the brain signals too late that enough food has been consumed, so that those affected tend to eat too much in general. The second factor – and the much more common cause of obesity – is the decision what we eat: There is an overabundance of sugary sweets and snacks, and fast food is hard to avoid. Those who do not pay attention to their diet quickly risk becoming overweight.
• Move: Also one of the most common triggers is too little movement. Most people work all day in a sitting position, many trips (e.g. to the shops) are made by car, and at home you sit in front of the TV or PC. This way of life has many health disadvantages besides a probable weight gain, e.g. it also increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Genetics: In fact, genes also seem to play a role when it comes to obesity. For example, some people have a genetically reduced basal metabolism. This is the amount of energy that the body consumes at rest. As a result, they gain weight faster if they only eat a little more than the body needs.
• Stress and sorrow: Many people eat too much for psychological reasons such as grief, stress or pure boredom.
• Other diseases: Another basic disease can also cause overweight, for example hypothyroidism.
• Medication: There are drugs that increase appetite. These include above all products that interfere with hormone balance, e.g. the pill or medicines containing cortisone.
• Social factors: One’s own personal background can also encourage obesity – e.g. if as a child you always had to eat your plate empty although you were already full. Studies have also shown that overweight is more common in socially weaker classes.

Which symptoms cause overweight?

Overweight is manifested by various health problems. These include:

• Joint complaints (e.g. hip and knee)
• Back pain
• Diabetes
• Circulatory disorders
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure up to heart attack
• Shortness of breath due to lack of oxygen (the lungs cannot work sufficiently to supply the body with sufficient oxygen)
• Sleep apnoea (breathing stops during sleep), resulting in tiredness during the day
• Snoring
• Severe sweating
• Depressions

Treatment: What to do if you are overweight?

The treatment of overweight depends on the cause. As a rule, the focus is on a change in lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise. The doctor or a dietician can help here so that the excess pounds can be lost. In general, a varied diet is not recommended, but rather a varied diet that should consist mainly of complex carbohydrates (e.g. cereals), fruit and vegetables, dairy products, fish and some lean meat. You can find out how to create a diet plan here. The aim is to achieve a negative balance of calories – you consume less energy than you consume.

The WHO recommends 150 minutes of sport per week. Good for overweight people who do endurance sports that are easy on the joints, such as swimming or walking. At the same time, muscles should be built up through strength training. Otherwise, possible causative basic diseases such as hypothyroidism must be treated before weight loss can be started. In the case of obesity, surgical methods and behavioural therapy can also be used to help the person affected to adapt their lifestyle.