An Obese Individual Simply Eats Too Much - By: Don Saunders

If you belong to the school of thought that believes that there is no excuse for somebody being overweight and that a severely overweigh individual is merely somebody who eats too much and does not get sufficient exercise, then you will have to think again. While it is without doubt true that overeating combined with a sedentary lifestyle can cause obesity, it is most assuredly not the only cause of obesity.

Despite the fact that not well understood at the moment, it is thought that there is a genetic factor that pre-disposes certain individuals to obesity. For instance, some of the genes responsible for controlling such things as metabolism and appetite are thought to contribute to obesity when found in combination with specific environmental conditions.

In addition, there are a number of genetic disorders which can cause obesity. Prader-Willi syndrome for example, named after Andrea Prader and Heinrich Willi and was first described in 1956, is a genetic disorder in which, in addition to other things, people display an insatiable appetite and accumulate excessive fat, especially around the central area of the body.

Underlying illness may also result in weight gain and obesity. Possibly the best know, but certainly not the only, illness that often leads to obesity is hypothyroidism, in which the thyroid secretes insufficient thyroid hormone. In spite of the fact that the disorder itself produces only mild weight gain, combined with the right environmental conditions, this can very easily develop in a very substantial rise in weight.

Some drugs can also result in weight gain. The list of medicines that can result in weight gain is extremely long but one particular class of drugs that is causing concern and attracted the attention of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the new class of atypical antipsychotics that can have a marked affect on the metabolism.

There are also some eating disorders that will cause obesity, such as binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is a psychiatric disorder (that is also an element of bulimia nervosa) in which, as its name implies, sufferers are not able to control their eating and often add binge eating into an otherwise normal eating pattern.

Some diets may also result in obesity without the person realizing that it is their diet that is the cause of the problem. In other words this is not a case of merely eating too much, but rather one of eating the wrong type of food. In a number of individuals for instance certain foods will result in an abnormally high level of blood sugar for a time immediately after they have eaten.

Dieting itself may also result in obesity. It is unfortunately true that the majority of diets are a failure and we are witnessing a growing number of people who spend a large period of their lives moving from one diet to another in the hope of losing weight. What occurs here is that they invariably lose weight while on a diet but then put it back on again, normally with a little bit extra, every time they stop dieting. As they come on and off several different diets their weight cycles up and down, but the underlying trend is for their weight to go up over time, which eventually results in obesity.

These are merely some of the causes of obesity, in addition to simple overeating and insufficient exercise, and many of these are either outside of the control of the individuals concerned or their ability to control the situation is extremely limited.

So, the next time you see an obese individual you could be right in saying that they have caused the problem themselves, but you might also be incorrect in leaping to this conclusion.

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