Factors Affecting Women’s Weight

1. Lack of Energy Balance – Energy imbalance causes overweight and obesity. On the contrary, energy balance means energy IN equals’ energy OUT. Energy IN is the amount of energy or calories you get from food and drinks. Energy OUT is the amount of energy your body uses for things like breathing, digesting, and being physically active.

Maintaining a healthy weight do not necessarily mean your energy IN and OUT needs to be in balance exactly every day. It's the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight.

·        Equal amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time means a steady weight.

·        More energy IN than energy OUT over time will result to weight gain.

·        More energy OUT than energy IN over time means weight loss.

Overweight and obesity happen over time when you take in more calories than you use.

2. Less Active Lifestyle - Many women are not active physically. Today many people spend hours in front of TVs and computers doing work, schoolwork, and leisure activities. In fact, more than 2 hours a day of regular TV viewing time has been linked to overweight and obesity.

Another reason for not being active includes relying on cars instead of walking. Modern technology also attributes to people in general becoming less active, the advent of internet demands less physical works in offices and even at home

Being inactive is one cause to gain weight because calories intake from food and drinks are not burn up. An inactive lifestyle also raises risks of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, and other health problems.

3. Environment - Environment does not always support healthy lifestyle habits but rather it encourages obesity. Some reasons include:

·        Lack of neighborhood sidewalks and safe places for recreation. People tend to be physically inactive if parks, trails, sidewalks, and affordable gyms are not available in the area.

·        Work schedules. Long work hours and time spent commuting are also factors affecting a person’s physically activity.

·        Oversized food portions. Huge food portions in restaurants, fast food places, gas stations, movie theaters, supermarkets, and even home is everywhere. Some of these meals and snacks can feed two or more people. Eating large portions means too much energy IN. Over time, this will cause weight gain if it isn't balanced with physical activity.

·        Lack of access to healthy foods. Neighborhoods supermarkets that do not sell healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Lack of funds to buy healthy foods which are too costly.

·        Food advertising. Foods high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks seen on TV make the children believed that these stuff are considered healthy.

4. Genes and Family History - Genes have a strong influence on a person's weight. Overweight and obesity tend to run in families. Your chances of being overweight are greater if one or both of your parents are overweight or obese.

Children adopt the habits of their parents. If a parent is overweight most likely the child becomes overweight too. However, if the family adopts healthy food and physical activity habits, the child's chance of being overweight or obese is reduced.

5. Health Conditions – Hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) causes overweight. Underactive thyroid is a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn't make enough thyroid hormone. Lack of thyroid hormone will slow down metabolism and cause weight gain.

Cushing's syndrome is a condition in which the body's adrenal glands make too much of the hormone cortisol. Cushing's syndrome is developed if a person takes high doses of certain medicines, such as prednisone, for long periods.

PCOS is a condition that affects about 5–10 percent of women of childbearing age. Women who have PCOS often are obese, have excess hair growth, and have reproductive problems and other health issues due to high levels of hormones called androgens.

6. Medicines - Medicines which include some corticosteroids, antidepressants, and seizure medicines cause gain weight.

These medicines can interfere with metabolic processes and slow the rate at which your body burns calories, increase your appetite, or cause your body to hold on to extra water; all of these factors lead to weight gain.

7. Emotional Factors - Eating more than usual when bored, angry, or stressed, over time, lead to weight gain and may cause overweight or obesity.

8. Smoking – Quitting from smoking sometime results to weight gain because food often tastes and smells better after quitting smoking. When you stop smoking you burn fewer calories because of the absence of nicotine, nicotine raises the rate at which your body burns calories

9. Age – As you get older, you tend to lose muscle, especially if you're less active. Muscle loss can slow down the rate at which your body burns calories. If you don't reduce your calorie intake as you get older, you may gain weight.

Midlife weight gain in women is mainly due to aging and lifestyle, but menopause also plays a role. Many women gain around 5 pounds during menopause and have more fat around the waist than they did before.

10. Pregnancy - During pregnancy, women gain weight so that their babies get proper nourishment and develop normally. After giving birth, some women find it hard to lose the weight. This may lead to overweight or obesity, especially after a few pregnancies.

11. Lack of Sleep - The less people sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. People who report sleeping 5 hours a night, for example, are much more likely to become obese compared with people who sleep 7–8 hours a night.

People who sleep fewer hours also seem to prefer eating foods that are higher in calories and carbohydrates, which lead to overeating and weight gain over time.

Hormones that are released during sleep control appetite and the body's use of energy. Insulin controls the rise and fall of blood sugar levels during sleep. People who don't get enough sleep have insulin and blood sugar levels that are similar to those in people who are likely to have diabetes.

People who don't get enough sleep regularly seem to have high levels of a hormone called ghrelin; which causes hunger and low levels of a hormone called leptin; which normally helps curb hunger.

12. Absorbing More Calories from Refined Foods – Refined foods also slow down intestinal activity because they lack fiber. They take up to five times longer to pass through the intestinal tract than do natural unrefined high fiber foods (75 hours compared to 15) and the body absorbs calories during the entire time of their constipated passage.

13. Non-Nutritious Refined Foods More Likely to be Stored as Fat - Foods cannot be metabolized properly without minerals and vitamins. The energy that empty calorie foods contain becomes unavailable to our body and is stored as fat until we get the necessary minerals and vitamins at some later time. In the meantime we feel hungry and eat more. This too turns into fat unless minerals and vitamins are also provided.