What makes a person overweight? The answer overwhelmingly is over-eating. There may of course be odd instances when being overweight is traceable to faulty functioning of a gland, such as the thyroid. But in ninety-five cases out of a hundred overweight is definitely traceable to eating more than the body requires to nurture and energize its activity.
Energy is conveniently measured in terms of Calories. A calorie is the unit measure of the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree centigrade. We get our energy from food, and the calorific values of different foods are well known. One gram of protein or carbohydrate(sugar or starch) yields four Calories. So the Calorific value of any food is determined by the amount of protein, fat, or Carbohydrate it contains.
The answer to:"What do you weight?" is highly pertinent both to yourself and to your doctor, for your weight has a significant bearing on your health. Neither overweight nor underweight are very desirable, though, of the two, overweight is the more menacing.
Just according to a French proverb that says,"To be fat is to be old." This has more than a germ of truth in it. Overweight exists largely as fat in the tissues. It takes up room, distending muscles, enlarging some organs, compressing other, and has the effect of grossly interfering with the smooth functioning of the body, and ages it, so that it makes the body much more liable to early breakdown. Overweight is often a factor in many diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, liver and kidney ills, heart troubles, rheumatic disorders and even structural defects like flat feet.
On the other hand, underweight impairs resistance to inclement weather, and may be a factor in nervous disorders and certain digestive disturbances. But the body functions more easily in absence of excess fat, and the over-thin are not so subject to sudden sickness and crises that shorten life.
What then is the ideal weight for the body? This primarily depends on age, sex, and height. The average weights determined by these factors can be ascertained from the chart on any good chemist's weighing machine. But it is not the final answer for individual. Body weight is also influenced by other things which cannot be taken into account in computing averages.
For instance, your skeleton contributes some thirteen to seventeen per cent of your body weight. You cannot alter this much.If you are small-boned your ideal weight will be less for age, sex, and height than the average. If you are heavy-boned, it will be more. So that the best weight to be for your good health probably lies within five pounds, more or less, of the average shown on the usual charts. If your body weight lies within this range, you need not worry about it from a health point of view.
There are, however, certain periods in life when some overweight is normal and even to be welcomed. These periods are generally times of glandular stress. Girls, and boys to a degree, go through a period of adolescent fatness when they may be dissatisfied with their physical appearance, but from which they eventually emerge. It is a folly to try to get rid of this "puppy-fat" by drastic measures. It is there to safeguard the body during glandular changes, and once the glandular functions settle down to the new rhythm of maturity, the adolescent fat is absorbed.
Another period of normal fatness comes to women when they are expectant mothers. Again this fat is there for protective purposes, and normally will be lost again after child-birth and nursing. It is folly to attempt to stop this normal increase of weight by dieting or other means.
There is one factor which makes for overweight, and that is mental. Contrary to popular opinion, many fat people are not happy, but frustrated. One of the symptoms of their mental disturbance is the tendency to make themselves comfortable by eating, especially snacks. Consequently, a serious attempt to lose weight call for discipline, and possibly some facing up to mental problems, or emotional ills. The habit of snacking must be conquered, and the menu planned to regular meals of appetizing fare in which low-calorie foods predominate.
It is unwise to attempt sudden weight loss. It is best to aim at a steady reduction of one to three pounds each week until the desired figure is attained. As soon as the meal has been eaten, it is best to rise from the table and become engrossed in some other activity. The greatest difficulty is at the outset. The stomachs of a fat people are distended, and when their capacity is not filled, there is a lingering of appetite and a feeling of unappeased hunger.
If, however, the stomach finds it is not going to get much food as of yore,it will reduce itself, and before long, the smaller meals will be found satisfying to appetite and hunger. Apart from the physiological benefits of having to carry less weight around, there is a psychological one of a better figure and the sense of achievement that always follows a feat of mastering body control.
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