Obesity & Fats

Overweight is the excess amount of body weight that includes muscle, bone, fat & water while Obesity is the excess accumulation of body fat that may have an adverse effect on health, leading to increased health problems. Imbalance between energy intake & energy expenditure leads to obesity. The root cause for Obesity is imbalance between food intake & energy expenditure.

Energy Intake & Energy Expenditure:

Energy Intake:

Total number of calories taken daily, whether ingested or by parenteral routes.

Energy Expenditure:

The amount of energy (or calories) that a person needs to carry out a physical function such as breathing, circulating blood, digesting food or physical movement. The daily energy expenditure is the total no. of calories burned each day.

To achieve optimal body composition and health, it is essential to find the right balance between energy intake and expenditure.

Fats:

Fat is stored throughout the body in fat cells known as adipocytes. However, fat cells can increase and decrease in size depending on the amount of fat that the body is storing.

Fat Cell Formation:

A fat cell has the ability to expand to 1000 times its original size and store fat

These fat cells can be shrinked in size by exercise, thermogenesis & increased body metabolism.

Measuring Obesity:

Measuring the exact amount of a person's body fat is not easy but there are simpler methods to estimate body fat through BMI.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both adult men and women.

BODY MASS INDEX = Weight (Kg)

                                    {Height (m)} 2