An Obese Individual Simply Eats Too Much

If you belong to the school of thought that believes that there is simply no excuse for anyone being overweight and that a grossly overweigh individual is just somebody who eats too much food and does not take sufficient exercise, then you will need to think again. While it is undoubtedly true that overeating together with an inactive lifestyle can lead to obesity, this is certainly not the only cause of obesity.

Although not terribly well understood at this time, it is believed that there is a genetic factor which can pre-dispose certain people to obesity. For instance, some of the genes responsible for controlling such things as appetite and metabolism are thought to contribute to obesity when found in combination with specific environmental conditions.

Additionally, there are several genetic disorders which can lead to obesity. For example, Prader-Willi syndrome which is named after Andrea Prader and Heinrich Willi and was first described in 1956, is a genetic disorder in which, in addition to other things, individuals display an insatiable appetite and build up excessive fat, particularly within the central area of the body.

Illness may also cause weight gain and obesity. Perhaps the best know, but certainly not the only, illness that frequently results in obesity is hypothyroidism, in which the thyroid secretes too little thyroid hormone. Although the disorder itself lead to only mild weight gain, combined with the right environmental conditions, this can easily develop in a substantial rise in weight.

Some drugs can also cause a rise in weight. The list of medications which can lead to weight gain is very long but one class of drugs that is causing concern and has attracted the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a class of atypical antipsychotics which can have a clear affect on the metabolism.

There are also several eating disorders which can lead to obesity, such as binge eating disorder. This is a psychiatric disorder (which is an element of the condition of bulimia nervosa) in which, as its name indicates, sufferers are not able to control their eating and frequently add binge eating into an otherwise normal pattern of eating.

Some diets might also cause obesity without the individual realizing that it is their diet that is the cause of the problem. In other words this is not a case of just eating too much, but of eating the wrong sort of food. In some people for instance certain foods can produce an unusually high level of blood sugar for a short time immediately after they have eaten.

Dieting may also result in obesity. It is a fact that most diets are a failure and we are seeing an increasing number of people who spend a substantial proportion of their lives moving from one diet to another in the hope of losing weight. What actually happens here is that they invariably lose weight while on a diet and then regain it, normally with a little bit extra, each time they come off a diet. As they move on and off a variety of diets their weight cycles up and down, but the trend is for their weight to rise over time, eventually resulting in obesity.

These are merely some of the causes of obesity, in addition to simple overeating and a lack of exercise, and several of these are either not within the control of the people concerned or they are limited in their ability to take control of the situation.

So, the next time you see an obese individual you might be correct in assuming that they have caused their own problem, but you could equally be incorrect in leaping to this conclusion.

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