Obesity is the condition in which the individual is overweight due to the deposition of fat in the adipose tissue. The common cause of obesity is consumption of food in excess of requirements. Excess food consumed is converted into fat and stored in the adipose tissues.
Aetiology
Obesity can occur at any age in either sex. The incidence is higher in persons who lead sedentary lives and higher income groups. Some individuals are more prone to develop obesity than others. Recent investigations have shown that they have large proportion of adipose tissue cells compared with normal persons. Overweight can be assessed by body weight, estimation of total body fat and skin fold measurements. A person whose body weight is higher than normal by 30% can be considered obese.
Since obesity is caused by excess calorie intake and lack of physical activities generally, the main principles involved in the treatment include reducing calorie intake by following some healthy weight loss tips and increased physical activity.
The plus side is that if you are considerably overweight, once you start following a healthy diet you should experience relatively fast weight loss for the first few weeks of your new lifestyle.
Weight loss calculator:
Calorie calculators will have to estimate Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). This is in fact the amount of energy exhausted per day. BMR is an evaluation of only the most basic functions.
Once BMR has been estimated, various human activities will be calculated based on this. These are estimated guesses. One person may burn 120 calories on a 15 minute run and another individual may burn 200 calories. BMI is calculated on the basis of weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared and simply BMI = kg/m2.
Mifflin - St Jeor Formula
The formula is proposed by Mifflin and Jeor.
Men
10 (x) weight in kg 6.25 (x) heights in cm - 5 (x) age (y) 5
Women
10 (x) weight (kg) 6.25 (x0 height (cm) - 5 x age (y) - 161.
Harris-Benedict Formula
This formula was proposed in 1919 and due to change in lifestyle patterns by this calculation calorie expression may be overstated.
Men
66.5 13.75 X weight (kg) (5.003 X height (cm)9.563 X weight (kg) 1.85 X height in (cm) - (4.676 X age )
The dieting Calculator
First calculate your BMR. Then chose your exercise, the BMR can be multiplied from 1.2 to 1.9 to calculate the maintenance calories
Fat loss figure= BMR - 20.
The extreme fat loss figure has 40% of the above subtracted amount.
Low calorie diets:
Low calorie diets are prescribed for obese subjects. The aim is to produce calorie deficit in the body which will result in the fat stored in at he adipose tissue being used to meet the calorie requirements. It has been observed that a diet providing about half the requirements of calories for persons leading sedentary life (1100KCal) will help to reduce the body weight by 1 to 1.5 kg a week. Consumption of diet providing 1300KCal may help to reduce the body weight by 0.5 to 1 kg per week.