Weight Gain Reasons
WLR dietitian Juliette Kellow reports on a new study which
confirms the reasons for weight gain and explains that there is
no need for repeated dieting but a change in eating habits for
life.
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What Makes Us Fat?
By WLR Dietitian
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Most of us usually know why we’ve piled on the pounds. Now, a
new study in the International Journal of Obesity confirms the
reasons most of us gain weight – and you won’t be surprised to
discover that ‘weight gain from slow metabolism’ isn’t one of
them.
The London-based study examined data taken from almost 5,000
people at 16 years and then again at 30 years. Just 8% of the
people aged 16 were obese, but by the age of 30, this had
doubled to more than 16%. Unsurprisingly, an increase in Body
Mass Index (BMI) was linked to four or more hours of sedentary
activities a day, eating takeaways twice or more each week,
consuming two or more fizzy drinks a day and a history of
dieting!
The authors say these findings confirm how important it is to
encourage people to follow an active lifestyle and eat a healthy
diet if they want to avoid excess weight gain during early
adulthood.
WLR says:
This study hasn’t exactly told us anything new but
sometimes it’s useful to be reminded of the basics.
It’s not surprising fizzy drinks and takeaways are linked
with weight gain. Two cans of cola provide 280 calories – if
these are consumed in excess to your calorie needs every day,
you’d gain a massive 29lb in a year. That’s more than 2 stone!
Similarly, two takeaways consisting of a large pizza and cheesy
garlic bread, plus a chicken korma with pilau rice and a Naan
bread amount to a huge 3,500 calories. That’s enough to gain 1lb
in a week – or 52lb in a year if you ate two takeaways like this
each week.
The fact this study links repeated dieting to weight gain
indicates that the subjects probably followed crash or fad diets
to lose weight quickly, and didn’t follow a plan that encouraged
them to change eating habits for life.
If they’d followed a diet from Weight Loss Resources chances
are they wouldn’t need to worry about putting the weight back on
– or ever diet again!
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