The Gut Microbiome and Mental Health
28/02/2025
Obesity
- By Sharon Erdrich
- Metabolism and Heart Health, Nutrition
All weight issues affect your health – not enough body weight as well as too much!
Often, it is a combination of stressors affecting the body, mind, emotions and spirit that creates the imbalance that leads to a weight disorder. Lifestyle “choices” are not easily changed. Work and home environments, the impact of food availability, the culture around food, plus the nature of time-compressed activities all add considerably to our abilities to change and maintain healthy dietary habits.
Lifestyle patterns of activity (movement and exercise), food choices and eating patterns can all alter your metabolism and create imbalances in the ability to absorb important nutrients and and eliminate waste effectively. Such imbalances need to be addressed in order to lose weight and keep it off!
Why should I Lose weight?
As BMI goes up, so does the risk for certain conditions including:
Because high BMI is just one factor for increased disease risk, you must also consider these factors to assess your disease risk:
- Diet
- Physical activity
- Waist circumference
Many factors can influence your ability to lose weight. Causes of weight gain – and hindrances to weight loss – can include:
- Allergies/food intolerances
- Hormone imbalances including PMS, PCOS, perimenopause, menopause, andropause
- Thyroid hormone dysfunction
- Insulin Resistance
- Toxicity – poor detoxification
- Inflammation – fluid weight gain
- Stress hormones
- Sleep deprivation
- Yeast infection
- Lack of exercise,water, fibre
WHO classification of obesity
| WHO Classification | BMI* | Risk of Comorbidity |
| Underweight | Below 18.5 | Low |
| Healthy weight | 18.5-24.9 | Average |
| Overweight (grade 1 obesity) | 25.0-29.9 | Mild increase |
| Obese (grade 2 obesity) | 30.0-39.0 | Moderate/severe |
| Morbid/severe obesity(grade 3) | 40.0 and above | Very severe |
*BMI = weight/height 2
The BMI calculator below is a .exe file that will open in a new window. Click “open” (not “save”) unless you want to save the calculator to your computer. You will need to know your height and weight in either imperial or metric (both measurements must in the same category).
Get started on your body-redefining program today!
References
- Obesity. MSD Manual, Professional Version (2023).
- Obesity and overweight. WHO (2024).
- Causes of obesity: a review. Clin Med (Lond) (2023); 23(4):284-291.
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