How do Some People Become so Overweight?

It isn't difficult to work out why some people manage to become so overweight, since in most cases weight gain is the result of consuming more calories than the body is able to burn off. There are some exceptions, such as in the case of certain illnesses and medications, but for the majority of overweight individuals it is poor eating and exercise habits that are to blame. However, whilst it is almost understandable how someone could become a few pounds overweight, what about those individuals who end up carrying an extra 100, 150, 200 pounds or more? There surely has to come a point when you realise that you need to lose weight and so why does it takes some people so long to come to this conclusion?

Yet, losing weight isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do and it takes a lot of dedication and motivation to actually take steps to change things. If you're not in the right frame of mind the chances are you will not succeed on your weight-loss journey. The trouble is that sometimes the motivation is lacking, especially when your family and friends never bother to mention your weight and are maybe even slightly overweight themselves. Plus, food tastes really good and it can be a challenge to restrain yourself when you always feel hungry or you turn to food when you're feeling emotional, and if you don't like exercise you have no way of burning off those extra calories.

Consequently, it is often tempting to just stop stepping on the scales, because, after all, ignorance is bliss. If you don't know how much you weigh, it is not something you have to worry about. You may notice that your clothes are beginning to get a bit tighter, but you can tell yourself that you're not really that heavy. Unfortunately, this is not a solution to the problem and if you don't know what you weigh or how much weight you've been gaining you could continue to pile on the pounds, so that when you finally do have to step on the scales you're in for a shock. Eventually, you could become so heavy that your health begins to suffer and you can no longer ignore your weight.

Clearly, the reason why some people become so overweight is because they've picked up habits that have only become worse over the years. They get so used to eating large portions at meal times and snacking on high-calorie foods that they can no longer remember a time when they did things differently. It is therefore hard to develop a healthier way of thinking about food and exercise in order to lose the weight and so instead of dealing with their weight gain at an earlier stage they may pretend that it is not an issue. There are others who make an effort to tackle their weight, but do so using fad diets that can help them lose a few pounds, but do not enable them to control their weight.

Many people find themselves trapped in a never-ending cycle of eating too much and gaining weight, then going on a diet and losing weight, and so they never get into the habit of weight control. It is far easier to gain weight than to lose it, which is why so many people are struggling with obesity and do not always recognise how bad their weight problem has actually become. Even when there is so much emphasis on losing weight in the media, for many people facing up to the fact they need to lose weight is really hard and losing the extra weight even harder.