Weight loss: Choosing a diet that's right for you

Obesity and Women's Health

Nutrition is a topic that is always of great interest to women. The presence of obesity has increased by almost 15 percent in the last decade. 

Clinical studies have revealed a direct connection between diabetes and obesity, especially in women and in the last decade there has been a 32 percent increase in women with diabetes. 

At this stage, women need to have the desire to talk to their doctors to gain control over this frustrating disease and about anti-obesity drugs that are safe and effective. 

A major problem with women comes after having a healthy pregnancy. Moreover, over half of all breast cancers are diagnosed among obese women only.

What is Obesity?

There are different answers given to this question in quite different ways. Some consider it as percentage above normal weight using weight and height as parameters. One more difficult question to define is whether a person who is 10 percent above ideal or a person who is 100% above ideal shall be considered as Obese. Even this ideal weight is too difficult to define.

Measurement of Obesity

Use of any measuring tools such as fat calipers or water submersion technique where the percentage of fat is determined in the body and considered within acceptable or non-acceptable standard will be a good indicator of obesity.

However, Waist-hip ratio measurement is also considered as a good method of determining the risk factors due to obesity. This method specially takes into account the distribution of fat in the body.

What is BMI?

The most common measurement of obesity is through the use of Body Mass Index (BMI) scale. It is based on the ratio of weight over height squared (kg/MxM).

BMI = weight kg divided by (height in meters)2

Or Weight in lbs x 703 divided by (height in inches)2

Based on BMI, we can classify patients into one of the five categories

BMI of 18.5 - 24.9 means Normal

BMI of 25.0 - 29.9 means Overweight

BMI of 30.0 - 34.9 means Obesity class 1

BMI of 35.0 - 39.9 means Obesity class 2

BMI of >= 40.0 means Obesity class 3

Most medical sources define a BMI of 27 or higher to be obese.

The drawback of the BMI scale is that it does not consider musculature or fat distribution.

Obesity affects the self-esteem.

Several surveys and studies have revealed the startling yet true fact that obese women tend to have a feeling of lower self-esteem and negative body image than women who are of normal weight. With repeated failures of weight loss plans and diet plans, women are embarked by a feeling of incapability and low self-esteem.

Body image for women carries the utmost importance that makes them confident about what it looks like to them and how looks to others. The relationship between body image and self-esteem is complicated yet both are closely associated with obesity. 

It is not new if an obese woman thinks the way, "I am fat, I look funny" "So I am not worthy of anything". Though these are not researched well improved body image has a direct impact on a woman's self-esteem. 

Therefore, women need to learn to love themselves and to create a healthy and smart lifestyle for them that does not emphasize weight loss as the only measure of good health.

How food is related?

It is interesting to know that repeat dieters often learn to cope with their emotions by using and changing their food habits. Studies done by Polivy and Herman showed that eating brings upon different personality traits, like passivity, anxiety, and emotionality and mind and these are the characteristics that are generally used to describe women in stereotypical ways. 

However, food should not be taken as a moral and personality judgment tool for women or any gender and age. So, people need to look closely and carefully at their association with food and it is better and safer to focus on food as a need of the body rather than relating it with underlying emotions.

Social Impact of Obesity

Whatever the society is, a woman is always brought up with a message that she must be beautiful to be valuable. Attractive women are not only seen as attractive but also smarter, active, and morally superior regardless of any other fact. 

Thus we can see that these cultural ideals of beauty are often transient, unhealthy, and nearly impossible for most women to live up to. From a tender age, women are encouraged to be delicate, frail, or "ethereal." If a woman is not meeting those so-called "acceptable" body sizes then she must be ready to face discrimination and prejudice in society. 

It is very common to observe that women are very conscious about their eating habits. It is taught to them from a young age what to eat and what to avoid to keep a good figure and keep off fat.

Today when we are living in an age of equality and empowerment, women are still starving themselves through diet and weight preoccupation while assuming that they can go well along with their better i.e. male counterparts. Thus, the increasing stress on thinness in our culture not only oppresses women but also serves as a form of social control or better say social check.

Treatment of Obesity

Obesity can be treated through a variety of modalities, including;

• Various dietary therapies like Low-calorie diet (LCD), Very low-calorie diet (VLCD)
• Regular physical activity
• Behavior therapy
• Drug therapy
• Surgery
• Set your goals for weight loss management

Keep a primary target of reducing 10% loss of the initial body weight. You will find a dramatic change and improvement along with significant risk reduction.

Be determined to keep your weight off for a long time by remaining on a balanced diet and regular physical activity.

If you are successful at reducing weight as per the primary target, set another target for weight reduction. This time you have a back of motivation from earlier success.

• Get help from a support group if required.
• Many weight loss therapies may prove inappropriate for:
• Women with illnesses that might be worsened by caloric restriction
• Women with a serious, acute psychiatric illness
• Pregnant or lactating women

What is a healthy diet for women?

• A variety of vegetables and fruits - women should have 6-11 servings a day constituted of refined carbohydrates instead of whole food grains. This may include white rice, pasta, sweets, and white potatoes.
• 2-3 servings of protein a day that may include lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, or legumes.
• 20-35 % of total calories from fat may include olive, peanut, canola oils, and most nuts and polyunsaturated fats (e.g., corn, safflower, soybean oils, flaxseed oil, fatty fish). Trans and saturated fats should be avoided.
• Low sugar and sodium intakes
• Drink at least eight glasses of fluid a day. Limit intake of juice and soda.
• A multivitamin diet should contain 400 IU of vitamin D and 1,000 mg of elemental calcium for premenopausal women. If dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D is less than these recommended guidelines, calcium and vitamin D supplementation is necessary.