Weight Gain Increases Health Risks in Women   

Are you female?

Are you overweight or even obese?

Another major study has found that the more obese a woman is, the greater her risk for coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and death.

Reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh analyzed data on weight, death, and cardiovascular disease among more than 90,000 ethnically-diverse U.S. women followed for an average of seven years.

The study found that the higher a woman's level of obesity, the greater her health risks which may be underestimated by most physicians.

"Overall, extremely obese women were more likely to die over the average seven years of follow-up than were women in other examined weight categories," describe the researchers.

There are three categories of obesity, according to background information in the study: obesity 1 (a body mass index of 30 to 34.9); obesity 2 (BMI of 35 to 39.9); and obesity 3 (BMI of 40 or greater). A 5-foot, 4-inch person who weighs 233 lbs. would have a body mass index of 40.

The latter two categories (sometimes termed severe obesity) are increasingly more common in the United States. From 1986 to 2000, the prevalence of women with severe obesity quadrupled, the researchers noted, and by 2000, two percent of all U.S. women were severely obese.

The study found that the higher a woman's level of obesity, the greater her health risks.

"Accounting for degree of excess weight is important in understanding [women's] weight-related health risk," conclude the researchers about why the health risks of overweight women may be underestimated.

How do you counter the risks?

Lose the poundage – a task easier said than done but quite possible with a sensible diet and exercise plan.

Your doctor or other health worker can help you set sensible goals based on a proper weight for your height, build and age.

Men and very active women may need up to 2,500 calories daily. Other women and inactive men need only about 2,000 calories daily. A safe plan is to eat 300 to 500 fewer calories a day to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week.

How?

Start with exercise but that does not necessarily mean joining a health club or buying expensive exercise equipment.

Exercise can be as simple as walking around the block or parking your car at the far end of the mall parking lot to make you walk longer to get to the store.

The idea is to use up more calories than you eat. You need to use up the day's calories and some of the calories stored in your body fat.

Eating less fat and sugar will help you cut calories. Fried foods and fatty desserts can quickly use up a day's calories. And these foods may not provide the other nutrients you need. Make sure your other foods that day are low in fat and calories.

Also eat a wide variety of foods because variety in the diet helps you get all the vitamins and other nutrients you need.

Avoid weight loss diets that make promises that are too good to be true. Fad diets, especially, aren't good because they often call for too much or too little of one type of food. As a result, you may not get important nutrients you need daily.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Diet pills you buy without a prescription won't make a big difference in how much you lose each week or how long you keep the weight off. If you do use them, read the label carefully. Because of possible side effects, like high blood pressure, never take more than the listed dose.

Also, be careful about taking cough or cold medicines with diet pills you buy without a prescription. These medicines may contain the same drug used in diet pills, or a similar drug with the same effects. If you take both products together, you may get too much of the same type of drug. This can hurt you. Before taking a cough or cold medicine while using diet pills, ask your pharmacist if it's OK.

Prescription diet pills may help some people. If you use them, follow the doctor's directions carefully.

And make sure you know what you are getting before signing up for a weight loss program.

Does the company explain possible health risks from weight loss? Are all costs of the plan outlined? Does the plan include weight control over a long time with proof of success, not just praise by other people? Does the plan give a clear, truthful statement of how you're going to lose weight, including how much and how fast? And does the plan teach how to eat healthfully and exercise more?

While some plans do work, with most plans, you are better off creating a simple diet and exercise plan with your health professional.

Remember. Exercise can be any simple way of using more calories than you take in daily. Diet can be any simple way of reducing the number calories you take in daily.

Those simple plans can simply reduce your health risks due to overweight or obesity.

~ SafetyIssues Staff Writer