When Gaining Weight is About More Than Food – Psychological Reasons Leading to Weight Gain.

Weight determines one’s health, in accordance with height, gender, age and many other physical variables that act together to compose a clinically healthy body. However, obesity has struck millions of US citizens, with over 34% adults and 17% teens in the highly overweight category. It may seem simple to the naked eye. The cause of being overweight is due to poor eating choices. Surprisingly, that is not the case.

There are many children who are bright students, and many adults who have successful careers, but what they neglect is a healthy body and lifestyle. One may think that it is because they are not concerned about their looks, which might be true to some extent. However, it is fair to wonder why such bright minds would neglect looking after themselves, knowing full well the medical complications that may occur and wreak havoc on their current lifestyle. Here are some of those reasons, that have much more to them than with the food they eat.

Victims of Emotional or Sexual Abuse

According to the Atlantic, an analysis showed that children who had suffered abuse were “twice as likely to be addicted to food.” This is because the body goes into survival mode, whereby it starts to store up calories whenever it feels threatened by external factors. Additionally, women feel like being bigger would help keep the advances of men at bay. As a result, obesity is being used here unintentionally as a means of becoming invisible.

Depression and Stress

Depression is a serious condition that can take its toll on not just one’s mental stability, but physical health as well. In some cases, one may lose their appetite completely. In others, the appetite increases rapidly and food is used as a source of comfort or calm, also known as “stress eating”. Furthermore, in some cases appetite fluctuates so much that this results in a confused digestive system, and therefore weight gain. “Comfort Foods” usually contain high fat and sugar levels, which is why binging on too much comfort food, such as chocolates, creamy soups or carbs can be dangerous.

Loneliness

One of the key symptoms of depression is loneliness. In today’s world, young adults often confuse loneliness with independence. Being independent literally means that you are not dependent on others to prove yourself. You can be independent while being happily married with children. However, loneliness has often been known to cause obesity since people living alone are more likely to make poor food choices. This is because they often rely on whatever they can find and are less likely to put effort into making food when they are on their own. Eating out is often preferred by people living alone, which is another cause for eating unhealthy, and being unaware of what goes inside their food.

Insomnia

Irregular sleep patterns or insomnia can lead to weight gain. Your body clock determines how well you digest food. Breakfast is the healthiest meal for various reasons, including the fact that it is at that time of the day when food is digested most effectively. By the same principle, eating after 8pm at night is unhealthy since that is when digestion is at it’s least effective. Insomnia increases stress levels and when the body is stressed, it produces serotonin to calm down. Stress eating, as mentioned earlier, is one of the quickest ways to do this. Furthermore, due to a lack of sleep, the body is unable to digest food properly, reducing the ability of fat cells to burn down sugars.

Hormonal Changes

For most people, especially women, gaining weight is related to the physical and hormonal changes occurring in the body. Hormonal changes are usually caused by reduced levels of estrogen in middle aged women. Estrogen is responsible for the menstrual and reproductive cycle. A low level of estrogen is likely to slow down metabolism, causing bloating and weight gain in the hip and abdominal area. Moreover, in younger females, post menopause increases levels of progesterone, which increases appetite and is a common cause of binge eating before one’s period.

Being Happily Married

This one may surprise you, since it seems to be in sheer contradiction of all the previous possible reasons for weight gain. However, research shows that happily married couples are more likely to gain weight than those in a problematic marriage. For women, it is because as they start to live with their spouses, their portion sizes tend to match their significant other’s. This means that no matter what they eat, and no matter how much calories or fats they consume, the portions are getting bigger. For men, the saying “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” is not far-fetched. Happy couples tend to eat out more when they travel, and even put in more effort into their meals when they are at home. Other than the food itself, the importance of looks and appearances begins to lessen over time, whereas spending quality time and experiencing things together becomes more important. These experiences almost always involve food, whether its popcorn at a movie or trying exotic foods at a vacation.

In conclusion, it is important to do some self-reflection every once in a while, based on what we eat. Our food choices do define who we are, which is why it always helps to know what we want to associate ourselves with.

Comments