Obesity: In the world of lifestyle gurus and “nutritionists”, it means “cash-cow”.
These people can always count on your irrational obsession with your waistline – to improve their bottomline. Their profits come from your paranoia about your bulging belly and your jiggling butt.
Whether any of their weight-loss plans or dietary supplements actually work is debatable. Very debatable.
Our society thrives on body-shaming. We have weird, illogical, physiologically unattainable and medically ridiculous standards of beauty. We judge others by their physical appearance, not by their competence.
In other words, the root cause of the problem is not your lifestyle coach, but you.
Lifestyle peddlers know this very well and they exploit your stupidity to the hilt, as they ply you with one “scientific” dietary plan after another, each backed by “research”, each guaranteed to make you as sexy as Adonis (or Aphrodite), and each equally worthless.
What’s obesity anyway?
Ah. That’s a good question. Innocent laypeople (that’s you), cannot distinguish between normal weight gain and morbid obesity.
I said, normal weight gain. It is perfectly normal to gain some weight as one ages. Obviously, you cannot expect to be as slim and hard at fifty as you were at twenty. Normal human beings tend to gain some weight, as their metabolic rates gradually decline with age.
The technical term is basal metabolic rate or BMR. Simply put, BMR is an indicator of how much energy you consume at rest. As you age, your BMR will decrease. This is a natural process and not something to be tampered with.
Many nutra-peddlers and life-gurus claim that their diet plans and/or dietary products can increase your BMR and make you lose weight dramatically.
Bullshit.
It is exceptionally difficult to raise your basal metabolic rate, partly because it is difficult to accurately measure your BMR in the first place. No diet plan or dietary supplement can increase your BMR to the point where you will lose weight just like that.
How do I know if I’m just overweight or really obese?
What you need to know is your body-to-mass index, also known as BMI. It’s easy to calculate. Simply divide your weight in kilos by your height in square meters.
For a 6 foot tall man weighing 80 kgs, his BMI would be 80/(1.83)^2 = 23.8.
Another quick calculation is your waist-to-hip ratio. That’s easy. Measure waist, measure hips. Divide.
A BMI of more than 26 is generally considered obese. If your BMR is more than 30, that’s morbid obesity. If your waist-to-hip is more than 1.2, and your BMR is in the high twenties, it would be a good idea to seek professional help.
Mind you, professional help. Not some lifestyle “guru” with no medical credentials.
Up next: How to properly treat obesity.
Stay tuned.
Srini.
Key reference:
Weight control, US Dept of Health and Human Services.
NutraGyaan 
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