Last partial update: July 2016 - Please read disclaimer before proceeding
Prevention of obesity in adults
By far the best way to avoid obesity and its associated problems is to avoid becoming overweight in the first place. Once people are overweight, losing weight and maintaining that weight loss is difficult.( It is thus very unfortunate that many people develop obesity in childhood.)
There are specific times during life where weight gain is more likely. These need to be anticipated and managed appropriately through increased exercise or decreased energy intake.
Danger times for developing obesity
Childhood: The cornerstone of healthy weight management throughout life is having a healthy home environment during childhood, where good food and physical activity are encouraged. It is vital that people provide this sort of environment for their children. The older children are when obese, the more likely they are to become obese adults.
Families where obesity is a chronic problem that appears in several generations need to be particularly vigilant to ensure their home environment is a healthy one, as their children may have a significant genetic predisposition to developing obesity.
Adolescence / early adulthood: Inactivity, especially for girls, predisposes adolescents to obesity. Weight that is gained after growth in height has finished is more difficult to remove.
Males are usually active and grow quickly during their adolescence and they need a high energy diet at this time. They finish growing in late adolescence and this is also often the time that they stop playing sport. Unfortunately, they are used to a diet high in energy, often provided by ‘junk food’, and tend to stay on it. This means that they are now taking in more energy than they are using and the excess is stored as fat. The same is true for females, although to a lesser extent. Females finish growing earlier, with most girls reaching their maximum height by 15 years of age. Thus they are likely to start putting on weight earlier.
For both sexes, late adolescence is also the time alcohol consuming starts. Alcohol contains high amounts of energy and the extra energy that this adds to the young person’s diet is often quickly added as fat to their waist-line; and, to make matters worse, alcohol is often consumed with high-energy snack foods like peanuts and crisps.
Click here for section about childhood obesity in childhood and how to prevent it.
Pregnancy: Pregnancy itself does not usually cause abnormal weight gain. However, stress levels are often high during this time and after delivery and this can lead to weight gain, especially if depression is a significant problem. Other factors that increase the likelihood of an overall weight gain several months after delivery include a large weight gain with the pregnancy, a greater number of pregnancies, a later return to work after the pregnancy, and not breast feeding. (The additional energy needed for breast feeding can lead to some weight loss.)
Menopause: A slight weight gain is common around this time in most women, mainly due to lifestyle changes such as reducing levels of physical activity and more time for socializing. Fat is also redistributed from the hips to the abdomen at this time; a bad change. There is no evidence that hormone replacement therapy increases this slight ‘natural’ weight gain.
Life events: Any major life event has the potential to cause weight gain, either because of the stress involved or because the event causes lifestyle changes, such as less time for exercise. Such events might include the death of a parent or spouse, retirement, marriage, or a new relationship.
Quitting smoking: Weight gain is common with ‘quitting’ and occurs due to a decrease in the body’s metabolic rate, improvements in taste, and increased appetite. Before quitting, it is essential to get dietary advice as weight gain is a common cause of ‘quit’ failure. (See section on quitting smoking.)