Why Women should watch their weight

There are numerous contributing factors. These include:

1. The role of women in Asian societies is predominantly child rearing and household duties, which not only require women to spend more time at home, but also have less time to take up an exercise and fitness regime.
2. The custom of overfeeding a pregnant woman in the family with rich, high-calorie foods and sweets, for a ‘bonny baby’.
3. Women tend to neglect their personal health at least for the first two years after delivery, devoting themselves completely to caring for the baby.
4. Increasing consumption of readymade and convenience foods.
5. The trend of eating out and partying on weekends and celebratory occasions. As a consequence, women are consuming more alcohol and fried appetizers than ever before.
6. In cities, water has been replaced by soft drinks and energy drinks, and fruits by packaged fruit juices.
7. With television screens in every public and personal space, lack of outdoor spaces, and gadgets becoming a status symbol, entertainment has become a passive activity.

Why women should watch their weight

It’s best to tackle obesity when it is mild, that is to say, when you are becoming overweight. This applies especially to career women who tend to neglect their bodies due to work commitments.

Watching your weight is important not just for social or cosmetic reasons. Obesity puts women at risk of various chronic conditions like joint pain, osteoarthritis, Type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, backache and others, in the process making them less mobile, and adding to further weight gain. 60% of married women approaching gynaecologists for infertility treatment suffer from obesity.

Weight gain in unmarried women could lead to insulin resistance, wherein the body needs to produce more insulin to get the blood sugar level to normal. In the long run, insulin resistance could lead to further weight gain, ovarian dysfunction and polycystic ovarian disease. Significant weight loss can reverse all these health risks.

Prevention

1. Control your diet. While exercise is essential for weight maintenance and overall health, it is the diet that is crucial for weight loss.
2. Water is the best medicine. Drink water as often in the day as you can.
3. Avoid all aerated drinks and artificial foods. If you are having soft drinks, ensure that they are sugar-free.
4. Fruits are better alternatives to fruit juices.
5. Parties can continue but reduce the amount of alcohol and calorie-dense food.
6. Try to eat as much home-made food as possible.
7. During pregnancy, focus on eating nutritious food which is rich in iron, calcium, protein and minerals rather than fat and sugar.
8. If everyone in your family is overweight, reduce the amount of oil and sugar used per month by half.
9. Maintain a minimum level of physical activity every day. Doing household chores is NOTexercise. Make a daily habit of climbing up and down the staircase or taking a brisk walk in the park.
10. Keep a watch on your BMI (body mass index).