The fight against obesity is something many people want, yet many fail in their attempt. Why is it so hard to maintain a healthy weight?Many people with obesity disorders fail, partly because their severity is underestimated, but there are many other factors.
Treating obesity is one of the most difficult challenges faced by health professionals, we are probably living in a chronic disorder. Therefore, it should be treated in the same way as other chronic diseases such as diabetes and should last a lifetime.
- Thanks to published literature on the subject.
- It is now known that some people have a genetic predisposition to obesity.
- Their metabolism is less effective at burning fats and/or regulating the feeling of appetite and satiety.
On the other hand, changing habits to cope with obesity involves combating important sociocultural influences. We have unlimited access to messages that encourage anti-practical or desirable behaviors.
Therapies offer some control of the diet and promote physical activity, however, in our society we often receive messages that encourage us to eat more and with less nutritional quality, in addition to being encouraged to be more sedentary.
Here are the big challenges faced by professionals facing obesity. First, how to intervene in these innate tendencies. Then, how to stabilize the new habits acquired. These habits will find strong opposition that can lead the patient to return to their old habits and to a less healthy state.
Obesity is defined as an excess of a person’s amount of body fat, a normal person usually has the following proportion of body fat (Moreno, Monerero and Alvarez, 2000):
When the above limits are exceeded, we face a case of excess fat. This is what we call “overweight. ” In addition, if the following values are achieved, we will talk about “obesity”:
In the past, obesity was not seen as a problem by society and by many people who suffered from it. In addition, it meant the exception in a context where access to food was difficult. Being obese could mean wealth and opulence, socially desirable values.
However, the high number of people affected has made obesity one of the main health problems in Western societies (WHO, 2010). In addition, obese people have been found to be more likely to develop health problems. These discoveries have made obesity a problem and therefore a phenomenon for which a “solution” must be found.
After several decades of treatment of obesity, basic areas of intervention have been established from the cognitive behavioral approach, which have been classified, especially at the group level.
The main areas of psychological intervention in obesity are (Foster, Makris and Bailer, 2005):
As can be seen, intervention in associated risk disorders, such as depression, was not included as a specific target, this will only be done when these symptoms are present, this is done by using techniques that have proven to be effective for each particular disorder.
Based on the cognitive-behavioral paradigm, obesity is understood to result from bad habits, so the fundamental core of obesity intervention must be the rehabilitation of these habits, for this psychology is a fundamental discipline.
As for physical activity, there are studies that point to an idea that can backfire: it is not a good strategy in the early stages of treatment to combat obesity. This is because it has a low impact on caloric expenditure. However, it is effective in the weight maintenance phases.
As we have seen, changing habits is essential if we are to combat obesity. These habits may seem complicated to change, but health professionals are there to help us achieve this.