The structure of our body
Our body is made up of a structures of bones, muscles filling up the gapes. Apart from these their are three enclosed areas in the body. The skull, which houses the brain, the chest, which houses the heart, the two lungs and the abdominal cavity which contain the stomach, intestines, one liver, two kidneys and one spleen.
There is no fixed weight of this organs but in an average adult the brain weight about 1.5 kg, heart about 300 gms, liver about 1.5 to 2 kg. There is about 5 liters of blood, the two kidneys combined will be about 300 grams. The bones probably make about 15 to 20 kg and the majority of the rest is made of by the muscles which may be about 20 to 40 kg.
All the cells of the body contain a lot of water including the muscles, heart, kidneys, brain, intestines, bone and bone marrow. There is a lot of water in between the cells called extra cellular water. So water constitutes about 55% of the body weight. The cells also have proteins, fats and very little carbohydrates, some minerals.
The body can store a lot of fats as a reserve of calories proteins are stored in the muscles but their is hardly any extra amount of carbohydrates in the body. Only liver stores some glycogen which is made of carbohydrates. The body weight minus the fat storage is often termed as " lean body mass".
The fat storage in an average healthy body is about 15% of the body weight. They in fact fill up gapes between the muscles and the bones. A large portion of fat is stored in the cells ( called adipocytes or fat cells) below our skin this is called subcutaneous fat.
As the body fat increases in obese people thick and thicker layers of fat keep on accumulating in this subcutaneous layer all over the body but specially so in the buttocks, abdomen, cheeks and chins.
Human body is a machine, something like a car whose engine can not be switched off. The heart will beat, the lungs will expand and recoil, the blood will continuously flow, the intestines will keep on moving the food, the kidneys will keep on filtering continuously.
If you want to move your hands and legs where most of the muscles are situated many more muscle cells would start working. All these activities need energy like our car needs. This energy comes from the food that we eat.
Now how much energy does our body need per day? The unit of this energy is calorie (more scientifically we call it kilo calorie). If we do not use our body muscles to a great degree (which means we only sit and sleep ) our body needs about 1000 to 1200 calories in 24 hours'.
A little activity (equal to a sedentary person) will need about 1600 calories. A manual labourer who has to keep o moving most of his hand and leg muscles needs about 3000 calories and an hard working Eskimo staying in Greenland may require about 5000 to 7000 calories per day.
For this energy we need food. our stomach and intestine will digest this food the broken particles will go to the blood after absorption, every cell of our body will get them from the blood and produce energy in their power houses called mitochondria.
Billions of our cells can be fed with this 1600 odd calories food for the whole day. If we consume foods worth more calories the extra calories will be converted into fat and stored in our cells especially our fat cells which now increase in number and size.
On the other hand, if we do not eat anything for the whole day, these stored fats will be utilized to mobilize these 1600 calories, which our body needs throughout the day.
1.Overeating: Consuming extra calories can result in weight gain and obesity.
2. A lifestyle that is too sedentary: A lack of exercise can lower energy expenditure and increase weight.
3. Genetics: Some people may be genetically predisposed to obesity, which means that their genes may make them more likely to put on weight.
4. Medical conditions: weight gain is a potential side effect of some medical conditions, including hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
5. Medication: As a side effect, weight gain can occur with some drugs, including steroids, antipsychotics, and antidepressants.
6. psychological causes: stress, anxiety, and depression are emotional causes that can result in overeating and obesity.
7. Environmental factors: Residing in an environment that encourages sedentary behavior and unhealthy eating can raise the risk of obesity.
It's important to remember that each person's experience with obesity is different and that many of these factors combine to cause obesity. Healthy eating practices, regular physical activity, stress management, and medical treatment, as needed, may all be addressed as part of a comprehensive strategy to manage obesity.
This is the basic and simple concept of weight gain and loss. It is something like putting petrol in our car. if our car consumes about 10 liters of petrol and we put 10 liters in the car daily the storage tank will remain as it is. But if we keep on putting 15 liters per day the fuel tank will first fill up and after a few days it will start overflowing.
Some concept applies with our body if we need 1600 calories and eat food worth 1600 calories the body weight will remain same. But we put 2000 calories worth food in our body, our body will have to store these extra four hundred calories in our fat cells.
It is something like our bodys fuel tank is stretchable it will not waste the calories but will expand the storage area or capacity all over the body. The fat cells will increase in size and number to accommodate these extra calories. If intake of this extra calories goes on soon there is a substantial storage of fats and the result is obesity.
There is no fixed weight of this organs but in an average adult the brain weight about 1.5 kg, heart about 300 gms, liver about 1.5 to 2 kg. There is about 5 liters of blood, the two kidneys combined will be about 300 grams. The bones probably make about 15 to 20 kg and the majority of the rest is made of by the muscles which may be about 20 to 40 kg.
All the cells of the body contain a lot of water including the muscles, heart, kidneys, brain, intestines, bone and bone marrow. There is a lot of water in between the cells called extra cellular water. So water constitutes about 55% of the body weight. The cells also have proteins, fats and very little carbohydrates, some minerals.
The body can store a lot of fats as a reserve of calories proteins are stored in the muscles but their is hardly any extra amount of carbohydrates in the body. Only liver stores some glycogen which is made of carbohydrates. The body weight minus the fat storage is often termed as " lean body mass".
The fat storage in an average healthy body is about 15% of the body weight. They in fact fill up gapes between the muscles and the bones. A large portion of fat is stored in the cells ( called adipocytes or fat cells) below our skin this is called subcutaneous fat.
As the body fat increases in obese people thick and thicker layers of fat keep on accumulating in this subcutaneous layer all over the body but specially so in the buttocks, abdomen, cheeks and chins.
How does obesity arise?
Human body is a machine, something like a car whose engine can not be switched off. The heart will beat, the lungs will expand and recoil, the blood will continuously flow, the intestines will keep on moving the food, the kidneys will keep on filtering continuously.
If you want to move your hands and legs where most of the muscles are situated many more muscle cells would start working. All these activities need energy like our car needs. This energy comes from the food that we eat.
Now how much energy does our body need per day? The unit of this energy is calorie (more scientifically we call it kilo calorie). If we do not use our body muscles to a great degree (which means we only sit and sleep ) our body needs about 1000 to 1200 calories in 24 hours'.
A little activity (equal to a sedentary person) will need about 1600 calories. A manual labourer who has to keep o moving most of his hand and leg muscles needs about 3000 calories and an hard working Eskimo staying in Greenland may require about 5000 to 7000 calories per day.
For this energy we need food. our stomach and intestine will digest this food the broken particles will go to the blood after absorption, every cell of our body will get them from the blood and produce energy in their power houses called mitochondria.
Billions of our cells can be fed with this 1600 odd calories food for the whole day. If we consume foods worth more calories the extra calories will be converted into fat and stored in our cells especially our fat cells which now increase in number and size.
On the other hand, if we do not eat anything for the whole day, these stored fats will be utilized to mobilize these 1600 calories, which our body needs throughout the day.
Obesity has a number of root causes, including:
1.Overeating: Consuming extra calories can result in weight gain and obesity.
2. A lifestyle that is too sedentary: A lack of exercise can lower energy expenditure and increase weight.
3. Genetics: Some people may be genetically predisposed to obesity, which means that their genes may make them more likely to put on weight.
4. Medical conditions: weight gain is a potential side effect of some medical conditions, including hypothyroidism, Cushing's syndrome, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
5. Medication: As a side effect, weight gain can occur with some drugs, including steroids, antipsychotics, and antidepressants.
6. psychological causes: stress, anxiety, and depression are emotional causes that can result in overeating and obesity.
7. Environmental factors: Residing in an environment that encourages sedentary behavior and unhealthy eating can raise the risk of obesity.
It's important to remember that each person's experience with obesity is different and that many of these factors combine to cause obesity. Healthy eating practices, regular physical activity, stress management, and medical treatment, as needed, may all be addressed as part of a comprehensive strategy to manage obesity.
This is the basic and simple concept of weight gain and loss. It is something like putting petrol in our car. if our car consumes about 10 liters of petrol and we put 10 liters in the car daily the storage tank will remain as it is. But if we keep on putting 15 liters per day the fuel tank will first fill up and after a few days it will start overflowing.
Some concept applies with our body if we need 1600 calories and eat food worth 1600 calories the body weight will remain same. But we put 2000 calories worth food in our body, our body will have to store these extra four hundred calories in our fat cells.
It is something like our bodys fuel tank is stretchable it will not waste the calories but will expand the storage area or capacity all over the body. The fat cells will increase in size and number to accommodate these extra calories. If intake of this extra calories goes on soon there is a substantial storage of fats and the result is obesity.
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