Obesity means accumulation of excess fat on the body. Foods provide us with the nutrients we need for healthy bodies and calories for energy. But if you overeat regularly, you gain weight and if you continue to gain weight, you may become obese.

Poor diet cause obesity. Beyond a person’s heredity, poor dietary habits can contribute to heart disease and diabetes.

Again, obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) more than 30. The BMI is a measure of your weight relative to your height. It can also be calculated for weight in pounds and height in inches.

For most people who are obese, the safest and most effective way to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more.

Below are various options to cure obesity.

Controlling diet

Reducing calories moderately is essential to achieve a slow but steady weight loss. Strategies of dietary therapy includes knowing about the calorie content in different foods, food composition, understanding nutritional value and how to prepare food and what to buy etc.

Physical activity

Moderate physical activity on daily basis is recommended for weight loss. Abdominal fat and waist circumference can be mostly reduced through physical activity. Strategies of physical activity should include the use of aerobic exercises like- cycling, dancing, swimming etc.

Diet and exercise are always a better alternative to weight loss surgery, but if these don’t work, you may need some extra help.

Behavior therapy

This includes changing diet and physical activity patterns and habits to new behaviors that promote weight loss. This includes joining a support group that can encourage weight loss in a positive way, developing a social support network, setting achievable goals about weight loss and working for it, maintaining a record of daily exercise and diet. A combination of a lower calorie diet and increased physical activity is reported to produce more weight loss than diet or exercise only. This is more about mental activity-changing your attitude towards food and exercise.

Medical treatment

If you are unsuccessful at losing weight on your own, you can seek doctor’s help. Various drugs are also used for weight loss and weight maintenance. For this, patients should be continuously assessed to determine the effects and safety of the drug. A combination of drugs, diet and exercise could prove to be an effective treatment for obesity.

Surgery

Obesity surgery is recommended as a treatment option for persons with obesity that have-a BMI of more than 40. Obesity surgery is used either to modify the stomach or the intestines to reduce the amount of food that can be eaten. This is for long-term weight loss control with severe obesity. Patients should know the benefits and risks associated with surgery before operation. For morbidly obese patients, who have significant obesity-related medical complications, surgery is the only option for them.

Mainly, there are two types of bariatric surgeries are done-gastric bypass surgery and lap band surgery. While they are helping people lose weight, to be more successful, it must be accompanied by healthy eating habits and regular exercise.