Why Do People Gain Weight?

There are a lot of reasons why people gain weight, but it is possible to gather the causes and categorize them so that we can discuss the topic with ease. When categorized, there are two main points. The first one is health issues. Humans can gain weight because of genetics, medications, and hormones. The genetics of a person might make them more vulnerable to gaining weight easily. When we say hormones, we are mainly talking about Insulin and Leptin. Insulin is a hormone that regulates energy storage. How does insulin cause a person to gain weight? When a person has a low fiber intake and a high intake of simple and refined carbs, this may result in something called “insulin resistance” (IR). IR causes fat cells to store fat and to hold on to the fat. There is also a condition called “leptin resistance” (LR), which is very similar to IR. The main difference between IR and LR is that leptin tells people’s brain when they are feeling full but when they have LR, leptin does not work properly. The effect of some medications on hormones might trigger this even further. The other main factor of why people gain weight is environmental causes like food availability, marketing, and work. Marketing and food availability goes hand to hand, for example, not only is there a lot more junk food available to people but also big companies make advertisements to make these junk foods more desirable. People see food in ads, movies, and also on billboards, so when they see food constantly and when food is available to them, they are going to think about food and eventually eat a lot of food. Last and maybe the most important factor is work and time balance. The intensity of work is becoming mainstream as industries grow and more people start working. As a result of this, busy working hours are normalized, but the effect of this on people’s lives is not very positive. Long working hours cause stress, which, in turn, causes a condition called “stress eating”. In addition, because people do not have much time outside of work, they cannot find enough time to exercise. Likewise, time constraints caused by heavy workloads lead to irregular meals and more fast-food consumption. All of these factors contribute to the reasons why people gain weight.

References
[1] Gunnars, K. B. (2018, May 4). 10 Leading Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-causes-of-weight-gain#TOC_TITLE_HDR_10
[2] Harvard Health. (2019, June 24). Why people become overweight. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/why-people-become-overweight