The plight of gaining weight!

Adding pounds to the wallet gives happiness. After all, one-pound converts into nearly 90 Indian National Rupees. That makes the wallet heavier! But when one-pound leads to an increased reading of 453 grams on your weighing machine, it gives a panic, an elevation in stress and can cause a literal rise in blood pressure!

Before writing further, let me be very clear. Some amount of weight gain with increasing age can be there due to some physiological changes in your body. You are not required to freak out with a little weight gain with increasing age! However, when you gain a huge amount of weight and you are not pregnant, work on realizing the reason for your weight gain so that you can also work on losing the gained weight.

The underlying reasons for the alarming readings on your weighing machine can be one of the follows:

•         Are sleepless nights making you weigh higher?

      Chronic lack of sleep hampers concentration and decision-making power. Besides that, persistent lack of sleep can lead to weight gain. Changes in sleep patterns and inability to achieve or maintain a proper refreshing sleep can affect eating patterns and mood. This can cause the affected person to overeat.

Some studies have found that the people deprived of sleep ate a lot more carbohydrates than that were necessary to meet the energy needs. This can lead to weight gain. Such people also consume more calories, especially after dinner. Sleep-deprived people can eat a lot of junk food, which further makes the deposition of fat an easy process.

•         Alcohol that goes in your belly shows on your belly!

A large amount of alcohol can hurt you when you stand on the weighing machine. Drinking more than a moderate amount i.e. more than one drink for a woman and more than two drinks for a man is problematic. As you drink excessive alcohol, your liver is pressurized as alcohol is processed and metabolized in the liver. This leads to a condition called alcoholic fatty liver due to the accumulation of fat over the liver which can progress to liver cirrhosis if left untreated. Fatty liver and calories present in alcohol when associated with sluggish functions of your body due to suppression of the central nervous system by alcohol can lead to gain in weight.

•         Quitting smoking can make you quit your lean figure!

And, this should not be used for your reason for not quitting smoking. Some people gain weight when they quit smoking. On average, 1-kilogram weight is gained in the first month of quitting smoking. During the first three months of quitting cigarette smoking, the majority of a person’s weight gain occurs. The rate of weight gain slows down after 6 months.

On the contrary, some people lose weight after quitting smoking.

Whether quitting smoking makes you lose or gain weight, it is always healthy to quit smoking and there are healthy ways to deal with changes in weight.

•         Increased weight can be due to increased hormonal disbalance!

These include health problems like hypothyroidism, diabetes and polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD).
Women suffering from PCOD may find themselves gaining weight. The ovaries produce abnormally high levels of male sex hormones that are responsible for many symptoms such as irregular periods, excess hair on the face, back, chest or abdomen, thinning of hair or hair loss, acne and dark pigmentation of the skin around armpits, breasts, or neck.

In hypothyroidism, thyroid hormones become abnormal which can lead to weight gain in men and women.

Resistance to insulin and high insulin level which may be present due to external insulin or due to an increased intake of refined carbohydrates, especially in diabetes can make you gain weight according to some studies.

•         Medications may be making you gain weight!

There are some medications that cause people to gain weight. These medications include conventional drugs that are prescribed for seizures, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, depression, and psychiatric disorders. Discuss with your doctor before stopping any medicine.

•         Periods can make you put on periodical weight!

       Some weight gain does occur in women prior to their periods due to bloating.

•         Stress and depression can speed up your weight gain!

Pressure or tension that is persistent and occurs due to a demanding situation in your life. Stress can be physical, emotional, psychological or can occur as a combination of these factors.
Depression is characterized by a persistently sad or depressed mood and loss of interest in one’s favorite activities.

Stress and depression can cause binge eating and can make one take in fatty, oily, junk food, and snacks. This causes an increase in weight.

Apart from the reasons given above, there may be other reasons which can be responsible for your weight gain. In most of the cases, homeopathy can help you in limiting weight gain, reducing weight and making you fit. Homeopathy addresses hormonal, emotional and mental reasons responsible for causing weight gain. It helps you quit smoking and alcohol with reduced negative effects of quitting them.

Homeopathic remedies can also help you in dealing with disturbed sleep and thus can decrease weight gain due to loss of sleep. As the treatment given by a well-trained homeopathic doctor is holistic, the medicines prescribed help in healing health problems associated with weight gain in people. Just remember the rule, self-prescription of homeopathic medicines is not safe. There is a homeopathic doctor to give you customized homeopathic remedies for your healthy weight loss plan. Also, do not hype the process of achieving a certain figure, instead focus on achieving fitness through healthy weight loss. A safe and healthy journey is the best journey!