Physical Activity
Mary J. Marian, Gerard E. Mullin in Integrating Nutrition Into Practice, 2017
Effective weight management for individuals and groups with overweight and obesity involves a range of strategies including reducing energy intake through dietary change and increasing energy expenditure by increasing physical activity. Clinical trials have shown that exercise in adults with overweight or obesity can reduce body weight; and a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library has supported this view.62 The results of this systematic review, which included 43 studies with 3476 participants, support the use of exercise as a weight loss intervention, particularly when combined with dietary changes. For successful long-term weight loss, physical activity alone is insufficient and must be combined with low-energy intake. Exercise is also associated with improved cardiovascular disease risk factors even if no weight loss occurs.62
The Health Psychologist’s Role: Research, Application, and Advocacy
Deborah Fish Ragin in Health Psychology, 2017
Weight Scales In earlier chapters, we discussed body weight management as one health-enhancing behavior. Weight management helps reduce the likelihood of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even some forms of cancer. Because weight management is an important health-enhancing activity, we might assume that many people would weigh themselves regularly. In fact, they do not. In an international study of scale obsessions, fast-food addictions, and obesity, researchers examined the self-weighing behaviors of individuals in 13 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results revealed that very few study participants reported frequent weight monitoring. Although approximately 50% of American and French participants reported weighing themselves on average once per week, more than 37% of Singaporeans reported never weighing themselves (Amerinfo, 2008).
Weight Concerns
Carolyn Torkelson, Catherine Marienau in Beyond Menopause, 2023
Conventional medicine recognizes the epidemic of obesity and its impact on chronic disease. It also recognizes that the best way to address weight management is through a multidisciplinary approach based on behavioral modification, nutrition, physical activity, pharmacotherapy, and, when indicated, bariatric (weight-loss) surgery. The difficulty is that most physicians have minimal training in nutrition and limited time during a visit to discuss these interventions. Even more distressing is that negative views toward overweight and obese patients remain widespread among physicians, despite extensive scientific evidence that genetic and environmental factors often contribute to obesity. In a 2012 survey of 2,500 U.S. women, 69% reported feeling stigmatized by their doctors, and 52% endured recurring weight bias.9 The problem is so pervasive that the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics issued statements in 2017 emphasizing the importance of compassionate communication in an effort to ensure that overweight and obese patients are not stigmatized or shamed when seeking treatment for health issues.10
Cultural Challenges to Weight Management: A Qualitative Study of Saudi Women’s Experiences
Published in Journal of Community Health Nursing, 2022
In 2018, Saudi Arabia ranked second in the world for the highest percentage of obese females, with 37% of Saudi women facing problems related to obesity (Khan, 2018). Obesity is defined as 120% of ideal weight (Mugharbel & Al-Mansouri, 2003; Mussa et al., 2016). According to the body mass index (BMI) weight status categories, adults with a BMI greater than or equal to 30 would be classified as obese (World Health Organization, 2020). Silvestri (2013) contends that weight management is an effective strategy for creating a healthy lifestyle to combat obesity. Summerfield (2011) and Goldman (2008) define weight management as the balance of regular physical exercise and healthy eating habits to help an individual maintain a proper body weight. Goldman (2008) explains that the process of weight management entails balancing energy intake and energy usage. Therefore, weight management involves maintaining an individual’s body weight at an acceptably healthy level. Researchers have noted that many individuals are greatly concerned about their looks and bodies to the extent that they often seek professional advice on how to overcome any types of poor body weight maintenance behavior (Goldman, 2008; Silvestri, 2013).
“Prescribing” Exercise and Nutrition in Cancer Care
Published in Oncology Issues, 2020
Jessica Clague DeHart, Jeffrey Massin, Cailey Barnes, Marissa Ramirez
These increases pose a major problem because obesity is linked to increases in cancer recurrence, death, comorbidities, treatment related symptoms, and a decrease in quality of life.16 Overweight and obese cancer patients may also increase their risk of acquiring other cancers. Examples include esophageal, liver, kidney, stomach, colorectal, gallbladder, pancreatic, ovarian, endometrial, post-menopausal, breast, and advanced prostate cancer.1 Evidence is also showing that obesity may be associated with a decrease in treatment effectiveness. It is well known that increasing physical activity and maintaining a healthy diet are effective in weight management. Therefore, the solution is simple: providers must begin “prescribing” exercise and nutrition to cancer patients.
Excess visceral adiposity is associated with diabetic retinopathy in a multiethnic Asian cohort with longstanding type 2 diabetes
Published in Endocrine Research, 2018
Angela Moh, Kumari Neelam, Xiao Zhang, Chee Fang Sum, Subramaniam Tavintharan, Keven Ang, Simon Biing Ming Lee, Wern Ee Tang, Su Chi Lim
The impact of weight loss on DR has been inadequately investigated and lacks consensus. It is well accepted that weight reduction improves glycemic control in T2D patients. Emerging data from a number of studies have suggested beneficial effects of weight management. Women with more physical activity were found to have reduced risk of more advanced DR.42 Moreover, impeded progression of DR was observed after bariatric surgery.43 Paradoxically, deterioration of DR as a result of aggressive glycemic control, termed as “normoglycemic re-entry phenomenon,” is commonly reported. Cheung et al. revealed that 7.5% of patients developed incident DR post-bariatric surgery. Additionally, among those with DR preoperatively, 23.5% had DR progression postoperatively, compared with 57.4% without change in DR grade and 19.2% who improved.44 While the favorable effects of bariatric surgery on diabetic kidney disease are consistent, the risk of DR development and progression is not eliminated after surgery. It was postulated that the retina is more vulnerable than the kidney to glucose deprivation (due to rapid glycemic improvement) because the neural tissue of the retina is solely dependent on glucose for energy.45 Noteworthily, DR deterioration after intensive diabetes treatment was indicated to be transient and improved within 2 years.46 Hence, achieving tight glycemic control through weigh loss should not be deterred because the overall long-term benefits markedly outweigh the short-term DR risk.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Behavior Modification
- Body Weight
- Physiology
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Hypertension
- Healthy Diet
- Physical Activity
- Chronic Condition
- Energy Homeostasis