Top 10 Reasons for Weight Gain - Slideshow

Weight Gain

From sudden hormonal changes to unfit daily routine, there are many reasons for your growing weight. Weight gain, even if the calories and daily workout are all in place, could be a result of any medical condition or changes in your body, for which seeking a health provider could be the only help.

Depression

Feeling depressed and lonely could lead to increasing anxiety levels that make you to eat high calorie and fat foods and lessen your physical activity. Antidepressant pills increase your weight.

Seeking a medical counselor to combat the depression-related outcomes and maintain a healthy routine might help. Group workouts in outdoors, changing the medication and a calorie check on your diet could help reduce weight.

Unhealthy Routine

Lack of sleep, unbalanced hours of work, skipped meals, junk foods and no workout for burning that added flab to your tummy has now become a general routine for today's busy world. This kind of unfit routine is one of the root causes of obesity. Changes in hormones and hampered enzyme action due to such a lifestyle can lead to extreme weight gain.

Packing a daily routine and sticking by it is the only resolve.

The DNA

Your genes could be blamed for the extra pounds to some extent. Children of obese parents are more likely to gain weight as compared to lean parents. However, genes and their environmental interactions both are responsible for increase in weight.

A change in parents' lifestyle and adopting healthy eating and physical habits could reduce chances of obesity.

Medicines

Certain medications have shown effects on body metabolism and can cause weight gain. Anti-inflammatory steroids, anti psychotic drugs, medication for diabetes, high blood pressure and migraine can increase water retention in body and increase appetite resulting in weight gain.

Follow up with your doctor if you see any weight gaining symptom on face, abdomen or back of neck to make changes in daily dosage or prescribe other medicine.

Hypothyroidism

Dysfunctional thyroid gland leads to imbalance in thyroid hormone levels in the body. Thyroid hormone is necessary for proper metabolism and a lower level of it may cause fatigue, weakness and weight gain. Thyroid imbalance has become a common problem in women today and most of them face weight gain issues.

Proper medication to maintain hormone levels and a daily workout regime could reduce excess fat.

Menopause

When you reach your 40s and 50s there is a steep increase in body weight in women is generally associated to menopause and related hormonal changes. If your lifestyle has not remained as active and physical as it was in your 20s or 30s it slows metabolism, and causes hormonal changes that can lead to over-eating. Perimenopausal weight gain results in fat accumulation mostly around the waist.

Cutting down on calories and maintaining a healthy lifestyle may help to overcome perimenopausal weight gain problems.

Kicking the Butt

A sudden stop to smoking leads to an increased appetite that further results in increased body weight as it increases metabolism. Consult a doctor before quitting smoking to combat the after effects.

Medical Conditions

Cushing's Syndrome

Although a rare disease, but Cushing's syndrome has been proved to be associated with overweight issues. Increased cortisol levels in the body due to hampered adrenal gland functions or corticosteroid medications result in increased weight. Weight gain is prominent over neck, face, upper back and waistline. Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome High levels of hormone Androgen in women can lead to PCOS. This is prevalent among 5-10% of women in their childbearing age. Women suffering from PCOS can have reproductive problems and excessive hair growth. These women resist insulin which is a cause of weight gain. Such women are at a higher risk of heart problems. A doctor's consultation is a must if any such symptoms are seen.

Addictive Foods

Potato crisps, cheesy nuggets and all that engineered foods come with high amounts of carbs and calories, which are very addictive. These highly palatable foods are a big cause of weight gain today. Munching a packet of chips in few minutes would require hours of physical exercise to curb the gained calories. Highly advertised marketing of these products on mass media has become an important cause of obesity in children all over the world.

What to do?

A healthy balanced diet is a prerequisite for maintaining optimum weight.

Exercise and physical activity must be on your daily to do list. Instant weight gain might be due to medical reasons, so consult a doctor as soon as possible. Reduce the amount of junk food from diet and add nutrients to it. If you're on any medication that can cause weight gain, ask your doctor to prescribe weight control plan.