At what point are you considered overweight?
53 percent of women in Germany are overweight, among men it is over 67 percent.* A person is considered overweight if he or she has a body mass index (BMI) of over 25. The BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in metres multiplied by yourself. E.G.: Body weight 60, height 1.65 = 60 : (1.65 x 1.65) = 22. Here you can have your BMI calculated free of charge:
https://adipositas-gesellschaft.de/bmi/
Severe overweight makes people ill
Obesity can promote the development of chronic diseases and reduce life expectancy by years. With increasing weight, the risks for high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, gout, heart attacks, etc. increase. And of course also for disorders of the musculoskeletal system (knees, hips, spine). Excess weight in combination with a lack of exercise can also metabolic syndrome result in a "heart disease".
The cause: too much energy - too little exercise
The cause of obesity is always a positive energy balance, i.e. more energy is taken in than is consumed. For Dr. Stefanie Gerlach of the German Obesity Society, it is clear that the increasing obesity in Germany and Europe is a "biological response to a living environment that promotes obesity".** Although there are also individual causes (genetic predisposition, family socialisation), the main causes are too much food, too little exercise, chronic stress and insomnia. She calls on politicians to create economic incentives so that the food industry uses less salt, sugar and fat and optimises recipes for mass products in particular.
Nevertheless, each individual is directly responsible for his or her own well-being and health. This means that losing weight - just as much as not gaining weight - can be achieved through controlled nutrition and plenty of exercise. "Controlled nutrition" means nothing other than: Diet.
The solution: eat less - move more
Significantly, "diet" means "diet for the sick" or, according to the Duden dictionary, "a diet adapted to the needs of a sick person". The illness here is overweight, so the aim of the diet is to lose weight, and "eating less" means "taking in fewer calories than one consumes". Calories are commonly regarded in nutrition as a unit of measurement for the energy in food. Our main nutrients - protein, fat and carbohydrates - contain different amounts of energy. It is released in the body when the nutrients are digested (burned).
Fat contains the most energy and carbohydrates (sugar/starch) serve as the body's main source of energy. If more energy is taken in than is consumed, the body stores the excess energy "for times of need" in the form of fatty tissue. Interesting: the body converts 7000 excess calories into approx. 1 kg of fatty tissue!*** If you supply the body with less energy than it needs for the functioning of all organs and for muscle work (exercise) via less fat and fewer carbohydrates, it falls back on its energy stores. You lose weight. The composition of the diet can therefore have a great influence on the energy balance of the body.
Muscles are fat killer number 1
The second component through which one can actively influence the energy balance is the musculature and exercise.
Muscles are the number 1 fat killer. Every movement consumes energy. Sporting activities are therefore ideal for burning more calories and helping to reduce fat deposits. In addition, sport helps to build muscle. Every muscle fibre increases the basal metabolic rate, i.e. the amount of energy the body needs at rest to maintain all functions. Here you can calculate your basal metabolic rate free of charge:
http://www.apotheken-umschau.de/Abnehmen/Ihr-persoenlicher-Grundumsatz-52574_2.html
It doesn't always have to be sport!
It is not always easy to incorporate sport regularly into everyday working life. Germans know that they do not exercise enough and that they need to overcome their inner stubbornness more often. A good third exercise less than half an hour a day, another stays under an hour and only 29 percent manage at least 60 minutes or more.****
Many "couch potatoes" are put off by the idea of suddenly having to switch to "sport". But that is not necessary. Fortunately, even small amounts of exercise have a caloric effect and increase the metabolism. As long as you do them often enough and regularly. It is already enough to move more throughout the day.
The old recipes apply: Use the stairs instead of the lift, walk a little more instead of driving everything, deliberately make phone calls while standing up when doing sedentary work and, if possible, work at a standing desk for a change. In summary: Walk and stand as much as possible, and if you have to sit, then preferably move as much as possible.
The active seating furniture from Aeris makes it easy to turn an 8-hour sitting day into an 8-hour moving day. Automatically and quite incidentally. For example, the Swopper 3D active chair from Aeris. Thanks to the unique 3D technology developed by Aeris , it actually helps build muscle and lose weight: The moving 3D sitting can burn up to 300 extra calories. No wonder: studies have shown that when sitting on the Aeris Swopper, you move more than twice as much as on conventional office chairs. And as a beneficial side effect, the oxygen supply to the brain increases as well as the ability to perform and concentrate. Users of the office chair Aeris 3Dee, the children's chair Aeris Swoppster and the active standing seat Aeris Muvman also benefit from the exclusive active formula of the Aeris products. And the fun factor comes free of charge with all of them.
*https://de.statista.com/themen/1468/uebergewicht-und-adipositas/
**http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.de/uebergewicht-in-deutschland-ein-schwer-wiegendes-problem.1008.de.html?dram%3Aarticle_id=377474
