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Weight Loss Series – 02 – Understanding Obesity

Weightloss - Diet or exercise - Understanding Obesity

July 30, 2024

Written By Tim Bailey-Coles

Tim is a personal trainer at Lift Inner West, also currently studying Exercise Physiology. He is a strong proponent of science and evidence-backed training methods to assist in injury and pain management and recovery, so people can get back to a quality of life that allows them to move and live happily.

Fitness | Nutrition

Being Overweight and Obesity are extremely prevalent today.

Both are proven to increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke so should be minimised wherever possible. Obesity is a complex disease with factors ranging from the physical to the psychological to the socioeconomic.

It is vital to remember that obesity is not a reflection of someone’s lack of discipline, self-worth or skill, but a complex result that is years in the making and can be the product of trauma both physical and/or mental.

Weight loss is a widely used and trusted measure of health.

What it doesn’t account for is body composition and it is arguably more important what you are made of rather than how much of you there is. Lower fat percentages and higher amounts of muscle tissue are associated with lower all-cause mortality and greater quality of life, this is an established fact. Most people, therefore, want to lose fat and gain muscle.

With fat, location matters!

Fat that is deposited under the skin or “subcutaneous adipose tissue” (SAT) makes up 80% of the fat content around the body (Bays et al., 2008). Fat that accumulates within the abdominal cavity and around the organs is known as “visceral adipose tissue” (VAT) and usually only comprises 2-3kg of fat mass.

A critical point to understand is that SAT is not nearly as harmful as VAT! (Gastaldelli et al., 2007). SAT has been shown to be disease causing in other ways but is relatively harmless compared to VAT. However, for every standard deviation above normal VAT, you will: Double your risk of heart disease, double your risk of developing type II diabetes and triple your risk of metabolic syndrome (Browning, 2007). Waist circumference (WC) is the most accessible way of measuring your visceral fat and generally, men should try to stay below 94cm and women below 80cm, however it is crucial that you consult your GP or an exercise professional if you are concerned about your waistline.