Do you suffer from lack of self esteem, social discomfort, fatigue? Do you feel your pulse racing just from climbing a flight of stairs? Do you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes? Do your joints and back ache at the slightest activity?

Fact is, overweight and obesity are rapidly becoming serious health concerns with urban Indians. In fact, projections by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2001 suggested that the number of obese Indians could rise 300% in the next 25 years.

Quite simply, they mean an excess of fats stored in your body. If youre 10-20% in excess of your Ideal Body Weight (IBW), you are overweight, while 30% or more is termed obesity. Body Mass Index (BMI) is another measurement used to classify overweight and obesity. A womans BMI should be between 20 to 25 with men between 18.7 and 23.8. Anything above this is overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is obesity. Studies conclusively show that, the higher the BMI, the higher the prevalence of cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure problems… leading to heart disease, impotency, cancer and other complications.

Overweight and obesity tend to run in families, suggesting a genetic cause. While you cannot change your genetic make-up, you can certainly change the diet and lifestyle habits which you most likely share with your family members.

A person who is genetically inclined to store fat efficiently is all the more prone to put on weight when you add to it factors such as lack of exercise and poor dietary habits. Modern life has created an ideal situation for people to become obese, wherein inexpensive fat-laden food is available easily and travelling long distances vehiclular travelling coupled with work that involves mental effort rather than physical effort. To add to it, psychological factors such as boredom, sadness and anger cause people to eat carb-laden foods that cause further weight gain. Disease conditions including hormonal imbalances that cause hypothyroidism and medications like corticosteroids and antidepressants may also result in overweight and obesity.

If youre overweight or obese, you may have come across some of these treatments. Many revolve around fad diets, "quick-fix" hunger-suppressing drugs and medical operations, among them:

Modern science has developed drugs that suppress the hunger centres in the brain and reduce the appetite. However, these can trigger side effects and also the results may not last once you stop the drug therapy.

These include liposuction for fat reduction from specific areas, to gastric stapling to reduce the size of the stomach so that it cannot provide more space for excess food to a gastric balloon which is inflated in your stomach to reduce its capacity. However, surgery must be used only as the last resort. Even though the weight loss achieved is fairly quick, the proportion of complications is fairly high.

Dietary modification is another aspect of weight loss. The changes are based on various principles such as restriction of the total calorie intake, restriction of fat content in the diet and increase of protein content ion the diet. Apart from these there are several types of fad diets that are being used to lose weight which involve severe caloric restriction and sticking to only soups and juices. These diets may yield good result in the short run, however one cannot continue with them for an entire lifetime. Eventually, one regains the lost weight when one switches back to normal diet.   Thus, weight loss based exclusively on one particular food or food component can have unhealthy and potentially dangerous consequences which include various nutrient deficiencies.

Most experts agree that an effective weight management programme that lasts for life depends on three fundamental requirements:

At Health Total, youll find exactly that. Because no two people are alike, you receive very detailed food plans customised specifically for you after an in-depth consultation with your personal nutritionist. Based on nutritious, everyday food choices, these correct your eating patterns, increasing your intake of fibre, fresh fruits and vegetables while reducing cholesterol and salt. A gentle exercise routine is also suggested to increase your metabolism rate and assist your body burn excess fat more efficiently.

If your BMI is below 20, consider yourself underweight. And just as obesity is bad for health, being underweight also poses significant risks for you. Among the warning signs are persistent lack of energy, depression and loss of muscle mass, showing that your body is drawing on protein sources from your muscles. The complications include anaemia, bone loss, low immune response, delayed healing, heart irregularities, lack of periods and osteoporosis in later life.

So why are you underweight? It could be your genetic make-up, psychological factors such as stress or a hectic lifestyle, disorders like anorexia nervosa, diseases like hyperthyroidism, cancer, TB and HIV, or merely the effects of old age.

If your low bodyweight is due to lack of food intake and not any disease or disorder, you should simply try to enjoy food and gradually increase the amount you eat. Health Totals customised solutions help you focus on energy dense foods like nuts, milkshakes, fruit juices, eggs, liver and carbohydrates like sugar, potato and rice, adding fats wherever possible. Exercise is an essential part of health. So, light resistance training such as weight training is encouraged. This increases your metabolism and stimulates your body to use energy effectively, thereby increasing your appetite.

In short, youll discover simple solutions that help you achieve your ideal body weight and live a healthier, more active life.