‘Inhaling air’ also puts on weight

“If I eat and drink freely, I don’t know how much my weight will reach,” Nga confided. Every time she picks up food with chopsticks, the woman in Dong Da, Hanoi, feels “guilty”. Nga is 1.6 meters tall and was originally skinny, but since she started working, she has steadily gained weight, an average of 2-3 kg per year. The Russian diet is no different from everyone else’s. There was even a time when she ate brown rice, boiled chicken breast and lots of green vegetables but her weight did not decrease.

This is one of many patients of Dr. Phan Thai Tan, a weight loss health coach. When measuring fat and muscle mass with specialized equipment, doctors found that the basal metabolic rate (BMR) was only about 1,000 Kcal (while the average BMR in women under 60 years old was about 1,400-1,800 Kcal), the amount fat is also higher than the standard level (45%), while the standard fat is below 25%, only the amount of muscle is small.

“Constitutive factors, including metabolic indexes; muscle mass – supporting daily activities, low movement; high fat content, are the reasons why women eat normally but still gain weight,” said Dr. said the monk.

Similarly, when she turned 45, Ms. Xuan gained 1 kg per year despite eating normally and exercising every day, reaching her peak weight of 68 kg. The family carries the fat gene, the mother and grandmother have diabetes, the woman also suffers from pre-hyperlipidemia, poor health, frequent headaches, and minor illnesses.

During a check-up, the doctor found that Xuan’s body easily gained weight due to low metabolic index, about 1,100 Kcal, a lot of fat, plus genetic factors and age causing physiological changes that affect and affect the body. enjoy weight.

“The patient is conscious of exercising, but not enough or not properly to create a calorie deficit,” the expert said.

People like Nga and Xuan are not rare, according to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Digestive Surgery, Central Military Hospital 108. Doctors admit that many people who eat little, or even only drink water, are still fat. . On the contrary, some people who eat a lot still cannot gain weight. In addition to diet, the difference lies in physical and genetic factors.

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the rate of calories the body consumes to maintain basic functions such as respiration, circulation, digestion, which varies from person to person. If your basal metabolic rate is faster, you will burn more calories and lose weight more easily. On the contrary, if your metabolic rate is slow, you will burn fewer calories and gain weight easily.

Dr. Phan Thai Tan, a weight loss health coach, said that obese people have a very high absorption of nutrients, especially sweets. This group often has a lot of fat and little muscle, so the body’s basic metabolic rate is low. When calculating the total energy burned in a day (TDEE) to eat, the deficit is inaccurate, causing weight gain. increase. In some cases, lack of exercise and a lot of visceral fat lead to insulin resistance, causing poor fat burning ability. Not to mention, an unhealthy intestine makes the fat burning process much slower.

Warning signs of poor body metabolism include increased blood uric acid, susceptibility to infection, a precursor to cardiovascular diseases (such as stroke, myocardial infarction), and type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, the aging process brings about physiological changes that affect weight, mainly muscle loss, according to Harvard Health. Starting in middle age, the body loses about 1% of muscle mass each year, affecting strength and the rate at which calories are burned. If your diet doesn’t change, you’ll consume more calories than you need, and the excess calories are stored as fat, causing weight gain.

“So it’s easy to understand why many people joke: Just inhaling air makes you gain weight,” the expert said.

Besides physical factors, each person’s physical activity level is also different. If a person does not exercise or is sedentary, the body will not consume energy like a person who exercises regularly. Therefore, this person needs fewer calories to maintain weight.

Diet also has a significant impact. When you eat a small amount, it seems like the same as other people, but the nutritional composition is different, for example many foods contain fat and sugar but lack some essential substances for the body’s needs. At that time, unnecessary substances will be converted into stored fat. Substances the body needs will not be provided, causing weight gain in the long term.

Some other potential reasons, including: poor sleep, psychological stress, illness, medication use… also affect weight.

Experts advise everyone to have a fitness test to accurately assess the amount of muscle, fat and basic metabolic rate in the body, from which to plan diet and exercise. Prioritize resistance exercises to increase muscle system, improve intestinal health, eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, and supplement with prebiotics and probiotics.

The principle of weight loss is to create a calorie deficit, that is, the energy consumed must be greater than the intake. “If you eat less and still get fat, it means you still eat too much compared to the amount of energy your body needs,” Dr. Tuan said.