Obesity Risk Factors - Weight Management Newport Beach
Obesity Risk Factors
Factors that increase your risk of obesity include:
- Genetics. Your genes may affect the amount of body fat you store and where that fat is distributed. Genetics may also play a role in how efficiently your body converts food into energy and how your body burns calories during exercise. However, your genetic makeup doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be obese.
- Family history. If one or both of your parents are obese, your chances of being obese are greater. This may be due to shared genes or to a shared environment, which may include the in-take of high calorie foods.
- Age. As you get older, you tend to become less active. In addition, the amount of muscle in your body decreases with age. This lower muscle mass leads to declined metabolic rate. These changes also reduce calorie needs. If you don’t decrease your caloric intake as you age, you’ll likely gain weight.
- Sex. Women are more likely to be obese than men since they have less muscle mass and tend to burn fewer calories at rest than men do.
