Overweight women: What not to do?

Women who do not try to eat less are more than twice the risk of substantial weight gain in adulthood, as shown in a study three years. If you’re a woman around 40, no matter if you are thin or are overweight are likely to gain weight over time if you do not do an effort to control what you eat. The finding comes from a study of 192 women with a mean age of 40 years by researchers at Brigham Young University Larry A. Tucker and Laura Bates.

Women in the study were not obese, had not yet reached menopause, and nonsmokers.  At the beginning of the study, women underwent a detailed physical examinations, including measures of weight and body fat. Were also submitted to an analysis of seven days of food they ate, which were weighed and registered to each bite of food they ate.

Three years later, women were subjected to another round of physical examinations and analysis of food intake. The point of departure was no surprise: women tend to gain weight and body fat as they age and become less physically active.

But not all women gained weight. Even without exercising more, women who made an effort to eat less and control food were 69% less likely to win more than 1 kilo and were 2.4 times less likely to gain 3 pounds or more. It is never too early or too late to control what you eat.

Women who increased their “emotional eating”, ie, eating as a way to cope with feeling depressed, alone, bored, anxious, worried or other emotional states, they were also more likely to gain weight than women who did not increase this type of behavior. “To prevent weight gain, these women have to learn to control the consumption of food during emotionally difficult situations.” Some previous studies suggested that women who try to eat less actually end up gaining weight because their feelings of deprivation lead to cycles in eating compulsively but found no evidence of this, despite acknowledging that intake usually occurs in people trying to eat less.

The regulation of food intake through a strict diet can lead to eating compulsively from time to time, but in the long run, fewer calories consumed and the risk of weight gain is much lower in women who try to control food intake. In fact, women have to increase the time in doing this control of food to avoid gaining weight and body fat.