Women’s Obesity: No it’s not Caused by Chocolate

Women’s obesity is a hot topic of conversation these days. According to the CDC, 4 in 10 women in the U.S. are now obese, meaning that 40% of American women are obese compared to 35% of men. For the first time, obese women in A medical assistant checking obese patient's vital signs.the U.S. outnumber men, a fact that baffles researchers.

After all, this increase in women’s obesity has happened despite government calls to action on weight loss. It has happened despite the abundance of information available about the negative health effects of obesity. No matter what the government or health officials do, it seems women just aren’t listening. Or so “they,” think.

If you’re a woman who struggles with obesity, it’s even more puzzling for you. And you don’t appreciate the government or health officials blaming you. After all, if been trying to figure out this women’s obesity thing for yourself. You’ve been on the dieting rollercoaster so many times you’re dizzy.

You’ve lost count of the number of diets you’ve tried and the total number of pounds you’ve lost in the past few decades. You’ve tried all the major diet plans — Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Atkins. You’ve tried starvation dieting, fad dieting, and calorie-restricted dieting (everything in moderation, as long as you stay within your calorie limit.)

Dieting did not solve women’s obesity issues

And what did all that money, time, and effort get you? Nothing. Oh, you lost 20 or 30 pounds in 6 months or a year. But you were miserable every minute of the diet — weak, hungry, and irritable — and though you lost a lot of weight in the beginning, it slowed way down within a couple of weeks.

Though you were hungry all the time, you’d barely lose half a pound a week. Finally, after you reached your weight loss goal or fell off your diet because you couldn’t do it anymore, you started eating a “normal” diet again. The weight it took you a year to lose came back in maybe 3 months. How is that even possible, and why?

You were depressed and discouraged., and vowed to do better next time. But every time you went on a diet, the results were the same. You are now an old pro at yo-yo dieting, and you probably still blame yourself, wonder what you’re doing wrong.

Let us assure you of this…

You did nothing wrong. You are not to blame.

There is a way to permanently and safely lose weight. It’s the answer you’ve been seeking. But first, let’s discuss women’s obesity issues.

The dangers of women’s obesity

Obesity is a condition in which body fat is at a sufficient level to negatively affect health. To diagnose obesity, doctors typically calculate your body mass index (BMI), which is a measure of fat that is based on height and weight. The BMI gives an approximation of fat composition; however, it is not an exact measure of body fat. It is accurate enough, though, to enable your doctor to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

The BMI categories are as follows:

Underweight          = <18.5

Normal Weight     = 18.5 to 24.9

Overweight            = 25 to 29.9

Obesity                   = 30 or greater

Though being overweight is unhealthy, obesity significantly increases the risk of disease and other health problems. For instance, obesity is the number one risk factor for type 2 diabetes. This is because obesity causes insulin resistance. Over time, as insulin resistance progresses, it becomes type 2 diabetes. This is what is known as diabesity, a condition in which obesity and diabetes are both present.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 90% of those who are obese will develop type 2 diabetes. And obesity contributes to more health conditions than just type 2 diabetes.

Women’s obesity and health risks

Women’s obesity increases the risk for many health conditions, including:

  • Heart disease
  • Stroke
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Some cancers
  • High blood pressure
  • Abnormal cholesterol levels
  • Sleep apnea
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Fatty liver disease
  • Kidney disease
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Gout
Learn the exact foods you must eat if you want to finally lose weight permanently. Click here to download your FREE Weight Loss Recipes, the “Eat More, Lose More” Weight Loss Recipes, the “Slim in 6” Cheat Sheet…CLICK HERE TO GET FREE WEIGHT LOSS RECIPES & GUIDES

Women’s obesity: 6 main causes

There are many possible reasons why you become overweight or obese. Below are 6 of the most common ones.

1. Eating ultra-processed foods

A recent study found more than 60% of the calories in the average American’s diet consist of ultra-processed foods. What are ultra-processed foods? The researchers define these products as industrial formulations. They contain substances that are not used in cooking, such as preservatives, artificial colors, emulsifiers, and other chemicals. (Think baked goods, soft drinks, reconstituted meat products such as chicken nuggets, and soft drinks.) The researchers also found that ultra-processed foods contribute nearly 90% of all added sugar in the U.S. diet.

Over-consumption of ultra-processed foods and sugar has been linked to weight gain and obesity. These foods contain no fiber to slow their absorption into the bloodstream, resulting in blood sugar spikes. This causes excess insulin, a fat-storage hormone, to be released. Sugar, as a processed carb, has the same effect.

2. Eating low-fat foods

Food labels and commercials urging you to consume low-fat products are alluring and persuasive, and they may be partly responsible for the women’s obesity issue.

You see, back in the ‘90s, the low-fat or fat-free craze was in full swing. Fat-free and low-fat products were everywhere on grocery store shelves. The belief was that fat was bad. It caused heart disease, weight gain, and just about everything else. So, the manufacturers removed the fat and convinced everybody what they did was good for us. But what we didn’t say is that when they removed fat, they added sugar — lots of sugar.

After all, they needed to replace the fat with something. Give people a sweet enough product, they thought, and we wouldn’t notice the fat was missing. And we didn’t. But all the extra sugar we were eating ensured we’d gain weight.

By the way…there has never been any study proving fat consumption causes heart disease or weight gain. But there have been many studies suggesting excess sugar consumption contributes to both.

3. Menopause

Menopause is another factor in women’s obesity. That’s because, during menopause, hormonal shifts cause weight gain. Research shows these hormonal shifts also cause a redistribution of body weight. Where do you think it gets redistributed? That’s right. The abdomen, which is why so many menopausal women complain of stubborn belly fat. (If you need a hormone to blame, it’s estrogen.)

Menopause does not appear to cause significant weight gain, however, Research shows women gain an average of 10 pounds around menopause.

4. Starvation dieting

Women’s obesity is such a big issue for so many women that they do take action. Research shows more than 50% of American women are on a diet at any given time. The problem is many of them go on starvation diets, which doesn’t help their problem. In fact, it only makes women’s obesity worse.

When you severely slash calories, the body thinks you’re starving, so it slows your metabolism and stores fat. This raises your setpoint weight, so when you go off the diet, you’ll likely gain all the weight back plus an additional 10 or so pounds. (More about setpoint weight shortly.)

5. Chronic stress

Too many women (and men) are under constant stress these days. When stressed, your adrenal glands release cortisol, a hormone that prepares you to fight or flee the threat. Cortisol triggers a release of insulin, which is needed to get glucose into your cells for energy. After you’ve faced off with the enemy — which helps to burn off the excess glucose — your cortisol levels return to normal

The problem is that in our modern society, we face very few life-or-death stressors. Yet, we are chronically stressed, meaning our cortisol levels are also chronically elevated. And so are our insulin levels. Plus, since we have no enemy with which to fight or flee, we don’t burn off the excess glucose, so our blood sugar levels are also chronically elevated, causing more insulin to be released. The excess insulin encourages fat storage.

6. Sleep deprivation

Women also get much less sleep than they need. Studies show sleep deprivation contributes to elevated cortisol levels, causing fat storage.

To keep cortisol levels down, experts recommend that you get 7-8 hours of uninterrupted quality sleep every night.

The truth about female obesity

You and other women have tried to lose weight — many times. The U.S. diet industry is worth $66 billion. Yet, diets have proven to fail more than 95% of the time.

There are 3 main reasons diets fail:

  1. Conflicting/confusing information about Weight Loss
  2. Calorie counting and cutting don’t work
  3. Your setpoint weight

Let’s unpack each of them.

1. Conflicting/confusing information about weight loss

An unhappy woman checking her weight on a balance bar scale. There are so many dieting “gurus” out there trying to make a quick buck off of your pain. They don’t have any knowledge about metabolism, nor are they really concerned with helping you permanently lose weight.

After all, if they helped every customer permanently lose weight, they wouldn’t have any customers left after a while. They depend on repeat business, and that means helping you lose weight short term.

2. Calorie counting and cutting doesn’t work

Since the 1960s, everyone has been obeying the calorie-deficit theory of weight loss that goes something like this: if you deprive yourself of X number of calories needed by your body per week, you will lose X number of pounds. To do this, you can either eat fewer calories or burn those calories off in exercise, or a combination of the two. In other words, you have to starve your body to lose weight.

This calorie-deficit theory of weight loss has led to more frustration, heartache, guilt, and self-blame than anything else. It has probably also contributed to women’s obesity because cutting calories raises setpoint weight.

The calorie-deficit theory of weight loss treats the body like a scale whereby calories in equals calories out. But the body is not like a scale; it is like a thermostat, regulating your calorie input and calories expended to keep you near your setpoint weight.

Setpoint weight and female obesity

Your setpoint weight is the level of fat your body works to maintain — by regulating your appetite and metabolism through your hormones, genes, and brain — regardless of the number of calories you take in or exercise off.

If you slash calories, your body thinks you’re starving and will ultimately slow your metabolism to keep you from dying. You will lose weight short-term on a calorie-restricted diet, but most of it will come from muscle. The body holds onto fat for when it thinks you’ll need it the most — when starvation is at its worst. A loss of muscle slows your metabolism even more. When you go off the diet, you will gain back all the weight you lost plus several more pounds as added insurance against future starvation. You can’t win.

The only way you can keep the weight off is if you continue eating a low-calorie diet, but even then, you’ll have to eat fewer and fewer calories each subsequent year to maintain the weight loss. It’s completely unsustainable. The only way you can permanently lose weight is to lower your setpoint weight.

Lowering your setpoint weight cures female obesity

There are several factors involved in lowering your setpoint weight, but one of the most important is eating a SANE diet. A SANE diet emphasizes whole foods that are unprocessed or as minimally processed as possible.

The foods on the SANE Diet have been scientifically proven to regulate hormones, trigger the release of fat-burning hormones, and lower the setpoint weight.

The 4 SANE food groups are non-starchy vegetables, nutrient-dense proteins, whole-food fats, and low-fructose fruits. At every main meal, fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables, a third of your plate with nutrient-dense proteins, and the remainder of your plate with whole-food fats.

The goal is to be so full of delicious SANE foods you won’t have room for inSANE ones. It is an easy plan to follow. No calorie or point calorie. No hunger and no guilt. Best of all, you won’t have to worry about women’s obesity issues ever again. Your body will take care of everything for you. How awesome is that?

Next step: End women’s obesity with SANE

Ready to finally break free from the yo-yo dieting rollercoaster by balancing your hormones and lowering your body’s setpoint weight?

Want to know the exact foods and serving sizes that are scientifically proven by over 1,300 peer-reviewed research studies to boost metabolism, burn fat and enjoy virtually effortless weight loss like a naturally thin person?

Download the free SANE metabolism boosting food list, cheat sheet, and “Eat More, Burn More” weight loss program by .