Struggling to lose weight? Researchers want to help you with data that eschews one-size-fits-all plans and advice. Check out the 6 types (and implied causes!) of obesity:
The Young:
-Young women who are overweight, but otherwise healthy(ish) and happy.
-Young men who are heavy drinkers and overweight, but otherwise happy and healthy(ish).
The Middle-Aged:
-The Unhappy and Anxious (mostly middle-aged). In addition to their anxiety, this group suffers insomnia, pain, depression, and fatigue. (Interestingly, this group drinks the least).
-The Happy and Affluent, a group of slightly older folks who drink second only to the young male drinkers, but are otherwise healthy (despite high blood pressure) and happy.
The Elderly:
-The Sick but Happy. These folks had high measures of life-satisfaction and happiness, despite health problems like diabetes and arthritis.
The Obvious:
-The Unhealthy; they report unhappiness and low-life satisfaction in addition to health problems like pain, fatigue, diabetes, breathing trouble, insomnia, depression and anxiety.
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One thing to note: people in the happier groups reported they tried to stay healthy and control their weight.
There are some flaws with the study. Although these groupings seem natural, correlation isn’t causation (but you do notice a trend—health problems worsen with age).
And the study was limited to the UK, there might have been more groups had it included the US, for example.
Trying to maintain good health, even if you struggle (the study doesn’t take into account genetics, or secondary conditions that cause weight gain, for instance), seems to make a difference—you end up happier, with fewer health problems.
And it breaks down some possible causes, like alcohol. Bad side-effects aside, alcohol is a way to drink a lot of calories—especially if you like fancy and fruity drinks. The average drinker can drop 5-10 pounds in about a week when they stop drinking alcohol.
Since happiness is tied to working on good health, try these tricks:
-Find little ways to work more exercise into your day, like a lunch-time walk, being more active when cleaning (think adding squats or lunges), or picking up a new active hobby (it doesn’t have to be a sports league, it could be nature photography).
-Try non-stimulant weight-loss support, like Slim NRG.
-Make sure you’re eating a lot of fruits and vegetables. It’s easier to add food than subtract, and if you focus on produce, you’ll naturally fill up before eating unhealthy stuff, and start to feel the change in mood and energy that a healthy diet brings.
What do you think of these categories? Would you add any?
