Obesity is often a very difficult topic. So many Americans are getting diagnosed with obesity every day. Some people may want to simply say it is their own fault, and they are living an unhealthy life. Others want to make obesity a disease that is simply poor luck at no fault of the individual. The fact is, neither of these two views are completely correct. Obesity is a combination of poor choices (by you or your parents) and physiological changes that can occur in an obese body that make it extremely difficult to lose weight by oneself.
There needs to be something to start the process that leads to obesity. That may be as early in life as childhood, where your parents may teach you bad habits about eating such as large portion sizes, eating until you are beyond full, eating for emotional solace, or choosing foods high in fat, salt, and sugar. The process could start later in life as well, where you may simply begin to overeat your metabolism and you begin to put on weight. Obesity does not just happen on its own. You can, however, have a genetic predisposition toward obesity, making it easier for you to overeat as well as harder to resist cravings for food.
The tricky thing about obesity that makes it such a difficult condition to deal with is what happens in your body as you accumulate fat and intake extra sugars. There are neurons in your hypothalamus that have the job of letting you know when you need to eat more, called orexigenic neurons, and when you need to stop eating so much, called anorexigenic neurons. These neurons receive hormones that are released from your digestive tract when it there is too much or too little food or fat in your body. Ghrelin gets released from your stomach when it is empty, and your orexigenic neurons receive this signal and tell you to eat more. Leptin is released from your adipose tissue and it targets both types of neurons, sending a strong signal to tell you to stop eating because you are creating a lot of fat. Insulin released from your pancreas when you eat a lot of sugar targets your anorexigenic neurons telling you to stop eating so much sugar. Finally, your small intestine releases PYY when it is full of food, inhibiting your orexigenic neurons, telling you to stop eating. 
What happens in obesity, is that you begin to develop resistance to leptin and insulin, and this pathway essentially stops working. As your adipose tissue grows, it sends so much leptin to your hypothalamus via the bloodstream, that your neurons are overwhelmed and begin to develop resistance to the leptin. The same thing can happen with insulin in these neurons. Both of these hormones send signals to tell you to stop eating. When you have resistance to them, you no longer have as strong of signals, and it is harder to stop eating when you should. This compounds the effects of bad habits or not being able to afford healthy food and makes it very difficult to lose weight.
Other changes can occur in obesity as well, but this may be the most significant. The important thing is to realize that living a healthy lifestyle is essential. Excessive weight gain is associated with many health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. The best way to avoid this cycle would be to prevent it from ever starting. However, if you have made poor choices at one time remember there are physiological changes that occur in your body that are making it difficult to overcome obesity. Do not be afraid to ask for help losing weight, because it’s not totally your fault.
Obesity: How it Happens
