First thing, we don’t reach thebalanced diet, we tend only towards it. If weight gain, whatever the cause, always results initially from an imbalance in the energy balance (contributions are greater than the body’s expenditures), thinness is not always meeting while we eat everything and without excess. The fault of…
Our basic metabolism
It corresponds to what the body burns at rest, that is to say the energy necessary for the functioning of the vital organs (cells, respiratory movements, heartbeat, etc.). This energy expenditure represents 60 to 70% of the body’s total energy expenditure, but many factors can modify this basic metabolism, such as age (the older you get, the fewer calories you burn at rest), sex (the woman has a basal metabolic rate 10% lower than that of a man of the same size and age, because she has less lean mass at equal weight) or even muscle mass (the more muscular an individual is, the more it consumes energy at rest).
Predisposing factors
To date, we know for example that 127 genes can be directly or indirectly involved in weight gain. This means that a genetic disorder can interfere with the stabilization of weight even with a balanced diet. By altering the basic metabolism, endocrine disorders (such as hypothyroidism) can also be responsible for progressive and insidious weight gain.
Physical inactivity
A gradual reduction in physical effort in most daily acts (professional or domestic activities, travel, leisure, etc.) frequently leads to weight gain. It has in fact been measured that 6,000 steps per day allow a person who has never gained weight not to gain weight, that 8,000 allow a person who has lost weight not to regain weight, and that 10,000 help weight loss.
Taking certain medications
Antidepressants, antiepileptics, neuroleptics, etc., can increase the feeling of hunger, or even trigger untimely cravings for sugar that interfere with food balance. Similarly, high-dose and prolonged hormone treatment, or significant corticosteroid intake, are sometimes the cause of water retention and fat gain.
The different hormonal cycles, smoking cessation…
Episodes of female genital life, smoking cessationalternating day and night work, anxious state and overwork, stress…, can cause weight gain.
An eating disorder: quèsako?
In some people, eating behavior can be disturbed to the point of interfering with daily life, and being the cause of excess weight often accompanied by psychological suffering. This is the case with bulimia or anorexia, nocturnal eating disorders, orthorexia (the person is obsessed with the quality of their diet), binge eating (episodes of excessive consumption of certain foods in less than two or three hours), etc.