Chapter 1: Clinical Overview
The root causes of overweight and obesity are often complex and varied.
Essentially it occurs where there is a long-term energy imbalance, meaning that too much energy is consumed in food and drink and not enough is expended through physical activity.
There are many factors that influence this energy imbalance, such as:
Genetics
Health inequalities like socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnicity/culture, and remoteness
Environmental factors like availability of fast-foods, portion sizes, home and neighbourhood factors
Societal factors such as media and advertising.
Healthy eating and physical activity are important for a healthy life, so fundamentally weight management means balancing the energy going into the body with the energy required by the body for growth, repair, physical activity and to keep bodily functions working.
