Do I need to move more to lose weight? “This belief can hurt”

- The widespread opinion that it is enough to move more to control the development of the disease of obesity, in many cases can not only not help, but even harm if this activity is introduced irresponsibly, without professional knowledge, - said prof. Mariusz Vylezol, bariatric surgeon, vice-president of the Polish Society for the Treatment of Obesity.

We take a shower and run to the refrigerator

As the specialist explained, in the case of obesity, we focus not only on energy supply, but also on energy balance. - Because we must remember that there is also energy consumption, i.e. our activity, but above all the basic metabolism, he explained. And he added: - Each of us knows very well that we move more, so excuse me, but we eat more, because after training we take a shower, and then … we run to the refrigerator. But not everyone knows that such behavior is based on the obvious physiology of our body, i.e. as a result of increased physical activity, the concentration of leptin, the hormone of satiety, decreases, and we become more hungry.

The essence of obesity is not excess fat

prof. Vaylezol drew attention to the definition of obesity used by the World Health Organization. According to him, obesity is the excessive accumulation of fat. – So here we are not talking about the disease, but about the main symptom of obesity. If for someone this name sounds wrong, it is worth recalling that it sounds in accordance with the terminology used in the Polish language. We have cancer, we have osteoarthritis, we have fatty liver disease, so we also have obesity, he added.

- Let’s finally stop talking about the symptom and start talking about the disease, about the violation of energy homeostasis, leading to excessive accumulation of fat in the body. The essence of the disease is not in excess fat, but in the mechanisms leading to it, - the specialist emphasized and gave examples of other diseases.

“It’s like focusing on the hyperthyroidism, the stares, the racing heart, the trembling hands, and the fact that her face is red. Meanwhile, the essence of her illness lies in the excess of thyroid hormones that causes all these symptoms. It’s like focusing in a type 1 diabetic on the fact that he has too high a level of glucose in the blood, and the essence of the problem lies in the primary lack of insulin secretion as a result of damage to beta cells, the structures responsible for the production and secretion of insulin, specialized and located in the islets of Langerhans. He calculated that cancer is not about the tumor, but about the uncontrolled division of cancer cells that spread throughout the body and lead to death.

He stressed that obesity is a lifelong disease. – You often have to repeat bariatric surgeries, combine them with medications, look for new solutions. The most important thing is to treat the patient, he concluded.