One in two women is overweight or obese and one in three men suffer the same fate.

One in two women is overweight or obese and one in three men suffer the same fate.

According to the South African Society for Obesity and Metabolism, an estimated 400million adults across the world suffer from obesity, with South Africa seeing an increase of the condition in all races.

While many reasons have been given as to why most obese or overweight people struggle with weight, weight-loss watchers believe that most are not aware of the problem or choose to ignore the consequences of eating fatty food.

According to The Diet Everyone Talks About, the designers of a 10-week carbohydrate-controlled eating programme to help overweight or fat people reach their goal weight, poor diet contributes to the detrimental consequences suffered by most overweight people. They say that leading a healthy lifestyle is the way to go.

Health problems attributed to excessive weight gain.

Diabetes:

Excess weight contributes to the development of diabetes by making cells more resistant to the effects of insulin. Three out of four women with type II diabetes are at least 15percent over their ideal weight.

High Blood Pressure:

Tends to increase with weight gain and damages blood cells throughout the body, causing strokes, kidney failure and hardening of the arteries.

Heart Disease:

According to the international website obesitysurgeries.com, severely obese persons are about six times more likely to develop heart disease than those with normal weight. Excess weight is linked to heart disease mainly because it raises blood pressure and cholesterol levels and can lead to type II diabetes.

Infertility:

Obesity sometimes leads to changes in hormone levels that can result in a failure of the ovaries to release eggs regularly.