Obesity Classification and Exercise-Based Weight Loss Principles: From Symptomatic Obesity to Bodybuilding Exercise

Overnutrition after the age of 25 can lead to obesity, primarily caused by the enlargement of fat cells.

Its fat is mainly distributed in the trunk. Most of the moderate to mild obesity in young and middle-aged people and some elderly people with obesity belong to this category. Treatment with diet control and other methods is easy to achieve results.

The average diameter of subcutaneous fat cells in a normal person is 67–98 μm, and each fat cell contains about 0.6 μg of fat.

When obesity occurs, fat cells enlarge significantly, and the amount of fat contained in subcutaneous fat cells increases to 0.90 μg, or even 1.36 μg.

If obesity develops rapidly, it usually only involves the enlargement of fat cells; however, when obesity develops slowly and continues for a long time, fat cells not only enlarge individually but also increase in number.

When fat cells both enlarge and proliferate, they greatly increase the body's fat storage capacity, leading to significant obesity.

2. Obesity caused by neuroendocrine or metabolic disorders

Approximately 5% of obesity is related to disease, particularly endocrine disorders that cause abnormal fat metabolism, leading to obesity or abnormal fat accumulation, also known as symptomatic obesity, or neuroendocrine obesity.

This type of disease includes:

(1) Diencephalic obesity: is the result of organic diseases of the diencephalon.

Damage to the diencephalon can cause autonomic neuroendocrine dysfunction, manifesting as diencephalon syndrome.

(2) Obesity-related infertility: This disease is also known as Frohlich syndrome.

It is caused by damage to the hypothalamus and pituitary gland due to infection, tumors or trauma, resulting in abnormalities in appetite, fat metabolism and gonadal function. It is characterized by obesity and underdeveloped genitals and often occurs during adolescence.

(3) Pituitary obesity: True pituitary obesity is seen in Cushing's syndrome caused by active basophilic cell tumors and acromegaly caused by eosinophilic cell tumors.

(4) Thyroid-related obesity: Thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism) can cause obesity in a few cases.

(5) Cortisol-induced obesity: Due to adrenal cortical hyperplasia, adenoma or adenoma causing adrenal cortical hyperfunction and excessive cortisol secretion, a series of syndromes appear, which are clinically known as Cushing's syndrome or Cushing's syndrome.

(6) Pancreatic obesity: Obesity caused by pancreatic diseases includes patients with diabetes and pancreatic β-cell tumors.

Domestic literature reports that about 40% of pancreatic β-cell tumors are accompanied by obesity.

(7) Gonadal obesity: Obesity often occurs after gonadal removal or radiation damage to the gonads.

Autonomic dysfunction caused by loss of gonadal function is the basis for obesity.

(8) Bilateral polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-leveathal syndrome): Patients with this condition may have obesity, hirsutism and menstrual disorders.

(9) Painful obesity (Dercum's disease): Multiple painful subcutaneous fat nodules are formed on the basis of obesity and distributed throughout the body.

Painful obesity is more common in women during menopause.

It needs to be differentiated from diseases such as rheumatic fever, peritonitis, and allergic reactions.

(10) Morgagni-Stewart-More syndrome: This disease is very rare.

Only a few cases have been reported domestically, almost all of which are women, and symptoms mostly appear after menopause.

The main symptoms of this disease include obesity, headache, hyperplasia of the inner table of the skull, and hirsutism (masculinization), often accompanied by mental disorders.

(11) Obesity-hypoventilation syndrome: also known as Pickwickian syndrome.

Its etiology is unknown, but it is mainly manifested as obesity, decreased lung ventilation function, somnolence, cyanosis, clubbing of fingers, secondary polycythemia, periodic breathing, and right heart failure.

(12) Sexual infantilism-retinitis pigmentosa-polydactyly syndrome: also known as Laurence-Moon-Biedl syndrome.

Only a few cases have been reported domestically.

(13) Drug-induced obesity: Due to mental illness or certain diseases, long-term use of chlorpromazine, insulin or protein synthesis-promoting agents can cause patients to have increased appetite and become obese. The obesity gradually disappears after a period of time after stopping the medication.

Patients with this type of obesity should not blindly try to lose weight, but should instead start by treating the underlying disease.

**Bodybuilding Exercise for Weight Loss**

**I. The Principles of Exercise for Weight Loss**

Research data shows that physical exercise has a direct impact on fat reduction.

Obese fat cells can weigh up to 1.5 μg, and dieting can only reduce them to 0.7 μg, but physical exercise can reduce them to 0.3–0.5 μg.

Therefore, exercise is an essential means of losing weight and preventing obesity, as it increases the body's energy consumption, accelerates the metabolic processes of decomposition and synthesis, promotes weight loss, and eliminates excess fat accumulated in the abdomen, buttocks, and thighs, resulting in a slim and attractive figure.

Furthermore, research has shown that high-intensity, strenuous exercise consumes more than twice the energy of sitting still, and the energy expenditure can continue during the recovery process after exercise.

**II. Principles of Exercise for Weight Loss**

1. Understand yourself correctly

Before starting your workout, use a standard weight measurement method to determine whether you are mildly obese, moderately obese, or severely obese, and then develop a weight loss exercise plan based on your level of obesity.

2. Choose the right exercise programs and methods.

Based on practical experience, suitable exercises for weight loss include: endurance training, strength training, light equipment exercises for the upper limbs and chest, ball sports, and bodybuilding exercises.

The training methods include freehand exercises, equipment exercises, two-person combat exercises, and aerobic and anaerobic exercises, all adapted to different sports.

3. The principle of comprehensiveness

After choosing a suitable exercise program and method, it is generally necessary to adopt a comprehensive approach, including freehand exercises and exercises using equipment, in order to achieve good results.

Practice has shown that while both simple freehand exercises and simple weight-loss exercises can achieve the goal of weight loss, they cannot achieve the best fitness and weight loss results. Only by combining the two can the most satisfactory fitness and weight loss results be achieved.

4. The principle of gradual progress

The characteristic of weight loss exercise is that it puts a certain load on the body, which stimulates the body and achieves the goal of eliminating deposited fat.

However, when arranging exercise, it is essential to proceed gradually and treat different types of exercise accordingly in order to achieve good training results.

The same amount of exercise can have different effects on two people with different types of obesity. Even within the same type of obesity, differences in age, physical condition, and other factors can lead to varying levels of tolerance for exercise, resulting in different exercise outcomes.

In addition, when you first start exercising to lose weight, focus on adaptive exercises and then gradually increase the amount of exercise.

For obese individuals with poor physical condition, the initial focus should be on jogging and long-distance running, without time restrictions. Once their physical condition improves, they can then engage in strength training and aerobic exercise.

5. The principle of regularity

Once you start exercising, you should continue doing so frequently and without interruption.

Only by persisting in regular and sustained exercise can significant changes occur in the body's structure and function, achieving the best results in bodybuilding and weight loss.

Never practice only out of momentary interest, practicing when you're happy and not practicing when you're not. This kind of inconsistent practice will not allow your body to adapt and accumulate good results, nor will it achieve good fitness and weight loss effects. It will only lead to the loss of all your previous efforts.

6. Implement self-monitoring

Before exercising, relevant data should be measured and checked regularly. Summarizing exercise experience can help improve exercise methods and enhance the quality of weight loss exercise.

The measurements include: weight, body circumference and fat thickness, heart rate, blood pressure, and lung capacity.

By examining the changes in the above data, you can directly determine the effectiveness of the exercise.

7. Weight loss exercise requires a proper nutritional approach.

Exercise requires a lot of energy, and energy needs to be replenished after exercise.

And some weight loss