What are the reasons for gaining excess weight? At an open webinar of the RE school, nutritionist Maira Rau reported information that was surprising to me. It turns out that, according to statistics, overweight and obesity occur due to medical reasons and poor eating behavior only in 5% of cases. Medical reasons include: various genetic diseases, syndromes (Prader-Willi, Bardet-Biedl, Ahlström, Cohen), endocrine diseases (hypothyroidism (not the main cause of weight gain), hypercortisolism syndrome), formations in the brain bulk, some medications. There are risk factors for overweight and obesity: non-modifiable (gender, age, genetics, age, race and ethnicity, age) and modifiable (unhealthy lifestyle, environmental factors). Dietary factors include: excessive fat intake , simple carbohydrates, excessive food restrictions, there is no difference in the difference between physical and emotional hunger and others. A large proportion of the causes of excess weight are psychological reasons. Psychological reasons include: impulsiveness in choosing food, inability to distinguish physiological hunger from emotional hunger, eating emotions , alexithymia (the inability to identify and describe one’s own or other people’s emotions), black-and-white thinking (all or nothing), attitudes about nutrition, personality traits and family relationships, the influence of social factors, lack of skill to show emotions. It is recommended to consider the issue of excess weight comprehensively and contact several specialists: doctors of different specialties (to exclude medical problems), nutritionist, nutrition consultant/nutritionist, psychologist, fitness trainer, instructor. When dealing with excess weight issues, we pay attention to family and social factors, the connection between eating habits and emotions , attitudes, beliefs. It is important not only to reduce weight, but to maintain it in the future, change eating habits, lifestyle, and not just think and check kilograms on the scale. Did you know that overweight and poor eating behavior are so strongly influenced by psychological reasons? You can read how to find a balance between work and personal life in the telegram channel: t.me/Work_and_life_balance