Fighting thinness .. Why do some fail to gain weight?

As the obesity epidemic spreads around the world, many people are too thin and unable to gain weight.

In contrast to the spread of gyms and nutrition centers specialized in losing weight, interest in people with thinness is declining, and many of them complain about the failure of various programs to gain some weight.

The dangers of being underweight

What is meant by thinness: severe weight loss.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States, an individual is underweight if his body mass index (BMI) is less than 18.5.

But Marwa Al-Mahdi, in her thirties, does not need to measure the body mass index to know that she suffers from thinness, as she weighs 43 kilograms, while her height is 169 centimeters.

Being thin, like being overweight, can cause health problems and lead to many risks, most notably, according to "Medicalnewstoday":

• Osteoporosis.

• Skin problems, weak teeth and hair loss.

• Frequent disease and infection.

• Anemia that causes dizziness and constant headaches.

• Menstrual disorders and delayed first menstruation in adolescence.

• premature births

• Unhealthy slow growth of the child.

Why not gain weight?

Marwa - who works in the human resources department at a private Egyptian university - was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome 4 years ago, and she explains the symptoms of her disease to Al Jazeera Net, saying: "I suffer from chronic constipation and constant abdominal cramps, and it gets worse during the menstrual cycle."

Doctors assured Marwa that the severe weight loss she suffers from may be due to Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which led to her troubled relationship with eating, and she has failed to date to treat it.

There are many causes of low weight, according to Healthline, between genetic and medical causes, such as: hyperthyroidism, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, colitis, and eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa.

Certain medications and treatments that cause loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, such as antibiotics and chemotherapy, can make it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

Some people have a genetic predisposition to want to move their bodies, which leads to an increase in the body's metabolic rate (Pixabe)

Difficulty gaining weight

Marwa has never been at a normal weight, she said.

At its best, it reached a weight of 50 kilograms.

Marwa says, "The colon that I suffer from does not come at specific periods, but rather accompanies me all the time, especially since I suffer from another disease, which is endometriosis." Although I am constantly trying to gain weight.

Marwa visited 3 nutrition specialists, and each time the specialist puts in place a diet full of calories that increase weight, and every time it failed.

Kathleen Melanson, professor of nutrition and food sciences at the University of Rhode Island in the United States of America, stresses that the most important factors that make a person not gain weight are behavioral factors.

And she explains in an article published on "Livescience" that many who seem to eat what they like without gaining weight, do not actually eat much, but it is possible to eat only one bite of high-calorie food, and eat fewer snacks. Throughout the day, they eat very slowly, so they feel full much faster.

Kathleen stresses that physical activity makes a difference, but not necessarily exercise in the gym. "Some people move more, they may have a job that requires activity, or they spend all day chasing their children."

Some people also have a genetic predisposition to want to move their bodies, and that movement can increase the body's metabolic rate, or increase the energy the body uses throughout the day.

Here, Kathleen says, "The more a person moves, the more mitochondria inside muscle cells increase in number and activity. Mitochondria are power plants, and more of them means more calories are burned."

Another factor for not gaining weight is related to appetite regulation.

Kathleen points out that there are signals in the nervous system and hormones that interact together to tell a person that he feels hungry or full.

She explains that one of the important hormones involved in this system is leptin, which helps regulate the amount of food a person eats over longer periods of time, not just for the next meal.

"There are people who have a more sensitive system that makes them feel full after eating a party for the next few days. They can automatically reset their energy balance, because their appetite signaling system can say we have enough energy."

It is better for those with poor appetite to divide food into smaller portions rather than eating a large meal at once (pixels).

ways to gain weight

After conducting comprehensive analyzes and eliminating the medical causes of thinness, there are some safe ways to gain weight in a healthy way, according to The Conversation website.