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Guest article by Rob Stone

It has always been the case since the dawn of mankind that people come with small, medium or large-boned frames. We can only estimate what the average may be from the details of the size and weight of the bones. For example a woman 5 foot 4 inches in height and with medium sized bones may weigh up to 9.5 or 10 stone. A woman of the same height but with a large- boned frame can be a few pounds more.

Obesity has of course always been around. This writer was himself one of those children who at the age of 8 was 8 stone and when 10 was 10 stone and so on. However it is only in recent years that obesity has been described in some quarters as an epidemic. Even small children can now be obese or overweight thanks in part to the approved food additives that can contribute to cravings which mean they eat more.

This is not of course a children only area, far from it. Being overweight has many problems associated with it. One major problem is serious back ache and pain. Logically the more weight our frame and especially the spine have to support the more wear and tear they encounter.

As sufferers will appreciate back pain is one of the worst pains that we can feel and this comes from a variety of sources. Imagine it as a sort of chain reaction. It starts with the bones then to the muscles on to the joints, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, nerves and last but not least the central nervous system. Even a small pain in one or more of these parts of the body can give excruciating pain to the sufferer.

You may not believe it until you sit down and think about it but Back pain can actually lead to obesity. If you have tried to move and were in pain then you would not want to move like that again. Consequently this would cause you to remain more and more static and this would all build up until you were hardly exercising at all. By exercising we mean ordinary day to day movement not Gym work!

You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to work out that inactivity in the muscles resulting in this lack of exercise will lead to obesity. If the pain and discomfort make you lean towards comfort eating then the onset of the obesity will be quickened. You must learn to fight this and you can start by doing a few light exercises per day increasing on a daily basis until you are managing at least half an hour a day. Your healthier muscles will mean a healthier back which in turn should eventually become pain free.

It is certainly not an easy road and your emotions may cause you to lose any desire to exercise whatsoever but do try and stick with it. Write down what you do and when you do it. Stick to a plan and do your utmost to do it regularly. To start with you may only manage a few minutes each day but as long as you have started that is the main hurdle jumped. In perhaps even a short period of time you will start to feel livelier and to enjoy the exercise.

If the weight is also disappearing then this is the biggest lift of all. Don’t rush at it but in the words of one of our supermarkets ‘every little helps’. In due course your spine will react to the loss of weight and you will definitely notice this. There may come a time after a short while when you can increase your output and include some aerobics. The latter definitely do burn off fat.

Rob Stone writes many articles on Health and Fitness to Home Improvement and Children’s Toys such as Nitro RC Cars