About 54 percent of the American population is overweight, a condition that puts them at risk for a variety of diseases. One reason for this is Choose...many people are lazy and gluttonousfood is plentiful and inexpensivemany people don't care how they lookmany people have a slow metabolism. Body fat that people can see is called storage fat. Body fat that supports normal physiological functioning is called Choose...saturated fatcholesterol fatessential fatphospholipid. The most common measure of overweight used by doctors is the Choose...Body Mass IndexHeight-weight comparisonWaist-to-shoulder indexFat percentage ratio, which is the weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared, and should not exceed a value of Choose...5001002510 for best health. Fat is a way the body stores energy derived from food. If more energy is taken in than is used for living, a person gains weight. A variety of mechanisms that regulate the amount of fat on the body and keep it within its limits, is called the Choose...leptin quotientfatness set pointbody mass indexappestat regulator. When a person consumes more calories than are expended, the appetite control center in the hypothalamus of the brain, called the appestat, lessens the appetite. When the amount of calories consumed is insufficient, the opposite occurs. One reason people put on weight is that they eat for reasons other than being hungry, such to ease uncomfortable feelings like stress or boredom. And once the body has accumulated fat, it is very reluctant to let it go. When calorie intake is reduced, for example, the body defends against fat loss by Choose...reducing resting metabolic ratedecreasing appetiteincreasing resting metabolic ratelowering muscle efficiency. This is why it is difficult to lose weight (fat). To lose weight, one should aim for a loss of Choose...4321 pounds a week. Since there are Choose...1000225035005000 calories of energy in a pound of body fat, weight loss and management requires an increase in physical activity. Counseling, medications and surgery can be employed to help people lose weight. Body wraps and other products are generally useless. Most weight-loss dietary supplements are useless; those containing ephedra can work, but they are dangerous. Diet programs such as Weight Watchers and the Adkins Diet may work for some and not for others. Some individuals have conditions that severely disturb their eating behaviors. The most serious of these eating disorders is Choose...anorexia nervosabulimiabinge eating disordermetabolic syndrome, in which the affected person engages in a relentless pursuit of thinness generally by severely limiting calorie intake. Bulimia is marked by voluntary restriction of food intake followed by extreme overeating of high-calorie junk food, immediately followed by self-induced vomiting, use of diuretics or laxatives, or intense exercise. Choose...anorexia nervosabulimiabinge eating disordermetabolic syndrome is characterized by uncontrolled consumption of large quantities of food in a short period of time even if the person is not hungry.