Although the link between belly fat and health is not entirely clear, experts do know that people with a lot of belly fat are at higher risk of health problems than are people who accumulate fat in other areas — and men are more likely than women to put on weight around the waist.

To lose weight — and keep it off — you have to get regular exercise. This means doing something active most days of the week. Most people need at least 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise to stay healthy. But to shed the pounds in the first place, you may need longer periods of activity.Diet plays an important part in losing weight. Getting more exercise is important, but it is really tough to get enough physical activity to lose belly fat without changing your eating habits.

To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume. This means you need to avoid eating too much food high in fat and carbohydrates, and eat smaller quantities.

Fast-food outlets have become popular with consumers for several reasons. A fast-food restaurant is a restaurant characterized both by food ready to eat quickly after ordering, and by minimal service. One trait shared by all fast food establishments is that the customer pays for the food prior to consuming it. One is that through economies of scale in purchasing and producing food, these companies can deliver food to consumers at a very low cost. In addition, although some people dislike fast food for its predictability, it can be reassuring to a hungry person in a hurry or far from home.Fast foods are quick, reasonably priced, and readily available alternatives to home cooking. While convenient and inexpensive for a busy lifestyle, fast foods are typically high in calories, fat , saturated fat, sugar, and salt.

The most obvious health threat of eating too much fast food is weight gain - or even obesity. Teens are more at risk than ever of developing type 2 diabetes, a disease that's linked to overweight and used to affect only adults. But weight gain isn't the only problem. Too much fast food can drag a person's body down in other ways. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), what's important is a person's average food intake over a few days - not just in a single meal. So if you eat a meal consisting of only junk food, try to balance it with healthier foods the rest of that day and the next.

A new study provides the best evidence to date that eating fast food makes you fat.

Among nearly 3,400 young adults participating in a long-term study, every additional fast food meal they consumed each week correlated with a substantial increase in body mass index (BMI), Dr. Barry M. Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and colleagues found.

"It's a large effect," Popkin told Reuters Health in an interview. "That's enough of an effect to take you from being non-diabetic to diabetic."

Food eaten away from home now accounts for up to 42 percent of Americans' calorie intake, Popkin and his team note in their report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. While the increase in restaurant and fast food consumption has occurred at the same time as the rise in obesity, they add, it's not clear if it's a contributing factor.

To separate out the effects of fast food meals and meals eaten in traditional restaurants, the researchers looked at 3,394 young adults participating in a heart disease study.

The investigators compared the study participants' consumption of fast foods and restaurant foods during year 7 and year 10 of the study with their BMIs at both time points. BMI is a ratio of weight to height commonly used to determine if a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese or morbidly obese.

The more fast food the subjects ate, the higher was their BMI, Popkin and colleagues found. For each additional fast food meal eaten per week during year 7, BMI increased by 0.13 points, while each additional fast food meal per week at year 10 was tied to a 0.24 rise in BMI. This translates to 0.9 pounds and 1.7 pounds, respectively, for a person 5 foot 10 inches tall.

People whose fast food intake rose between year 7 and year 10 showed a 0.20 increase in BMI.

However, the researchers found no association between meals eaten at traditional restaurants and increases in BMI; in fact, some analyses linked eating more often in restaurants to a slightly lower BMI.

The study confirms, Popkin said, that people who eat more fast food pack on more pounds. "People have been trying to say that, but they didn't have the kind of evidence that we have now."

"Obese (overweight) people should avoid fast food / junk food restaurants meal "   User Opinions

matt :   fast food is fine but its the people's faults if they eat a lot and get fat. it makes me sick when obese people even attempt to sue fast food companies for what is essentially the obese persons lack of self control!

KAREN :   I THINK THAT ALL PEOPLE THAT HAVE THE OBESITY THING THAT THEY CAN NOT EAT ANY THINK WITH FAT IN IT OR ANY THINK LIKE THAT

donna :   I THINK THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EAT ANY THINK FROM A FAST FOOD PLACE AND THAT THEY SHOULD EAT VEG AND FRUIT!!!! I THINK THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EVEN GO NEAR ANT THINK LIKE CHOCOLATE

Ali Manay :   there are a lot of people that are overweight right now because of eating at the fast food restaurant. Adult and kids come in and out ever days at the fast food restaurant. fast food is a treat, not one of their meals. they should eat more healthy foods, and all the fast food restaurant should sell healthy foods from now on.

star raappana :   I think that if you really want to loose weight then "Hello"!Stop eating junk food. Start eating healthy.It's not that hard, well that is if you really want to.if you think you can, well then stop thinking! Just know you can and you will.

chevarn :   i think that fast food is bad for you but its not the foods folt that people get fat its part of the reason but its not all because of junk food

Dave :   How come when doctors or experts in health give advice it's considered picking on fat people. Wake the hell up people. Who cares if people are calling you names. The fact is you're going to die early fatty. Now if being called a name has grabbed your attention to the blob you see in the mirror that you call a human body. Then look at it as a warning sign and do something about it. If what someone thinks about your appearance is really that important then your priorities are out of wack. Priority number 1 is you and not the Big Macs you are about to consume to drown the sorrow of being made fun of. No more excuses, just solutions, get out there and work that big body.

aussie girl :   Soceity is to blame, things have changed dramitically since i was a teen, we did not sit in front of computers after school or played video games and all the luxuries kids have today, goodness sake we did not even have colour tv!!!...we played more outdoors, we walked too and from school, parents are more rushed today and drop kids off too school on their way to work, they dont have time to pack healthy lunch (make the time ,you had time to concieve the child).....they give them money for lunch (way too much money)......school cafaterias have way too much variety of food today, and its all junk!.....we had couple choices at our school canteen , and they served milk.......and this was the 1970s when i went to school., and we did not have mcdonalds, and kfc on every main street, (not that they are too blame,) then u get idiots wanting to sue fast food companys , they did not force you too eat their food, set a good example for your kids and eat right, buy the right food, they cant eat ...

A.D. :   Yes, obese people should avoid fast food. But I also don't blame them for eating it. Subway is so wonderful and healthy, but does Subway have a dollar menu? Not to mention there arent half as many Subways as there are McDonalds. And think about at night, yea I guess Subway is closed because "healthy people know not to eat late," but guess what, you can get hungry at any time! And when you get hungry, and its late, where can you go? Mcdonalds. Mcdonalds is profiting so much they are willing to advirtise and do anything to get people to eat there. Lets talk about convinience and pressure.

marion :   I dont that fat people con't help it and fat people still can do sport

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