WEIGHT CONTROL - READINGS

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/television-and-sedentary-behavior-and-obesity/

Read the texts below and answer the comprehension questions. You can use the wordreference link to
look up any words you are not familiar with. You can either write your answers to the questions in a
notebook, or underline the parts of the text that answer the question.

READING 1 – INTRODUCTION
Obesity results from energy imbalance: too many calories in, too few calories burned. A number of
factors influence how many calories (or how much “energy”) people burn each day, among them, age,
body size, and genes. But the most variable factor - and the most easily modified - is the amount of
activity people get each day.
Keeping active can help people stay at a healthy weight or lose weight. It can also lower the risk of
heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and certain cancers, as well
as reduce stress and boost mood. Inactive (sedentary) lifestyles do just the opposite.
Despite all the health benefits of physical activity, people worldwide are doing less of it - at work, at
home, and as they travel from place to place. Globally, about one in three people gets little, if any,
physical activity. Physical activity levels are declining not only in wealthy countries, such as the U.S.,
but also in low- and middle-income countries, such as China. And it’s clear that this decline in physical
activity is a key contributor to the global obesity epidemic, and in turn, to rising rates of chronic
disease everywhere.
The World Health Organization, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, and other authorities
recommend that for good health, adults should get the equivalent of two and a half hours
of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity each week. Children should get even more, at least one hour
a day. There has been some debate among researchers, however, about just how much activity people
need each day to maintain a healthy weight or to help with weight loss, and the most recent studies
suggest that a total of two and a half hours a week is simply not enough.

QUESTIONS

1. What is an 'energy imbalance'?

2. What condition results from an 'energy imbalance'?
3. What factors influence how many calories (energy) people burn each day?
4. What are the advantages of having a healthy weight?
5. In which countries is physical activity declining?
6. What are the recommendations for physical activity? Does everyone agree?
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READING 2 - HOW MUCH ACTIVITY DO PEOPLE NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT?

Exercise can help promote weight loss, but it seems to work best when combined with a lower calorie
eating plan. If people don’t curb their calories, however, they will likely need to exercise for long
periods of time - or at a high intensity - to lose weight.

In one study, for example, researchers randomly assigned 175 overweight, inactive adults to either
a control group that did not receive any exercise instruction, or to one of three exercise regimens: low
intensity (equivalent to walking 19 kms/week), medium intensity (equivalent to jogging 19 kms/week),
or high intensity (equivalent to jogging 32 kms per week). All study volunteers were asked to stick
to their usual diets. After six months, those assigned to the high-intensity regimen lost abdominal
fat, whereas those assigned to the low- and medium-intensity exercise regimens had no change in
abdominal fat.
QUESTIONS

1. Who participated in one study?

2. How are different exercise regimes classified?
3. What were the results of the study on abdominal fat?
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READING 3 - HOW DOES ACTIVITY PREVENT OBESITY?

Researchers believe that physical activity prevents obesity in multiple ways: Physical activity increases
people’s total energy expenditure, which can help them stay in energy balance or even lose weight, as
long as they don’t eat more to compensate for the extra calories they burn. Physical activity decreases
fat around the waist and total body fat, slowing the development of abdominal obesity. Weight lifting,
push-ups, and other muscle-strengthening activities build muscle mass, increasing the energy that the
body burns throughout the day - even when it’s at rest - and making it easier to control weight.
Physical activity reduces depression and anxiety, and this mood boost may motivate people to stick
with their exercise regimens over time.

QUESTIONS

1. In how many way does the text suggest that physical activity can prevent obesity.
2. What are they?
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