Losing weight should i be concerned

But this kind of weight loss likely is a clue to an illness that needs to be diagnosed and treated. Your healthcare provider can help find the cause, and treat both the underlying condition and the weight loss.

It appears to depend in part on age. For example, in a study of 2, people with unexplained weight loss whose average age was 64, cancer was most often responsible. A similar study of people 65 and older homed in on nonmalignant causes, including diminished sense of taste and appetite due to medication.

Still other research has found up to a quarter of cases of unintentional weight loss can't be explained. Any number of pounds lost is a potential concern. The type of weight loss typical among cancer patients—cachexia, in which both muscle mass and fat are lost—is most often associated with cancer of the pancreas , stomach gastric cancer , lung, esophagus , colon , and head or neck.

Gas pain? Stool issues? Sign up for the best tips to take care of your stomach. Unintentional Weight Loss in Older Adults. Am Fam Physician. PMID: BMJ Best Practice. Evaluation of unintentional weight loss. British Medical Association. Updated July 7, Weight loss as a predictor of cancer in primary care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice. American Thyroid Association. Graves' disease. Advances in cancer cachexia: Intersection between affected organs, mediators, and pharmacological interventions.

American Psychiatric Association. What Is Depression? Updated October Lemmey AB. Rheumatoid cachexia: the undiagnosed, untreated key to restoring physical function in rheumatoid arthritis patients? Unintentional weight loss: Clinical characteristics and outcomes in a prospective cohort of patients. PLoS One. Unintentional weight loss in older adults. Approach to patients with unintentional weight loss. Med Clin North Am. Cleveland Clinic. Unexplained Weight Loss. Aug 31, Wu W-CH, ed.

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I Accept Show Purposes. Your body is made of fat mass and fat-free mass, which includes muscle, bone, and water. Generally, exercise and proper nutrition will reverse muscle loss. Hyperthyroidism , or overactive thyroid, develops when your thyroid gland makes too much thyroid hormone. These hormones control many functions in the body, including metabolism. The result can be unintentional weight loss. Treatment of hyperthyroidism depends on your age and severity of your case.

Rheumatoid arthritis RA is an autoimmune disease that makes your immune system attack the lining of your joints, leading to inflammation.

Chronic inflammation can speed up metabolism and reduce overall weight. Symptoms of RA include joint swelling and pain. It usually affects the same joints on both sides of your body. Treatment of RA typically begins with medication. Medications include disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, corticosteroids, biologics, and Janus associated kinase inhibitors. Another cause of unwanted weight loss is type 1 diabetes. If you have type 1 diabetes, your immune system attacks cells in your pancreas that make insulin.

This causes high blood glucose. Treatment of type 1 diabetes includes insulin, blood sugar monitoring, diet modifications, and exercise. Weight loss may be a side effect of depression , which is defined as feeling sad, lost, or empty for at least two weeks. These emotions interfere with daily activities, such as going to work or school. Depression affects the same parts of the brain that control appetite.

This can lead to poor appetite, and eventually, weight loss. In some people, depression may increase appetite. The symptoms vary from person to person. Other symptoms of depression include:. Behavioral therapy , psychotherapy, and antidepressants are used to treat depression. Unexpected weight loss may be a symptom of inflammatory bowel disease IBD. IBD is a term that encompasses several chronic inflammatory disorders of the digestive tract.

IBD also disrupts ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and leptin, the satiety hormone. This results in decreased appetite and weight loss.

These symptoms are triggered by certain foods. If you have IBD, you might be hesitant to eat. Treatment of IBD usually consists of nutritional support, medication, and in some cases, surgery. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD is a progressive lung disease. This includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Many people with COPD have both. Emphysema slowly damages the air sacs in your lungs, making it hard to breathe. Chronic bronchitis causes inflammation of the airways that bring air to your lungs.

This produces mucus, coughing, and breathing issues. In later stages, COPD can cause weight loss. Labored breathing burns a lot of calories. Your gut has a huge influence on your weight because it directly affects what nutrients are absorbed and handles the disposal of waste materials.

A build-up of the latter can lead to gut toxicity which can lead to inflammation and worse. Once again, various vegetables and fruits should be at the forefront of your diet because of their prebiotic content, which allows for intestinal flora to flourish. Fermented food is also recommended due to their high probiotic content, which protects your gut from bad bacteria.

Examples of such food include kimchi, greek yogurt and tempeh. A surplus of protein supports muscle mass retention even when in a caloric deficit. Conventional wisdom dictates 1. Aside from the physiological benefits, protein also carries a very satiating effect which is useful when it comes to suppressing the urge to snack. For those the lactose intolerant, eggs are a great nutritious alternative. Eating habits aside, our lifestyle choices also affect our weight and should be regulated.

In particular, the amount of sleep you get and the level of stress you experience play a part in weight management. Sleep affects your metabolism — which is the rate at which your body contributes food to energy — as well as your insulin sensitivity. In a similar vein, stress can wreak havoc on your attempts at weight management because of its effects on appetite and cortisol levels.

Given that stress-eating is such a common culprit of unplanned weight-gain, no diet should be attempted without also adopting stress management habits like meditation. Regular exercise has also been shown to be a great stress-buster, so committing to a reasonable training regimen would do well to support all your other anti-stress hacks.

Other components like muscle-to-fat ratio and bone density have a greater impact on one's health than just weight alone, so don't base your health solely around the number reflected on the scale. As attractive as the idea of losing weight is, resorting to extreme diets that deliver results that are drastic is never a good idea.

Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is a long-term process, not a temporary goal that you should aim to reach as quickly as you can! If you're in any way unsure, consider taking a detailed test to determine the current state of your body composition — you can get a free reading at our Active Health Labs that will help you decide where to progress from there.

Don't forget to eat healthy even when you are dining out at hawker centres, and click here to p ledge your support for Hawker Culture on the www. Topics: Nutrition. Healthy eating playbook: cracking the food label code. Nutrition strategies for working adults on irregular shifts. Level up with guided expert knowledge backed by science. Receive tips on how to move, eat and rest better. Main Tel: Main Fax: Photo: Active Health The 5 most severe consequences of extreme weight-loss 1.