In our modern society, a lack of exercise and poor diet often lead to an imbalance in our personal energy balance. The excess energy is then stored in fat deposits. When there is a strong increase in body fat and a high level of excess weight, doctors speak of obesity. Children and adolescents are also increasingly suffering from this. This results in health problems for the metabolism, joints and psyche.

Active against obesity

Whether you take a cure to lose weight or book an individual vacation to lose weight. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between the Baltic Sea and the Lake District offers a wide range of options. The most important components are diet and exercise. Some suggestions can be found below.

Baltic Sea vacation with fasting hikes

Sitting is the new smoking. In fact, many people's everyday lives are characterized by an acute lack of exercise. Not only do we spend most of our working day sitting down, but our leisure time is often spent passively in front of the computer or television. An active Baltic Sea vacation with fasting hikes gives you plenty of opportunities to use your vacation time for conscious exercise on foot or by bike. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has numerous worthwhile excursion destinations to offer, which are easy to reach via an extensive network of hiking and cycling trails.

Exercise in the water for overweight people

Floating weightlessly in the water means pure relaxation, especially for people who are overweight. Heavily stressed bones, joints and ligaments can relax and the active movement of the hips, knees and feet is easier in the water. There are numerous opportunities to do water aerobics and improve your fitness under professional guidance at the spa facilities and resorts in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Obesity - help from a nutritionist

There are nutrition specialists in the region's spa facilities who assess the individual eating habits of obesity sufferers, identify any need for action and offer tailored advice including diet recommendations. Doctors also compile an accompanying social and addiction history in order to better recognize private or professional problems. This is the only way to specifically identify the causes of obesity and derive suitable therapies.

Fasting cures help people who are overweight to break out of habitual eating patterns, detoxify the body and find inner peace. The Baltic Sea coast with its sandy beaches, dunes and forests, national parks and inviting islands (Rügen, Usedom, Hiddensee) is ideal for fasting hikes. The classic fasting periods in spring and fall are also outside the main season and allow for extended coastal hikes full of peace and relaxation. Yoga and meditation enrich the offer, which ranges from Ayurvedic therapeutic fasting and alkaline fasting to fasting according to Buchinger.
You can find more information about fasting here.

Certified treatment centers for obesity

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is one of the federal states with the most overweight people. One in three adults is overweight, one in five even severely overweight. For this reason, several highly specialized medical facilities have been set up for the prevention and treatment of obesity. The obesity centers in Rostock at the Klinikum Südstadt, in Greifswald at the University Medical Center, in Wismar at the Sana HANSE Klinikum and in Neubrandenburg at the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Klinikum offer the experience and expertise of interdisciplinary teams.

As an up-and-coming health state, the local spa clinics also offer good conditions for counteracting obesity. Apart from that, overweight and obesity should also be a reason for a vacation between the Baltic Sea and the Lake District: Losing weight on vacation is not sustainable for short stays. Much more important are inspirations to change your lifestyle sustainably. What would it be like to make cooking the theme of your vacation?

Obesity centers

In the four large centers, internists, psychologists, physiotherapists, nutritionists and surgeons work closely together. Patients receive professional, individual nutritional advice and behavioral therapy, an internal medicine and endocrinological assessment of concomitant diseases as well as adapted sports and exercise programs. If conventional therapies are unsuccessful, surgical obesity operations with gastric bypass, gastric banding or gastric sleeve surgery may also be considered.

Obesity centers in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern:
 

• Rostock
• Greifswald
• Wismar
• Neubrandenburg
   

Father-child cures and mother-child cures

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern there are numerous spa clinics that specialize in mother-child cures, father-child cures and offers for prevention, rehabilitation and recovery. As people who are overweight usually have additional health problems, the Ostsee-Kurklinik Fischland, for example, specializes in the treatment of cardiovascular, respiratory and skin diseases, as well as metabolic disorders, exhaustion and allergies, in addition to family cures.

Learning to cook healthily

A Baltic Sea vacation offers time and opportunity to learn and experience healthy cooking. Ready meals contain a lot of hidden fats and too much sugar. It is therefore advisable to use fresh regional products. Spa facilities and hotels regularly offer cooking courses for this purpose.

Good to know

Causes and consequences of obesity

Obesity can have many causes. Lack of exercise, malnutrition, hormonal disorders and genetic inheritance are often linked. Psychological factors also have an influence - for example, loneliness, loss of a partner or job, or depression. The main cause, however, remains poor eating habits.

Consequential diseases of obesity

Common secondary diseases of obesity are cardiovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis, type 2 diabetes mellitus, joint diseases, venous disorders, sleep apnea, hormonal disorders, diseases of the gall bladder and liver, and an increased risk of various cancers of the uterus, breast, prostate, gall bladder or intestine. In addition, obese people are subject to high levels of psychosocial distress and are frequently affected by anxiety or depression.

BMI as an indicator of obesity

One indicator of obesity is the body mass index (BMI). BMI is calculated by dividing one's body weight by the square of one's height in meters. So if a woman is 1.69 meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, she has a BMI of 29.8. Calculation: 85 : (1.69 x 1.69) = 29.8. From a BMI of over 25, doctors speak of overweight, and from a BMI of over 30, obesity is present. The guideline values for the average energy intake for people of different ages depending on the resting energy metabolism and physical activity can be found here.

For school children up to puberty there is a simple rule of thumb. The upper limit for normal weight is the height of the child in centimeters minus 100.

Obesity - When does surgery make sense?

Initially, doctors will use so-called conservative therapies to achieve the desired weight reduction through a change in diet and more physical exercise. However, if these therapies are unsuccessful and the BMI remains above 40, surgical therapy may come into focus. This involves surgically reducing the size of the stomach, which results in a faster feeling of fullness. Like any surgical intervention, however, this procedure is not free of possible complications.