For a good majority of women, the problems related to the control of weight and fat have always been very important. Most eat and exercise to maintain a healthy weight. While some women find that staying in shape comes naturally and doesn’t have to work hard, others find it quite difficult to shed some unwanted pounds, especially as they age.

Body image, sexuality, and self-image are generally intricately intertwined for women. However, the perceptions that most women have of their own bodies and also the perception of those whose bodies they love, for the most part, have been negatively affected by all kinds of social and marketing influences. Today’s media basically wants women to have pubescent girl bodies that are lean, taut, hips out, curved out, whose breasts should be appropriately perky and youthful with visible musculature. This is a very high demand, to say the least, considering the age factor and the challenges of female hormones.

Sexual empowerment for both men and women begins with high self-esteem and a positive body image. When a woman is comfortable with her appearance, size and shape, she is naturally more attuned to her senses and her sexuality takes on a whole new meaning and wants to have sex more easily, try new sexual positions, ideas and techniques. Yet the degree to which women today are betting their happiness, future, and / or sexuality on some fantasized weight loss or other personal physical “enhancement” is disheartening, however.

It is also interesting to note that while the anger that most women feel at the pressure that society exerts on them to have perfect bodies is understandable, the appearance of most women is not only scrutinized more closely by other women but is often unfairly criticized by women themselves. The problem is that most women can’t help but compare themselves. Arguably most women dress for other women, although they dress to please men, it’s what other women say that matters most to them. Men can congratulate themselves more easily, but this is not the case for women, who are in constant competition with each other to win the so-called “Miss Fit” pageant. In fact, women are much more critical of their body shape and weight than men of them.

Why do women add more weight than men? A woman’s lifestyle (unbalanced diet and lack of exercise) and her female hormones are the big culprits when it comes to excess fat in women. Women seem to pay a much higher social price for their excess fat, while fat men somehow “get away with it.” Most fat men get fat by eating too much, but this is not always true for women. Naturally, male hormones keep muscle mass high and fat levels low, but the opposite appears to be true for female hormones.

Food is made up of calories or units of energy. Physical activity and normal body metabolism burn calories. When a person eats more calories than the body uses, the extra calories are stored as fat. These fat cells increase or decrease in size depending on the energy balance in the body. The metabolic pathways of female hormones favor the reduction of calories used to generate body heat and increase the storage of body fat by increasing the use of calories to produce fat. In general, women’s metabolism tends to convert more calories to fat, while men tend to produce more heat from calories. Therefore, women get fat more easily than men and find it more difficult to lose fat.

Most women are the right size, but they are not happy with their shape because they are compared to women in the media. However, sometimes weight becomes a real physical, medical, emotional and / or psychological problem. A woman who carries many extra pounds has a greater load than the literal weight, as she will be prone to measure herself first, before any personal achievement, considering her weight as a primary personal failure.

Actually, women should look more back at their lifestyle and the demand that most of the media make of them. The point is that much of women’s frustration with body fat is wrong. The desire for those super slim female celebrities in magazines is based on a misconception. Even a healthy and fit woman would be hard-pressed to achieve the body of these young celebrities. When issues such as pregnancy, motherhood, full-time careers, menopause, and aging are considered in the life of an ordinary woman, these media-hyped and overrated role models should really fade into oblivion. Women are simply setting unattainable goals.

When women begin to be more confident and positive about their bodies, they soon begin to realize how sexy they really are and can be. The truth is that every woman definitely has some positive qualities about her body, which can be her pretty feet, her heavy breasts, her long eyelashes, her super shiny hair, or her wonderful curves. Every woman is unique and while you may be busy looking down at some of her characteristics, there are others who wish they had them. Therefore, it is better to be yourself, inside and out, and be proud of your physical qualities, enhancing and accentuating them, as they are part of your overall sexuality.

However, it’s not about ignoring healthy standards. Being overweight can increase a woman’s risk for heart disease, breast cancer, and diabetes. It can also complicate pregnancy and even make getting pregnant more difficult. Long-term studies indicate that the overall risk of developing a chronic disease is generally related to a person’s body mass index (BMI) as follows: BMI less than 20 (may be associated with health problems for some women eg anemia, eating disorders, increased susceptibility to infection); BMI 20-25 (the risk is very low: healthy weight); BMI 25-26.9 (risk begins to increase – caution zone: overweight); BMI 27-29.9 (moderate risk – overweight); BMI 30+ (high risk – obesity).

Your health risk is only partially determined by weight, as there are other risk factors such as poor diet, alcohol, lack of exercise, smoking, high blood pressure, and of course, female hormones – all which play an important role. However, in their desperate attempt to shed the fat, some women turn to fasting or strange and unbalanced diet tricks that simply make the problem worse.

There are many positive actions a woman can take to feel better about her weight, as taking good care of her body will help her feel more attractive. If you think your BMI needs a reduction, especially for health reasons, a healthy and balanced diet to shed excess fat is a good start and women in general should eat as much healthy food as possible. Additionally, routine aerobic exercise to improve the body’s ability to burn fat will help reap the rewards of a healthier, happier, and better sex life.

Emotional health is the key to being beautiful. Therefore, pride and responsibility are imperative requirements if you want to establish and maintain a weight control, a healthy exercise regimen, or some other physical routine. Starting a healthy balanced diet habit and adding routine exercise will make you feel good about the fact that you are taking positive steps to achieve a fitter, firmer, and overall healthier body, all of which will make you feel better while show it.

However, women should be optimistic but realistic about the possibility of losing excess weight because the fatter a woman is, the less competent her body is at releasing fat from fat cells; prevent calories from entering fat cells and burn fat for calories. As a result, the fatter you are, the less able you are to shed fat. The fatter and out of shape a woman is, the slower the fat loss becomes. Prevention, they say, is better than cure.

If you are curvy, delicate, muscular, slim or plump, your body type is part of your sexuality. So start with a healthy, balanced diet and routine exercise regimen because the sexiest women are those who are most comfortable in their own skin.