Casebook A-Z: W is for weight loss.

POP star Michelle McManus is not alone in wanting to lose weight.

Nearly all of us would like to shed a few pounds at the start of 2006.

Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories or energy than you take in. A loss of weight is due to one of three factors: fewer calories being consumed, more calories or energy being burned off during activity, or a person's basic metabolism at rest speeding up. Unplanned weight loss is often a sign of serious illness.

These illnesses can include: cancer, conditions that affect the ability of the intestines to absorb food and other nutrients, diabetes, digestive diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease or peptic ulcers, hormone imbalances, such as an increased thyroid hormone level, known as hyperthyroidism, infections, such as HIV or tuberculosis, severe kidney, liver, or heart disease. Other causes are also possible and will be discovered after blood and urine tests.

The normal solution is to treat the underlying cause and increase daily calories with high-calorie dietary supplements

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Diet: Michelle