Abstract
<jats:p>Obesity is a chronic relapsing condition with underlying complexity, given the factors contributing to the development and which make long‐term weight loss maintenance challenging to achieve. The exposure to chronic stress, such as financial or food insecurity, family disharmony, feeling stigmatised or experiencing mental illness, also increases the risk of excessive weight gain both directly and indirectly. Chronic activation of the stress response system can result in greater accumulation of visceral fat. Overweight and obesity have been traditionally defined using body mass index. Unhealthy and energy‐dense diets, combined with an increase in sedentary behaviour, are key drivers of obesity. Individual responsibility is challenging given the current obesogenic environment, and more regulation of the food system is required to reduce future obesity prevalence levels. Obesity reduces life expectancy by an average of 3–10 years, depending on the level of severity and the age of onset.</jats:p>