About Obesity
Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. Defined as a body mass index of greater than 30, obesity is now the most common nutritional disorder in western industrialized countries and its prevalence in Europe and the USA has reached epidemic levels
Many people aren't sure whether or not they are a healthy weight. It's important to make an objective assessment of your size. Looking at yourself in the mirror isn't a good way to assess whether you're a healthy weight.
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Classification
There are a number of ways you can work out if you're within a healthy weight range. You need to get an accurate idea because it's easy to underestimate or overestimate your own weight.
Bear in mind though that body fat is only one aspect of health. Doctors can advise whether additional measurements such as blood pressure, resting heart rate, blood cholesterol, and fat and glucose tests are necessary.
If your BMI and waist circumference indicate you're overweight, changes to your lifestyle could help to control your weight. Think about how you can make changes to your diet and physical activity over the long term.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
You can check your body size using the body mass index (BMI), which assesses your weight in relation to your height. BMI is calculated using a mathematical formula:
BMI = weight in kg / height in metres 2
BMI results are categorised as follows:
under 18.5 - Underweight
18.5 to 24.9 - Ideal weight
25 to 29.9 - Overweight
over 30 - Obese
BMI is a good way of assessing body fat levels for the average person. One should bear in mind that it is just an average and does not take into account muscle mass. This means that the BMI for muscular people is an overestimate of their body fat. Conversely, for the elderly and other groups who have less muscle, the calculation may underestimate the true BMI.
Waist Circumference
Another method of assessing whether you're a healthy weight is to measure your waist. This gives an indication of how much fat is stored around your middle. Excess fat in this area increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Those at risk have a waist measurement in excess of 37" (94cm) for men and 32"(80 cm) for women. However, those at greatest risk have waist measurements in excess of 40" (102 cm) for men and 35" (88 cm) for women.
Body fat
You can measure the amount of fat in your body using scales designed for this purpose, often called body fat analysers. These pass a small, safe electrical signal through your body.
Lean tissue, such as muscle, and blood contain water and act as conductors of the electrical signal, while fat resists it. The greater the resistance, the more body fat you have.
Causes of Obesity
Modern life, especially in cities has become increasingly sedentary with a serious lack of physical activity, stress and domination of high calorie cheap food in our diet.
Consumption of excess fatty food and calories: The consumption of excess fatty food and calories coupled with a lack of exercise plays a significant role in the development of excess weight. While fat is an important component of a balanced diet, excess dietary fat contributes to excess body weight since fat provides twice the number of calories per gram of weight as carbohydrates and protein.
Low levels of physical activity: can also lead to weight gain. If you don't burn off the calories you consume through your normal daily activities, they will be stored in your body as fat. The good news is that even moderate amounts of non-strenuous activity can reduce the risk of developing many serious diseases.
Genetics and medical:Some people are predisposed to storing fat and gaining weight. Another reason for obesity is illness or disorder that affects our metabolism – the most widespread is hypothyroidism
Effects of Obesity
Obesity can heavily affect the state of our health, over 30 medical conditions relate directly to obesity and excess weight can also aggravate most of overall health problems. Obesity causes serious health conditions, such as:
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- Gallbladder disease
- Cancer of different body organs
- Osteoarthritis and disability
- Sleep apnea and others
