What is obesity?
Many people think obesity means that a person is overweight, but that’s not exactly true.
An overweight person has a surplus amount of weight that includes muscle, bone, fat, and water.
An obese person has a surplus of body fat. We all have and need fat tissue in our bodies. When there is too much body fat, the result is obesity.
Most health professionals concur that a man is obese if he has over 25 percent body fat, and a woman is obese if she has over 30 percent. Women physiologically have more body fat than men, so that why there’s a difference in percentage.
Obesity is not a sign of a person being out of control. It is a serious medical disease that affects over a quarter of adults in the United States, and about 14% of children and adolescents. It is the second leading cause of preventable death after smoking.
How is obesity measured?
Normally, the fat should be equally distributed on the body, on the stomach or on the hips and thighs. Doctors agree that an excellent method to measure overweight and obesity is the Body Mass Index (BMI). It is calculated as your weight (in kg) divided by your height (in metres) squared.
If you want to know your Body Mass Index use the form below. Please press the Refresh button first.
Instructions Put Weight in Kilos, eg: 72 Put Height in Meters, eg: 1.82
Now let’s have the interpretation.
- if you your BMI is up to 18.5, you’re under average, you’re skinny
- if you have a BMI between 18.5 and 25, you may consider yourself of average weight
- if you have a BMI between 25 and 30, you are overweight
- if you have a BMI between 30 and 40, you are obese
- if your BMI is over 40, then you’re superobese
How common is obesity?
The occurrence of obesity has increased by five fold since the Second World War.
It affects approximately 60 million people in the United States. With more and more pre-packaged food and less and less activity, the rates for obesity are escaling despite of billions dollars spent on health care.
Because obesity and stomach obesity are rapidly increasing all over the world, especially in young people, many experts now estimate that western world is closely at risk of developing an obesity epidemic in the next generation or even sooner.
How can obesity affect your health?
Many physical problems are related to obese condition, like difficulties in breathing, personal hygiene, pain in the knees and back and skin problems. People suffering from obesity more frequently have
- high blood pressure
- diseases related to hardening of the arteries
- blood clots in the heart and the brain
- non-insulin dependent diabetes
- gallstones
- some types of cancer
- difficulties in mobility
- increased risk of mortality.