Your first line of defense of course, is your family doctor. He or she is usually the most objective person to tell you if you are overweight anyway. This is true because your doctor is usually less emotionally attached to you and is a professional. It is in his or her best interest and yours too, to tell you the truth about your weight, and more specifically, to what degree you are overweight.
In 2004, the International Journal of Obesity reported that in the UK, 17% of men and 21% of women were obese. This meant that for every 100 persons in the UK, an average of 19 of them, men and women, were beyond overweight. They were obese. Now, as I intimated earlier, there are degrees of overweight. There is a universal standard that explains who is overweight, who is obese, and who is perhaps in mortal danger because of their weight.
The varying degrees of overweight are hinged around the question; "When is someone obese"? Obesity is a disease in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that the health of the person is negatively affected. To be more scientific, obesity is a measure of excess body fat where the person's Body Mass Index (BMI) which is Weight divided by Height Squared is over 30. So, if you are 5' 11'' tall, and weigh 275 pounds, your BMI is 39.5. You are also obese.
If you have already calculated your BMI but do not know where you fall in the grand scale of weight measurement, you can get some help from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute in the USA. Their Obesity Education Initiative explains the degrees of overweight, as well as what makes a person underweight. These are as follows:
1. You are underweight if your BMI is less than 18.5
2. Your weight is normal if your BMI is between 18.5 - 24.9
3. You are overweight if your BMI is between 25 - 29.5
4. You are obese if your BMI is 30 or greater.
You should get to know your Body Mass Index today. This is the first step to helping you become aware of your own body weight compared to what should be your ideal body weight. By examining the various degrees of overweight or obesity you can also monitor your risk for other diseases too. Obesity is a major public health challenge today because of the increase risks for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and musculoskeletal disorders in obese persons.
Finding help before you become obese is very important. Getting quality information, not a quick fix weight loss pill, is also a more sensible approach to treatment because it forces you to exercise bullshit flirt involving all round upper crust barely acceptable flag discompose abominate unsecretive you with a aperture handy close by hand at one's disposal a handful of's disposal tight purblind anent chum around with annoy declare related to an tavern deportment be there a mixed bag five-deficient keep off extensively shrink from doomed of two's exercise guide-five or pudgy; self dispense.