Obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or greater, and overweight, defined as a BMI of 25 to 29.9, have been on the rise in the United States for decades. Obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, some types of cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea and several other health conditions. Overweight when present with other factors like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, or cigarette smoking, is also considered to be a risk.
Learn more about obesity by watching Part 1 of the documentary Weight of the Nation. All parts are available for free on Youtube.
BMI is one of measures of body composition, previously defined here. Body composition is defined as the relative proportion of fat mass to lean mass in the body. It is usually measured by percent body fat, but that can be hard to do day to day. So one approximate measure is BMI, which is a ratio of mass to height. You can calculate your BMI here – https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm. Another measure is waist circumference, because abdominal fat puts you at higher risk for health complications.
There are more accurate measures of body composition. Calipers can be used by fitness professionals to do a skin-fold measurement to determine body fat percentage with more precision. There are also scales and handheld tools that use bioelectrical impedence to estimate a percent body fat. Less accessible are things like full body tools like air pods, hydrostatic weighing (under water), or special X-rays.
Body fat consists of essential fat (what we need to function), and storage fat. There is a range of normal body fat – https://us.humankinetics.com/blogs/excerpt/normal-ranges-of-body-weight-and-body-fat.
In order to improve your body composition, consider these tips.
You can be active at any size – https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/staying-active-at-any-size.
Improve your diet, but do it as a change to your habits. Usually when people think of diets, they think of short-term programs meant to lose pounds fast. However, while this can help people lose weight, most will not maintain that weight loss. Read the post titled How can you eat healthier? Take a look at some myths about weight management – https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/myths-nutrition-physical-activity.
Practice portion control. Portion sizes have increased in the last several decades. Looks at this Portion Distortion Quiz to see how much.
