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Definition of Obesity

OBESITY STATUE

What is obesity?

Obesity is defined as an excess of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass or excess weight of 20% greater than ideal body weight in men and 30% greater in women. Measuring the exact amount of a person’s body fat is not easy.

It develops when the number of calories taken in is greater than the number burnt up during daily activity. And it does not take many extra calories to put on weight.

Ten extra calories taken each day will lead, to a weight gain of one kilogram in a year’s time.

Obesity is commonly expressed as the Body Mass Index (BMI). This is measured by dividing the weight (kg) by the height2 (m2) Body Mass Index

BMI = weight (kg) / height2 (m2)

For example, if a person weighs 70kg and is 1.6m tall, his BMI is: 70/(1.6 x 1.6) = 27.34.

To calculate your BMI click here

The BMI scale is as follows:

  • Normal – 18 to 25
  • Overweight – 25 to 30
  • Obese – more than 30
  • Severe obesity – more than 35
  • Morbid obesity – more than 40.

Obesity is commonly regarded as the inevitable consequences of our indulgence in food and lack of self-discipline. This conventional opinion is not accurate. The causes of obesity are multiple and complex and is not simply a result of overeating. Genetic as well as an environmental factors are the main causes of obesity. In the UK, obesity has reached an epidemic proportion and like any other disease, needs appropriate treatment. When obesity becomes severe, it is even called ‘morbid obesity’ (from the Latin, morbus meaning disease). It has serious implications on health, causing reduced life expectancy and a generally reduced quality of life due to a high risk of diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, High blood lipids, arthritis, breathing problems & sleep apnoea, Gastro-oesophageal reflux, etc. There is even a greater link of cancers particularly prostate, breast , cervical and ovarian cancers.

Facts & Figures

  • 1 in 5 of the adults in the UK are obese.
  • Two thirds of all men and ½ of all women (this is more than half the adult population in the UK) are overweight or obese.
  • Obesity is more common in the UK than in any other country in Europe.
  • Every day, about 1000 Americans die of obesity related problems.
  • Obese individuals have 50-100 times increased risk of death when compared to non-overweight individuals.
  • Morbid obesity reduces life expectancy by an average 9 years and patients have only a 1 in 7 chance of a normal life span.
  • Obesity in the UK has tripled since 1980. More alarming is that obesity in children has tripled in the UK since 1990. 16% of children between the ages of 6 and 15 are obese and this figure is increasing.

Long-term weight loss is usually not achieved by dietary measures alone, nor by behavioural therapy. Successive failure to lose weight causes enormous physiological as well as psychological problems and a surgical solution is therefore indicated. Eating less and exercising more seems to be the reasonable answer, but unfortunately this does not seem an effective way of maintaining weight control in the long term for many people. image007.gifIt is not uncommon for people to be able to loose significant amounts of weight whilst dieting only to find that they put it all back on again over the following months.The constant failure to control weight with diets, etc., can bring on clinical depression. Once morbid obesity has developed, only surgery can offer a long-lasting help.

Click here for Treatment of Obesity ‘Overview’