What Is Obesity?
Obesity is the term used when weight reaches a level that can affect your health, it is diagnosed if your “body mass index” is above 30.
Your nurse or doctor can tell you what you BMI is. In most cases, putting on weigh is the resul of unhealthy easting behaviours, unhealthy food choices and low levels of activity.
There are also many problems associated with being overweight and these include personal, social and health problems such as;
- Feeling down and unhappy
- Being teased
- Diabetes
- Heart problems
Before you can make the changes to remove these problems and acheive your desired weight, you need to become aware and understand your current eating and exercise habits;
- Over-eating
- Low levels of excercise
- cravings
- Time
- Stress
Based on the body mass index, people are categorized as normal weight, overweight, or obese;
| Meaning | BMI |
| Nomal Weight | 18.5-24.9 |
| Overweight | 25-29.9 |
| Obese | 30-3.,9 |
| Severely Obese | 40 and above |
Click here to calculate your BMI
“The key to achieving your goals is to remind yourself why you can’t lose weight, this will keep you motivated”
Busy lives, changes in technology, not walking because of the use of the car lead to the changes in which we are not always taking the time to eat healthy. People follow diets and lose weight, but then they return to a previous pattern and find that they put on weight, to be consistent, develop new habits and change the way in which food fits into your life.
Changing the way you feel about eating and exercise can give you many rewards;
- Improved health
- Feeling of having more energy
- Changes in everyday aspects of lives
- Sleeping
Serious Health Conditions
Being obese can also increase the risk of developing many potentially serious health conditions, including;
- Type 2 diabetes – A condition that causes a blood sugar level to become too high
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol and atherosclerosis (where fatty deposits narrow your arteries), which can lead to coronary heart disease and stroke
- Asthma
- Metabolic syndrome – A combination of diabetes’ high blood pressure and obesity
- Bowel, breast and womb cancers
- Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) – Where stomach acid leaks out of the stomach and into the oesophagus (gullet)
- Gallstones – Small stones made out of cholesterol, that form in the gallbladder
- Reduce fertility
- Osteoarthritis – A condition involving pain and stiffness in your joints
- Sleep apnoea – A condition that cause interrupted breathing during sleep, which can lead to to daytime sleepiness with an increased risk of road traffic accidents, as well as a greater risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease
- Liver and kidney disease
- Pregnancy complications – such as gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia (when a woman experiences a potentially dangerous rise of blood pressure during pregnancy
Obesity reduces life expectancy by an average of 3-10 years. depending on how severe it is. It’s estimated that obesity and being overweight contribute to at least 1 in every 13 deaths in Europe.
Setting Realistic Goals
Make sure that you set yourself realistic goals. Start off with small changes, building them up to larger ones.
There’s no “quick fix” for obesity. Weight loss programmes take time and commitment, and work best when fully completed. The healthcare professionals involved with your care should provide encouragement and advice about how to maintain the weight loss achieved.
Regularly monitoring your weight, setting realistic goals and involving your friends and family with your attempts to lose weight can also help.
Remember that even losing what seems like a small amount of weight, such as 3% or more of your original body weight, and maintaining this for life, can significantly reduce your risk of developing obesity-related complications like diabetes and heart disease.
If it’s been a long time since you did any exercise, you should check out the NHS Choices Couch to 5K running plan.
It consists of podcasts delivered over the course of nine weeks and has been specifically designed for absolute beginners.
To begin with, you start running for short periods of time, and as the plan progresses, gradually increase the amount.
At the end of the nine weeks, you should be able to run for 30 minutes non-stop, which for most people is around five kilometres (3.1 miles).
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Resources
All links come from trusted sources, however, if you are unsure about them or any other medical concerns, contact your doctor or pharmacist for further advice.