About Obesity
Body mass index (BMI) is the most widely used method for determining your weight.
Using your BMI, you can determine whether or not you are a healthy weight for your height. You can use the NHS BMI healthy weight calculator to work out your score.
For most adults, a BMI of:
— 18.5 to 24.9 means you’re a healthy weight
— 25 to 29.9 means you’re overweight
— 30 to 39.9 means you’re obese
— 40 or above means you’re severely obese
People with very muscular bodies can have a high BMI without much fat, so BMI is not used to diagnose obesity.
BMI, however, is a useful indicator of health for most people.
If you are overweight (with a BMI between 25 and 29.9) or moderately obese (with a BMI between 30 and 34.9), waist size is a better measure of excess fat.
Men with a waist size greater than 94 cm and women with a waist size greater than 80 cm are generally more likely to develop obesity-related illnesses.
Obesity Risks
Obesity can cause a variety of serious and potentially life-threatening conditions as well as causing obvious physical changes.
These include:
— Type 2 diabetes
— Coronary heart disease
— Some types of cancer, such as breast cancer and bowel cancer
— Stroke
Psychological problems such as depression and low self-esteem can also be caused by obesity.
Obesity Causes
The main cause of obesity is eating more calories than you burn through physical activity, especially fats and sugars. The excess energy is stored by the body as fat.
There are also some underlying health conditions that can occasionally contribute to weight gain, such as an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), although these types of conditions do not usually cause weight problems if they’re effectively controlled with medicines.
Treating Obesity
The best way to treat obesity is to eat a healthy reduced-calorie diet, exercise often and have a support mechanism around you. By this, we mean family and friends you can lean on, but also a healthcare team, like Pharmacy Direct GB.
The key is to build better habits so that weight management becomes second nature:
— Eat a balanced calorie-controlled diet as recommended by your GP or pharmacist
— Join a local weight loss support group
— Take up activities such as fast walking, jogging, swimming or tennis for 150 to 300 minutes (2.5 to 5 hours) a week.
— Track your activity with a device such a s a fit bit.
— Eat more slowly and avoid situations where you’re likely to overeat.
To aid weight loss, you can use powerful medicated treatments such as Saxenda or Orlistat, which are medicine we have readily available in our pharmacy.
