OBESITY-All the facts

Overweight and obesity is measured for adults using the Body Mass Index (BMI) which is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared. For example, a woman 1.67m in height and weighing 65kg would have a BMI of 23.3 which falls within the healthy weight range. Overweight is measured at a BMI of 25 or more with obesity determined at a BMI of 30 or more. These cut-off points are based on associations between and chronic disease and mortality and have been adopted for use internationally by the World Health Organisation.

Fat distribution is also an important consideration in assessing overweight or obesity and the associated risk of disease. For example, increased abdominal obesity has been consistently shown to be related to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Central (abdominal) obesity is measured using waist circumference.

Overweight and obesity occur when there is an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, basically how much food you eat and how physically active you are.  However, often it’s not as simple as that, there are many other factors that may influence the development of overweight or obesity such as:  the type of food eaten particularly high fat and energy dense foods, restrictive dieting and recurrent weight loss and regain, lack of physical activity, genetics, age, gender and various medications.

Statistics indicate that the number of people who are obese is rising rapidly worldwide, which makes obesity one of the fastest developing public health problems. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the problem of obesity as a “worldwide epidemic”.  Statistical studies in Australia show that more than half of all Australian women and 67% of men are overweight or obese. Adult population is not the only one affected, rates of childhood obesity in Australia are at one of the highest amongst developed nations, and staggering 25% of Australian children are currently overweight or obese. In fact in the 10 year period between 1985 to 1995, the number of children effected by obesity more than doubled, and tripled in all age groups for both sexes. If this trend continues it is estimated that by 2010 at least 60% of Australians aged 18 years and over will be overweight or obese.

Obesity is a health crisis that is costing the Australian government up to $1.5 billion a year in direct health costs, while Australians spend over 500 million dollars a year trying to lose weight.

There are a number of diseases that directly relate to obesity for instance, 80% of type 2 diabetes relate to obesity, 70% of cardiovascular disease relate to obesity, 42% of breast and colon cancer diagnosed among obese individuals, over 30% of bladder surgery relates to obesity and 26% of obese people have high blood pressure.

However, no matter how much excess weight or fat you have in order to lose weight permanently, your diet and exercise program should be directed towards a slow and a steady weight loss. Consequently, one should expect to lose about 1 kg a week although the initial weight loss may be a greater. Losing more weight a week is no guarantee that it will be permanent.