Am I overweight ?

Find out if you need to lose weight or not.

Two key measures are used to determine if someone is overweight. These are the body mass index, or BMI, and waist circumference.

BMI relates weight to height. It gives an approximation of total body fat — and that's what increases the risk of obesity-related diseases. Overweight is defined as a BMI of 25 to 29.9; obesity is defined as a BMI equal to or more than 30.
Sometimes BMI may overestimate body fat or inaccurately estimate total body fat in muscular persons or those losing muscle. For example, older persons often have lost muscle mass and, so, have more fat for a given BMI than younger persons do.

 That's why waist measurement is often checked as well. Another reason is that too much body fat in the stomach area also increases disease risk. A waist measurement of more than 35 inches in women and more than 40 inches in men is considered high.

Portion Sizes

Watch your portion sizes at meal times.

Food portion sizes today are far bigger than they were in the past, which means we are taking in far more calories than we realize. Understanding healthy and correct portion sizes is critical to long-term weight management.

Fast food restaurants serve super-sized meals for just a few cents extra, and regular sit-down restaurants serve larger portions than necessary for a healthy balanced meal. These large portions can sneak into your home too.

Click here for more on Portion Control »

 

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