Overweight Calculator estimates if a person’s body mass index (BMI) is above the healthy range, indicating potential weight-related risks.
What is overweight and obesity?
Obesity refers to an increase in weight relative to height beyond the acceptable standard. This standard was defined by the medical community based on different reference percentiles based on body mass index (BMI) for different populations. A widely used set of reference BMI values was developed by three physicians (Must A, Dallal GE, Dietz WH – Obesity Reference Data, 1991) based on the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) sample.
Obesity may or may not be caused by an increase in body fat. It may also be caused by increased muscle mass. For example, professional athletes and military personnel may be very toned and muscular and weigh more than others of the same height, even though they have very little body fat. They may appear overweight because of their high muscle mass, but they are not necessarily overweight.
Obesity is defined as an excessive amount of body fat or adipose tissue compared with lean body mass. Obesity means that the percentage of body fat is higher than the acceptable standard for your height. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 34 percent of Americans are now overweight and another 34 percent are obese.
Genetics are important, but it doesn’t tell the whole story
There is a clear genetic tendency toward obesity. But it represents only a relatively small percentage of the population. There is also a genetic tendency to be overweight, but it is less clearly defined.
But genetics don’t tell the whole story. “Genes are not destiny,” says a recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health.
For example, according to one study, some people have a genetic tendency to gain weight when they eat fried foods, while others can eat as many French fries as they want without gaining much weight.
For example, in 2008, a group of scientists showed that physical activity counteracts the effects of a common variant of the obesity-promoting gene, FTO. The study, which included 17,058 Danish men and women, found that inactive people who carried the obesity-promoting gene had a higher BMI than inactive people who did not have the gene variant. However, the genetic predisposition to obesity did not affect active people, whose BMI was neither higher nor lower than that of people who did not carry the obesity gene.
Physical activity makes a difference
In short, physical activity releases energy and helps you maintain a healthy weight, regardless of your genetic makeup.
The best way to avoid becoming permanently obese is to avoid becoming obese in the first place. The latest research shows that if you were once obese and then lost weight, you’ll need to eat less and exercise more to maintain your weight at the new, lower level, compared with a person of the same height and weight who never became obese. You may need to diet for a lifetime to cover the costs.
This helps you prevent gaining too much weight
That’s because the act of losing weight puts your body in a metabolically unfavorable state, and it’s unclear how long that will last. So, even if you’re not trying to lose weight, you’ll need fewer calories to stay slim. Experts say being overweight comes at a price. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, when a person loses 10 percent of their body weight (for example, from 150 pounds to 135 pounds), there’s a permanent change in the levels of hormones that regulate hunger, which triggers cravings. As studies show, the body tries to defend the high weight it has previously achieved and has powerful mechanisms to achieve this. As soon as you let your defenses down, the weight will come back again, because your metabolism will no longer work efficiently. That’s why it’s very rare to lose a lot of weight and keep it off.