Obesity can also affect your quality of life and lead to psychological problems, such as depression and low self-esteem.
some types of cancer, such as breast cancer and bowel cancer.It's very important to take steps to tackle obesity because, as well as causing obvious physical changes, it can lead to a number of serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. Generally, men with a waist size of 94cm or more and women with a waist size of 80cm or more are more likely to develop obesity-related health problems. 40 or above means you're severely obeseīMI is not used to diagnose obesity because people who are very muscular can have a high BMI without much fat.īut for most people, BMI is a useful indication of whether they're a healthy weight.Ī better measure of excess fat is waist size, which can be used as an additional measure in people who are overweight (with a BMI of 25 to 29.9) or moderately obese (with a BMI of 30 to 34.9).18.5 to 24.9 means you're a healthy weight.You can use the NHS BMI healthy weight calculator to work out your score. The most widely used method to check if you're a healthy weight is body mass index (BMI).īMI is a measure of whether you're a healthy weight for your height. It's a common problem in the UK that's estimated to affect around 1 in every 4 adults and around 1 in every 5 children aged 10 to 11.
The term obese describes a person who's very overweight, with a lot of body fat.
