At what point does a person suffer from overweight? How does overweight manifest itself and what methods are there to measure it? We will introduce you to the most common methods, such as the Body Mass Index.
Ideal, normal and comfortable weight
Normal and ideal weight are based on the Broca Index (BI), named after the French physician P. Broca. It is simple to calculate. You subtract 100 from your height in cm to get your normal weight in kg. The Broca normal weight minus 10 percent gives the so-called ideal weight. Especially tall or short people cannot be judged accurately with this index. That is why it is often referred to as the feel-good weight. This is an individual weight range of ± 10 percent around the Broca normal weight, a range in which one can still feel comfortable and be fit.
Body mass index (BMI).
Today, the internationally recognized BMI is used as a measure of minimum or maximum healthy weight. It is much more informative than the BI because it takes into account not only height but also weight (fat mass). You calculate it by dividing your body weight by the square of your height in meters. The range of about 19 to 25 is considered normal and satisfactory for health. Values below that mean a tendency to be underweight. Above 25 to 30 means slight to moderate excess fat mass. Above 30 is considered a clear health risk due to obesity. The majority view is that from a BMI of 27, the risks of secondary diseases such as increased blood pressure and diabetes increase, and from a BMI of 30, the risks increase significantly. The BMI shifts somewhat upward with increasing age. It applies only to a limited extent to children of growing age, pregnant women and very muscular individuals (athletes).
Fat distribution type
Not all overweight is the same when it comes to weight-related health risks. What matters most is where the fat is located. A distinction is made between:
- Female fat distribution type: hip-and thigh-emphasized pear shape.
- Male fat distribution type: trunk- or belly-emphasized apple shape.
Today it is known that when fat accumulates in the abdominal area, as is usually the case in men, the risk of developing metabolic and cardiovascular diseases is decisively higher than when fat is concentrated in the hip-thigh area. Consequently, obesity generally endangers health more in men than in women. You can find out very easily which fat distribution type you belong to by measuring the circumference of your waist and hips. Divide the value of the waistu m circumference in centimeters by the hip circumference in centimeters (T/H ratio). For women, the T/H ratio should be less than 0.85. For men, the T/H ratio should not be greater than 1.0.
Body fat measurement
Skinfold measurement and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) are used to assess the percentage of fat in body composition. By skinfold measurement on different parts of the body, a statement on the size of the fat percentage in the body mass and fat distribution is well possible. Measurement by BIA should be used by trained professionals.
When does weight reduction make sense?
Even today, obesity is predominantly seen as a cosmetic problem rather than a serious health risk. Therefore, there seem to be no limits to the inventiveness. Magazines never tire of advertising new slimming diets, overweight celebrities advertise diets against excess pounds, skinny models set the fashion trend. But this should not be a reason to lose weight. Motivation for weight reduction should come from one’s own body image. The aim should be to reach a weight that can be maintained without much deprivation when eating and with a little more exercise. From a medical point of view, if you are clearly overweight (BMI > 30), you should lose weight in any case. At a BMI of 25 to 30, weight reduction is generally recommended if there are concomitant risks or diseases that are triggered or aggravated by excess weight (high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, lipometabolic disorders, etc.), if there is an unfavorable waist/hip ratio, or if there is considerable psychological suffering due to the unloved fat deposits.In the latter case, it is important to consider the extent to which the distress is actually due to obesity or whether the excess weight is not a symptom of a deeper problem.
How does weight loss come about?
To maintain your body weight , you need to adjust your energy intake to your needs. If you want to lose weight , you must supply your body with less energy than it consumes . Thus, the organism is forced to fall back on its reserves. In its “famine” it first makes use of the easily accessible glucose reserves. It gets the missing calories from the glycogen stores of muscles and liver. Since each glycogen unit is bound to several molecules of water, the body loses a lot of water when it burns it. It then begins to break down valuable body protein. At the beginning of a diet, you lose weight, but not fat. So it is not a real weight loss. The breakdown of fat from adipose tissue begins only after about a week of dieting. The weight now decreases more slowly than in the first few days.
