For example, the normal BMI scores may not be accurate if you're very muscular because muscle can add extra pounds, resulting in a high BMI when you're not an unhealthy weight. In such cases, your waist circumference may be a better guide see below. What's considered a healthy BMI is also influenced by your ethnic background. The scores mentioned above generally apply to people with a white Caucasian background.
If you have an ethnic minority background, the threshold for being considered overweight or obese may be lower. BMI shouldn't be used to work out whether a child is a healthy weight, because their bodies are still developing.
Speak to your GP if you want to find out whether your child is overweight. If you're overweight or obese, visit your GP for advice about losing weight safely and to find out whether you have an increased risk of health problems. As well as calculating your BMI, your GP may also carry out tests to determine whether you're at increased risk of developing health complications because of your weight. People with very large waists — generally, 94cm 37in or more in men and 80cm about Your GP may also take your ethnicity into account because it can affect your risk of developing certain conditions.
For example, some people of Asian, African or Afro-Caribbean ethnicity may be at increased risk of high blood pressure hypertension. Healthy waist measurements can also be different for people from different ethnic backgrounds. After your assessment, you'll be offered an appointment to discuss the results in more detail, ask any questions that you have, and fully explore the treatment options available to you.
Your GP can advise you about losing weight safely by eating a healthy, balanced diet and regular physical activity. If you have underlying problems associated with obesity, such as polycystic ovary syndrome PCOS , high blood pressure , diabetes or obstructive sleep apnoea , your GP may recommend further tests or specific treatment.
In some cases, they may refer you to a specialist. Read more about how your GP can help you lose weight. There's no single rule that applies to everyone, but to lose weight at a safe and sustainable rate of 0.
For most men, this will mean consuming no more than 1, calories a day, and for most women, no more than 1, calories a day. The best way to achieve this is to swap unhealthy and high-energy food choices — such as fast food, processed food and sugary drinks including alcohol — for healthier choices. Try to avoid foods containing high levels of salt because they can raise your blood pressure, which can be dangerous for people who are already obese. You'll also need to check calorie information for each type of food and drink you consume to make sure you don't go over your daily limit.
Be careful when eating out because some foods can quickly take you over the limit, such as burgers, fried chicken, and some curries or Chinese dishes. Avoid fad diets that recommend unsafe practices, such as fasting going without food for long periods of time or cutting out entire food groups. This isn't to say that all commercial diet programmes are unsafe. Many are based on sound medical and scientific principles and can work well for some people. These diets can lead to rapid weight loss, but they aren't a suitable or safe method for everyone, and they aren't routinely recommended for managing obesity.
VLCDs are usually only recommended if you have an obesity-related complication that would benefit from rapid weight loss. VLCDs shouldn't usually be followed for longer than 12 weeks at a time, and they should only be used under the supervision of a suitably qualified healthcare professional. Reducing the amount of calories in your diet will help you lose weight, but maintaining a healthy weight requires physical activity to burn energy.
As well as helping you maintain a healthy weight, physical activity also has wider health benefits. The Chief Medical Officers recommend that adults should do at least minutes two-and-a-half hours of at least moderate-intensity activity a week — for example, five minute bouts a week. Something is better than nothing, and doing just 10 minutes of exercise at a time is beneficial. Moderate-intensity activity is any activity that increases your heart and breathing rate, such as:.
Alternatively, you could do 75 minutes one hour, fifteen minutes of vigorous-intensity activity a week, or a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. During vigorous activity, breathing is very hard, your heart beats rapidly and you may be unable to hold a conversation. Examples include:. You should also do strength and balance training two days a week. This could be in the form of a gym workout, carrying shopping bags, or doing an activity such as tai chi.
It's also critical that you break up sitting sedentary time by getting up and moving around. Read more about strength and balance exercises. Your GP, weight loss adviser or staff at your local sports centre can help you create a plan suited to your own personal needs and circumstances, with achievable and motivating goals. Start small and build up gradually. It's also important to find activities you enjoy and want to keep doing.
Activities with a social element or exercising with friends or family can help keep you motivated. Read more about the physical activity guidelines for adults and the physical activity guidelines for older adults. Evidence has shown that weight loss can be more successful if it involves other strategies, alongside diet and lifestyle changes.
This could include things like:. Getting psychological support from a trained healthcare professional may also help you change the way you think about food and eating. Techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy CBT can be useful. It's important to remember that as you lose weight your body needs less food calories , so after a few months, weight loss slows and levels off, even if you continue to follow a diet.
If you go back to your previous calorie intake once you've lost weight, it's very likely you'll put the weight back on. Increasing physical activity to up to 60 minutes a day and continuing to watch what you eat may help you keep the weight off. Many different types of anti-obesity medicines have been tested in clinical trials, but only one has proved to be safe and effective: orlistat.
You can only use orlistat if a doctor or pharmacist thinks it's the right medicine for you. In most cases, orlistat is only available on prescription.
Only one product Alli is available over the counter directly from pharmacies, under the supervision of a pharmacist. Orlistat works by preventing around a third of the fat from the food you eat being absorbed. The undigested fat isn't absorbed into your body and is passed out with your faeces stools.
This will help you avoid gaining weight, but won't necessarily cause you to lose weight. A balanced diet and exercise programme should be started before beginning treatment with orlistat, and you should continue this programme during treatment and after you stop taking orlistat. Orlistat will usually only be recommended if you've made a significant effort to lose weight through diet, exercise or changing your lifestyle.
Before prescribing orlistat, your doctor will discuss the benefits and potential limitations with you, including any potential side effects see below.
Treatment with orlistat must be combined with a balanced low-fat diet and other weight loss strategies, such as doing more exercise. It's important that the diet is nutritionally balanced over three main meals. If you're prescribed orlistat, you'll also be offered advice and support about diet, exercise and making lifestyle changes. One orlistat capsule is taken with water immediately before, during or up to one hour after, each main meal up to a maximum of three capsules a day.
If you miss a meal, or the meal doesn't contain any fat, you shouldn't need to take the orlistat capsule. Your doctor should explain this to you, or you can check the patient information leaflet that comes with your medicine.
It usually starts to affect how you digest fat within one to two days. If you haven't lost weight after taking orlistat for three months, it's unlikely to be an effective treatment for you. I tried to post a comment regarding research that indicates obesity has been linked to exposure to endocrine disruptors. For most, it is the energy management system gone awry.
And for most, advance tools and a multidisciplinary individualized approach is necessary. Keep up the good work. Lack of education and thus knowledge leads to bias and stigma from the public, healthcare professionals, and the patients. Allen F. Browne, M. Omitted from this article is mention of the effects of exposure on development of obesity due to exposure to a variety of human-made chemical compounds.
In the ensuing years, additional research has found that exposure is associated with increased risk of developing diabetes and obesity. Mounting evidence also indicates EDC exposure is connected to infertility, hormone-related cancers, neurological issues and other disorders.
Thank you for this post. I fought it for 50 years, finally having bariatric surgery last December to help me achieve lasting weight loss and weight maintenance. If only there was really a diet and medication that had the same long-term efficacy as weight loss surgery.
While treating obesity indeed requires a multi-disciplinary approach for life, I do wish that bariatric surgery was offered further up the treatment paradigm—especially from thought leaders themselves.
Of course this is just the opinion of someone who spent the majority of his adult life obese and who has just lost pounds in the last 5 months! Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.
Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss Stay on top of latest health news from Harvard Medical School. Recent Blog Articles. Health news headlines can be deceiving. Why is topical vitamin C important for skin health? Preventing preeclampsia may be as simple as taking an aspirin. Caring for an aging parent? It boosts the amount of serotonin in the brain to reduce your appetite.
A combination medicine, phentermine-topiramate, also works to reduce appetite. Rarely, other prescription medicines are used on a short-term basis only. Amphetamines are not recommended because of the risk for addiction and substance abuse. Many over-the-counter supplements promise to help burn fat faster or reduce hunger. Some supplements have side effects that can be dangerous. A number of these products perhaps most have never been studied in clinical trials, so many of the side effects, benefits, and risks aren't well documented.
If the claim of the maker sounds almost impossible, it probably is. For example, "Burn fat at night while you sleep! Ephedra ma-huang contains an ingredient used in asthma medicine. Dietary supplements containing ephedra have been banned by the FDA because of potentially dangerous side effects. Products that work as a laxative can cause the potassium level in your blood to drop. Pyruvate is a popular product that may result in a small amount of weight loss.
But taking more pyruvate, which is found in red apples, cheese, and red wine, hasn't been thoroughly studied. Its weight loss potential hasn't been scientifically established. No supplement that can take the place of eating a healthy diet, but a multivitamin taken every day can help close the nutritional gap even for those people who eat a balanced diet.
But vitamin supplements won't help you lose weight. Always talk with your healthcare provider before taking these supplements, because they can cause a number of side effects. Over the long term, most obese adults who lose weight may regain it if they don't change their approach to healthy eating.
You can change your behavior in several ways. One way is to keep a food journal. In it, you keep track of what you ate, where you ate it, and when you got hungry. You can also keep an activity journal, tracking when you exercised and for how long.
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