More than 70% of Americans are obese or overweight. Any person with BMI value of above 30 is considered to be obese. One out of every 3 adults is either obese or overweight. And 2 out of every 7 children/adolescent in the age group (almost 13 million) of 2-18 years are obese according to the study given by NHANES. Overweight and obesity can give rise to various health problems like heart attack, hypertension, diabetes, kidney malfunction and liver problems. Most of the people diagnosed with cardiovascular problems are overweight or obese.
BMI :
Body mass index is the right instrument used to determine whether your weight is healthy or not. BMI can be found easily by dividing your weight in pounds/kilogram with height in feet, inches/square meter. Amount of fatty molecules present in the body is directly proportional to BMI and vice versa. In other words, if your BMI score is high you have got heavy volumes of fat accumulation in your body and are risk to many health problems.
BMI is universally measured by dividing your weight in Kg with height in meter square. It depends on factors like your age, sex and waist circumference.
- If your BMI value is in the range of 18-25 you are considered to be in healthy weight.
- If the BMI value is between 25 and 29.9 you are overweight and in pre-obese stage.
- If the BMI value is 30 and above you are considered to be obese (Class 1 and 2)
- And people with BMI value of 40 and above are extremely obese (Class 3).
What Happens If Your BMI Is More Than 30 ?
- If the BMI is 30 or more, then the blood circulation can get disrupted and the heart has to work harder to pump blood to the organs.
- The fluid levels in your body may not be consistent and can easily get affected.
- You are at risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure and even some kinds of cancer.
- The blood cholesterol level LDL (bad) and triglyceride levels may increase anytime. And good cholesterol (HDL) level can become low.
- Overweight and obesity can be the cause of osteoarthritis and gallstones.
- And finally you are at risk of heart attack and stroke if you are obese.
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