Assessing Your Risks Associated With Being Overweight

According to the NHLBI (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health) guidelines, an assessment of determining whether a person is overweight involves using the following three key measures:

• body mass index (BMI)
  
• waist circumference, and
  
• risk factors for diseases and conditions associated with obesity.

What is Your Risk?

1.  Body Mass Index (BMI)

Your BMI result is a reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of disease and death. The resulting Body Mass Index score is valid for both men and women but it does have some limits. 

The limits are:

• It can overestimate body fat in people that are athletic or who have a muscular build.
• It can underestimate body fat in older people and others who have lost muscle mass due to aging, disease, inactivity, etc.

2.  Waist Circumference

You can determine your waist circumference by placing a measuring tape snugly around your waist. If you don't have a flexible measuring tape, you can use a peice of string to determine the size of your waist and then simply measure the string using a ruler or measuring tape. 

The resultant measurement is a good indicator of your abdominal fat which is another predictor of your risk for developing risk factors for heart disease and other diseases. 

The risk factors increase with a waist measurement of over 40 inches in men and over 35 inches in women.

This table, Risks of Obesity-Associated Diseases by BMI and Waist Circumference, provides you with an idea of whether your BMI combined with your waist circumference increases your risk for developing obesity associated diseases or conditions.

3.  Other Risk Factors

Besides being overweight or obese, these are some of the additional risk factors to consider.

4.  Assessment

If you have a BMI greater than or equal to 30, you would be considered obese.  If you have a Body Mass Index of between 25 and 29.9 you are considered to be overweight.

If you are considered obese or if you are considered to be overweight and have 2 or more of the additional risk factors, the guidelines recommend that you lose weight. 

Even a small weight loss (just 10 percent of your current weight) will help to lower your risk of developing diseases associated with obesity. 

If you fall into the overweight category and do not have a high waist measurement and have less than 2 risk factors - you should at the very least focus on preventing  further weight gain if not losing weight.

Regardless of whether this simple online test defines you as overweight or obese; you should talk to your doctor to see if you are at an increased risk and if you should lose weight. 

Your doctor will do a comprehensive evaluatation of your BMI, waist measurement, and other risk factors for heart disease, developing high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol or other lipid disorders, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.