Obesity Symptoms & Causes

Where's Your Body Fat?

A lot of attention has focused lately on how heavy Americans are becoming. In fact, more than 123 million Americans are overweight or obese, putting them at greater risk for cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes.

Women with more than 30 percent body fat and men with more than 25 percent body fat are obese. To measure body fat, health professionals use a variety of methods, including underwater weighing, skin-fold calipers, bioelectrical impedance, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and air displacement using a device called the Bod Pod. The most accurate methods are underwater weighing and DEXA, but these are generally offered only by research institutions and universities. Calipers and bioelectrical impedance machines are widely used by fitness centers and weight-loss programs, but they are not as accurate. 

Finding Your Ideal Weight

Most of the people in magazines and on TV are far slimmer than average, yet this is the “ideal” that many people aim for. Before you decide that you won’t be happy until you get down to a certain number of pounds, consider:

• Your age. You probably wish you could get back to your college weight. But current research shows that it’s not unhealthy to gain a bit as we age.

• Your gender. In general, men have more muscle and heavier bones than women, which means that healthy men usually weigh more than healthy women of the same height.

• Your current weight. If you are very heavy, focus on losing a smaller amount (such as 10 percent of your body weight). Losing just 5 to 10 pounds can improve your health.