Tag Archives: Obese
Fast or slow weight loss: which is better?
(11-15-2014) According to current guidelines for dietitians it 
is better to lose weight in a slow gradual manner than losing it quickly to maintain weight loss. Because there is hardly any scientific basis for this recommendation Australian scientists started a large scaled study to the effects of the rate of weight loss on weight maintenance. This article describes their research, results and their conclusions on which is better: fast or slow weight loss.
Dangers of too much belly fat
Dangers of too much belly fat
More than 60% of adults are currently
overweight and the number of people who suffer from lifestyle related disorders such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and is rising rapidly. To make matters worse, in the western world these diseases are among the leading causes of death. Being overweight or obese is often a central factor in developing diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease and both body mass index (BMI) and body composition give a good indication to the risk of developing these disorders. In fact the BMI norms were originally developed based on research that found a connection between body weight relative to body height and risk of developing disease.
Waist Circumference
Waist circumference is a measurement that gives an indication of fat related health risk. Although your body composition is an important indication as well. Not everyone has access to a reliable device to measure body composition such as an MRI-scan or DEXA scan or to someone skilled with a skin fold caliper. To measure waist circumference only a flexible measurement tape is needed so it is accessible to practically everyone and not complicated. In addition, body fat is not distributed in the same way for everyone. Two persons with the same relative amount of body fat can store their fat on different locations such as hips or inside the abdomen. Since internal abdominal fat (see also visceral fat) greatly increases risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 and more visceral fat corresponds with an increased waistline, this measurement can help indicate whether or not you are at increased risk for developing these disorders.
How to measure waist circumference
Take a flexible measurement tape and put it around your waist. The tape measure should be held above the navel but below the lowest ribs at the narrowest point of the torso. Make sure the tape measure is completely horizontal and that the one who is measured stands upright and relaxed and before measurement breathes out normally. Compare the value with those in Table 1 below to get an indication of developing cardiovascular disease or other fat related conditions.
| Waist circumference norms (in centimetres and inches) | ||
| Men | Women | Risk category |
| Less than 94cm (37 inch) | Less than 80cm (inch) | Low |
| 94-102cm (37-40 inch) | 80-88cm ( inch) | High |
| Greater than 102cm (40 inch) | Greater than 88cm ( inch) | Very high |
Table 1: Waist circumference norms
Note: these norms apply to Caucasian adults and Asian women. Currently not enough data on other ethnic groups is available.
Risk category:
Low: You are not at increased risk of developing lifestyle related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. You can maintain your current lifestyle, although it does not hurt to improve it further.
High: You are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease or other lifestyle related diseases. Either improving your diet, decreasing your energy intake or starting strength and endurance training will help losing weight and abdominal fat.
Very high: You are at very high risk of developing lifestyle related diseases. Large changes in lifestyle in multiple areas are necessary to improve your health. Improve your diet, decrease your energy intake, start training to increase muscle mass and improve cardiovascular endurance and exercise more every day.
References:
-Bushman, B. (2011). Assesing Personal Fitness. Complete Guide to Fitness & Health. First Edition. USA Human Kinetics.
-Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. 2007.
Visceral Fat
Visceral fat is fat that is located around the organs in the abdominal cavity, including around the stomach, intestines, liver and kidneys. It is different in structure than subcutaneous adipose tissue and intramuscular fat and also producessubstances that play an important role in the immune system.
However, an excess of visceral fat also leads to an over-production of these chemicals, and is associated with a greater risk of developing coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and inflammation-related disorders. A too large amount of visceral fat, is also known as abdominal obesity.
While an excessive amount of visceral fat is common in people that are overweight or obese certainly, it is also possible that people with an apparently healthy BMI have too much visceral fat. As a result these people can have a increased risk on developing the diseases mentioned above.
The amount of visceral fat can be reduced by a healthy lifestyle with a healthy diet and regular, sufficient physical activity and exercise and sufficient sleep. In addition, it has been shown that different types of training not only help reduce the amount of visceral fat but also counteracts the negative effects of too much visceral fat.
Obesity
Obesity or adiposity,
is a medical condition which is characterized by a large amount of excess weight due to fat mass. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index larger than 30. A BMI of 40 or more is also known as morbid obesity.
BMI
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure which gives an indication whether someone has a healthy bodyweight, underweight, overweight or obese. The BMI can be calculated with the following formulae:
The number that is calculated from one of these formulae can be looked up in the table below and determines if someone has a healthy weight or is nderweight, overweight or even obese.