Obesity is a disease, not a personality disorder, with both genetic and
environmental causes leading to the accumulation of excess fat, which can be,
and often is, detrimental to health. The amount that one's health is affected
by obesity correlates well with how obese they are and how long they've been
obese. In order to assess health risk, obesity is defined by medical and
scientific communities, by a method which accounts for the relative
contributions of height and weight, by what's called the Body Mass Index or
"BMI." BMI is expressed as kg/m2 , and can be calculated by:
Multiply your weight in pounds by 705
Divide that number by your height in inches
Divide that number by your height in inches
Calculate your BMI
Obesity categories, according to BMI, as classified by the World Health
Organization (WHO) and National Institutes of Health (NIH)are as follows:
| BMI |
 |
Obesity Category |
| Below 19 |
Underweight |
| 20 â´¼/td>
| Normal |
| 25 â¹¼/td>
| Overweight |
| 30 ã´¼/td>
| Obese |
| 35 ã¹¼/td>
| Severely Obese |
| 40 ä¹¼/td>
| Morbidly Obese |
| 50 + |
Super Obese |
Ideal Body Weight (IBW), is the combination of height and weight at which
is associated the best health. It is derived from Height-Weight tables and the
simplest formula for it is:
Hamwi formula:
Females, 100 lbs for 1st 5 ft, +/- 5 lbs for every inch above or below
Males, 106 lbs for the 1st 5 ft, +/- 6 lbs for every inch above or below
Excess Body Weight = Actual Body Weight 餥al Body Weight
Calculate your IBW
Morbid Obesity is defined as having a BMI over 40. This equates to being
about 110 lbs over your IBW. This is the category of obesity with which is
associated the most health risk.
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