Obesity or Overweight, What's the Difference?

Obesity in teens

This is a very crucial question because while being overweight can have social represuccions like not finding many cute outfits to choose from nor enjoying time at the beach, being obese American can have serious medical effects as well.

The best way to distinguish beteween being overweight and obese is to calculate your body mass index, or simply use an overweight calculator. It is a more meaningful number as opposed to the three digits you see on your bathroom scale. This is because it tells you if you are in the ideal range of weight in proportion to your height, age and gender.

Illustration

A 5ft woman who weighs 160lbs can be considered obese, but another person who stands 6ft may be just at the correct weight.

A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is known as a healthy average. Anyone with a BMI of 25-29.9 is considered to be overweight and a BMI over 30 is considered obese. A BMI of 40 or above indicates that a person is morbidly obese and it could increases risk of death manifold.

To determine the proper weight, always use the BMI. Do not rely on dress sizes, jean fittings and other such estimates. There is no weight loss bible that says a size 10 is fine and a size 12 is fat. Age and gender is a factor along with height. As you grow older, the weight range which is ideal for you expands a little to accommodate for a slower metbolism. However, gettng older is no excuse for gettng fat either. Joint trouble, heart problems and other conditinons can plague you if your are old, weak and fat.

It Can Be Done!

Obesity in teens has unfortunately become one of the major threats in the United States which is  ironic because we work more than any other nation, take fewer vacations and are more educated than other countries. However, we sit at our desk all day or sit in front of the televison when we return gobbling up gigantic portions of processed ready to eat foods that we just warm up in the microwave.

If we just eat a little more healthfully and move a little more, we can fight the obesity epidemic. Make the change and don't be laughed at when ordering those Whoppers or huge lattes. We need to take this as a wake up call and start incluclating healthy habits, if not for our sake, for the sake of our future generations.