Obesity

Obesity occurs when there is so much body fat on a person that it causes serious health problems. It is a major public health issue in most developed countries, including Australia.

The video below provides a summary of the many health consequences of being obese.

According to an Access Economics report, 3.71 million people, or 17.5% of the Australian population, were estimated to be obese in 2008. There were more obese females, at 1.95 million, than men, at 1.76 million. The 55-59 year old group contained the largest amount of obese people for both men and women. This prevalence of obesity was calculated to cost Australia over $8.2 billion dollars, including costs to productivity, the health system and carer costs.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to calculate whether a person is within a normal weight range, overweight or obese. There is some criticism of this index on the basis that it does not take into account the effect of muscle and bone weight on a person's total weight, but it is perhaps the most widely known and used measurement. To calculate your BMI now, click on the image to the right. Another popular method of determining whether you are within a healthy weight range is to focus on body fat, such as the skin fold technique popular at some gyms. Waist measurement is also used as an indicator of obesity. Men with waists of more than 102 cm, and women with waists of more than 88 cm, are considered to be obese.

The causes of obesity are well known. Most commonly, it is a result of consuming too many calories, not burning enough energy daily through exercise, and a genetic predisposition to weight gain. The calories we take in every day are transformed into energy to fuel our bodies, but if we exceed the daily energy required by our bodies as a result of physical inaction and/or overeating, these calories are then converted into body fat as storage for future energy needs. For genetic reasons, some people are more prone to store body fat as a result of their appetite and metabolic rate. In some cases, it may be a result of purely genetic reasons, medical conditions or psychiatric causes that people are obese.

Prevention and treatment of obesity for many people is therefore relatively simple in theory - reduce the number of calories consumed and increase the amount of exercise undertaken every day. In practice, however, it has become difficult to reduce our calorie intake due to the prevalence of high amounts of sugar, carbohydrates and fats in the processed foods that we eat. In addition to assisting in the consumption of too much energy, these 'empty' calories lack the nutrition we need to form strong and healthy bodies.

The number of calories we should consume daily is based on our gender, age, height, amount of daily exercise and metabolic rate. Such variance in each person's attributes makes it difficult to calculate a definitive answer. In Australia, a common recommendation is for adults to consume 8700 kilojoules daily. The energy needs calculator here is based on the Harris Benedict equation, which provides a guide as to the amount of calories required to maintain your current body weight. While useful as a general indication of your daily energy needs, ideally a nutritionist or other dietary professional should help you plan and undertake a weight loss program if needed.

Has obesity affected you or someone you know? Do you need help, or are you able to provide advice? If so, please join the SeniorSpace community discussing obesity on our forum here.

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Health Insite, an Australian Government website, has an index of resources relating to obesity here.

Obesity

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