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Body weight |
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No matter whether you want to
lose weight or improve your eating habits, we've put
together a series of articles on exercise and nutrition to
help you live a little healthier. |
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Is
your weight harming your health? |
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Start by calculating your body
mass index (BMI) to assess whether you are the right weight
for your height and sex.
- A healthy bodyweight range
is defined as a BMI score of between 19 and 25.
- A score below 19 is
underweight.
- Between 25 and 30 is
overweight.
- Between 30 and 35 is
obese.
- Morbid obesity is a score
of 35 and above.
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BMI is only an indication of
total bodyweight and tells little about the proportion of
muscle to fat mass. Athletes and bodybuilders who have a
greater than average muscle mass will have an optimum weight
that's higher than the healthy range. |
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What determines my weight? |
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There
are a number of factors that contribute towards your weight:
-
hereditary factors
-
hormonal abnormalities
-
lack of exercise
-
diet
-
lifestyle.
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Outside the healthy range? |
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Being
underweight or overweight can affect your physical and
psychological wellbeing.
Obesity is the fastest growing disease in the world, with
related conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes,
heart disease and raised cholesterol all on the increase. If
you are higher than the healthy range, you will reduce your
risk of these diseases as you lose weight.
Being underweight can lead to irregular periods which can
affect fertility, anaemia and fragile bones (osteoporosis).
A lack of body fat can affect energy levels and your ability
to keep warm. If you are below the healthy range, increasing
the amount of nutrients you get will lower your risk of
these problems.
If you are in the healthy range, but want a flatter stomach,
your chances of getting a weight-related disease will remain
low, but medically speaking won't change. |
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Weight loss and weight gain |
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Genes
and hormones aside, weight gain is usually the result of an
imbalance between calorie intake and the body's energy
expenditure – you eat and drink more calories than your body
can burn as you go about your daily life.
If you want to lose weight, you need to increase the amount
of activity you do every day and knock 300-500 calories off
your daily diet. Reducing calories alone (or increasing
exercise alone) is not as effective for weight loss.
You should aim to lose about 1kg (2lb) a week. Losing more
than this may mean you are only losing water, which will
quickly go back on when you stop dieting. Large weight
losses in a short time are usually followed by larger weight
gain.
If you are underweight, the reverse is true. You need to
slow down if you have a lifestyle where you are constantly
on the go, reduce the intensity of exercise sessions, say by
swapping a stint on the running machine with yoga, and think
about how to increase the amount of certain foods groups in
your diet. |
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Healthy eating |
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Healthy eating is an aim in itself, regardless of whether
you want to lose or gain weight.
A healthy diet should be based on a combination of complex
carbohydrates, fibre and lean proteins, and include five
portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
You also need to pay attention to the liquids you consume:
caffeine, alcohol and fizzy drinks should be drunk in
moderation.
Before you can adjust your diet to match your body's
requirements, you need to understand how the different food
groups react with the body and what they provide in terms of
calories.
For example, fats are the most concentrated source of
calories within the four main food groups. This is why
controlling fat intake is the cornerstone of many diets.
However, your body needs fat for a whole range of tasks from
tissue repair to transporting vitamins, so you shouldn't
exclude them altogether. Equally, if you want to gain
weight, don't exceed the daily recommended limits for
saturated fat.
For detailed advice on the different food groups, plus tips
for healthy living, read the other articles in this series. |
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