What is overweight?
Q: What is overweight?
A: Overweight is the condition of a person when they have more fat in their body than is healthy, meaning that their body is too heavy.
Q: How can you find out if someone is overweight?
A: To find out if a person is overweight, you can calculate their body mass index (BMI). People with a BMI of 25 or more are considered to be overweight. Anything above 30 is considered obese (very overweight).
Q: What health problems are associated with being overweight?
A: Being overweight is associated with health problems such as Type 2 diabetes and an increased risk of death by 20-40%. Obesity has greater health risks than being just overweight.
Q: Is it true that being overweight isn't as unhealthy as commonly thought?
A: A 2013 review of 97 Pubmed articles found that being overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality than 'normal' weight. Additionally, 51.3% of adults who were classified as "overweight" were also metabolically healthy.
Q: How do people usually try to lose weight?
A: People usually try to lose weight by eating less, which is called 'dieting'. They may also exercise in order to help them lose weight. Dieting alone often proves ineffective though, and 41% of dieters weigh more four to five years after the end of the diet than before it began. Some people might use herbal teas, powders and pills to help lower their mass too.
Q: Can animals be classified as "overweight"?
A: Yes, animals can also be classified as "overweight".
Q: Is there any negative social stigma attached to being "overweight"?
A:Yes, some people think that being "overweight" means that a person is lazy or bad and this leads to them facing discrimination from others - this type of discrimination towards those who are "overweight" is known as fatphobia
