Diet and Weight Loss Losing Weight

The Personal Costs of Obesity

These problems may seem trivial to some, but they represent serious, multilayered difficulties that can have a cumulative effect. If your size affects your lung capacity, you may have trouble sleeping, which may affect your performance at work, which may worsen the experience of day-to-day financial strains.

Little wonder then that depression is commonly linked with obesity and is often overlooked. As a result of daily difficulties and physical limitations, obese people often become a target for discrimination. As a result, the preoccupation with their negative body image often leads to depression. Studies have found an association between BMI and depression. In one study, a person’s risk of having major depression went up as his or her BMI entered the obese range.

Despite all these challenges, there is reason to hope that people who are very overweight can achieve normal weight. The fact that obesity can be described as a multilayered disease only reinforces the fact that a multi-layered treatment plan may be needed. It is possible to change a long-standing weight problem.

How Do You See Yourself?
How you see yourself is important. Are you overweight? Are you obese? Some people with serious weight problems may deny they have a problem.

Experts who study obesity-related issues often use a person’s body mass index (BMI) score as a measure of the degree of obesity. According to the U.S. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), BMI scores fall into the following categories:

	BMI
Normal weight	18.5-24.9
Overweight	25-29.9
Obese	30-34.9
Severely obese	35-39.9
Morbidly obese	40 or above

Your BMI score is very useful. It can give you a sense of how severe a weight problem you may have. People who are morbidly obese (BMI of 40 or more) or severely obese (BMI of 35 – 39.9) with associated medical problems may want to consider weight loss surgery, and your doctor is the person to talk to about weight loss options that are likely to be safe and highly effective.

Calculating your BMI score is very important because it’s an objective assessment of the severity of the problem. Using the NHLBI BMI categories, you can tell exactly where you fit, even if it’s something you may not like to hear.

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