Overweight

How do you know if you are overweight?

There are many different factors that may determine our body weight. These may include extrinsic factors such as the types and amounts of food we eat and the amount of exercise we get. It may also include intrinsic factors such as our body chemistry and the way in which it deals with food the we consume. This section will provide you with some information to check to see whether you may be overweight. We will look at four key areas :

a) weight measurement
b) Calculation of Body Mass Index
c) Measurement of body fat
d) Determination of Fat Distribution

Weight Measurement

Lets get the terminology sorted out!

What is fat? Fat is also called lipid and the body contains different types of lipids. They are made up of triglycerides (a backbone of three units ) which may be saturated or unsaturated. Saturated fats are found in products such as butter, cream and other dairy products, unsaturated fats are found in plant and fish oils. Needless to say too much saturated fat is not good for you!

What's a calorie? The technical definition of a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Centigrade. For the purposes of this article lets a calorie is a unit of energy.

What's a joules? A joule is a unit of energy equivalent to about 4 calories.

Weight measurements. We normally weigh ourselves in kilograms and grams or in stones and pounds.

1 kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds
14 pounds is equal to one stone
6.36 kilograms is equal to one stone