In Hungary 65% of men and 52% of women are overweight or obese. With this result, we are currently the 4th most obese country in the European Union, and unfortunately the results are still showing a worsening trend. Childhood obesity is becoming more common and the proportion of people with significant excess weight has also increased compared to 2009.
What are overweight and obesity?
In everyday practice, we use BMI (Body Mass Index) to define nutritional status in adults. It is a ratio of body weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. The WHO defines a normal BMI as between 18.5 and 24.99, below 18.5 as lean, between 25 and 29.99 as overweight and above 30 as obese. The degree of obesity can be further subdivided into categories, in which case someone with a BMI above 40 is considered severely obese.
The BMI division is criticised by many as it can give biased results for above average muscle mass. Other methods of measuring body composition, such as skinfold measurement or bioimpedance measuring devices (e.g. smart scales, body composition monitors), can be used to determine body composition more accurately. However, these methods are either technically demanding or require expensive equipment and are not accessible to everyone.
The most dangerous for our health is abdominal obesity, so we can use abdominal circumference measurements to determine this. In this case, we measure our abdominal circumference with a tape measure, 2 fingers above the navel, with a relaxed abdominal wall, after exhaling. The risk of cardiovascular disease is low for women under 80 cm and 94 cm for men; medium for women between 80-88 cm and 94-102 cm for men; and high for women over 88 cm and 102 cm for men.
What are the health risks of obesity?
Overweight and obesity, including increased visceral fat, have been shown to be associated with the development of a number of diseases, such as high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and cholesterol levels, type 2 diabetes, heart attacks and many cancers. It is therefore also in the interest of our health to keep our weight under control.
In addition to obesity, being too thin also carries health risks. Just because your BMI falls within the normal range does not mean that your body composition is right. With low muscle mass (sedentary lifestyle), we can have an abnormally high percentage of body fat and visceral fat, known as ‘skinny fat’. This type of nutritional condition can also be detrimental to our health. An excessively low body fat percentage negatively affects the functioning of our hormonal and immune systems.
How to achieve a healthy weight?
If you think you need to make changes to your body composition, the first thing to do is to look at what your current habits may have led you to become overweight or thin. Are we getting enough sleep? How much and how often do we exercise? How active are we in our daily lives? How much and what do we eat? How much and what do we drink? These will help us to identify the habits we need to change. It is important to take small steps and be patient with yourself.
Not getting enough sleep and quality of sleep increases our cortisol levels, which affects our hunger and cravings for sweets, and thus increases the risk of abdominal obesity.
With the right amount of exercise (minimum of 75 minutes of high or 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, for additional health gains: minimum of 150 minutes of high or 300 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week, supplemented by 2 full-body strength training sessions per week is recommended), our energy expenditure can be increased and our resting energy expenditure increases with muscle mass.
In terms of nutrition and fluid intake, it is also important to pay attention to quantity and quality. The Smart Plate (https://www.okostanyer.hu/) can help with this.
Our energy needs depend on our age, our gender, our body weight (including our lean body mass) and the amount and intensity of our physical activity. You can calculate your energy needs at https://semmelweis.hu/egeszsegfejlesztes/elvitelre/taplaltsagi-allapot/energia-calc/. If you put less energy into your body than you use, you will lose weight, if you put more energy into your body, you will gain weight. To lose 1 kg of fat, we need to create a deficit of 7000 Kcal. Our body needs all calories for optimal functioning, this is called basal metabolism. This is the amount of energy that the body uses in 24 hours in a resting, lying position. Consistently consuming less energy than our basal metabolic rate has a negative effect on our health and contributes to the yo-yo effect (the phenomenon where we gain more weight back than we lost after dieting), a phenomenon well known to dieters. This is why drastic calorie restriction should not be pursued. A deficit of 500 Kcal can safely achieve half a kilo to 1 kg of weight loss per week. There are a number of apps and websites available to help you track your calorie intake, but if you don’t want to count your calorie intake, you can make small but long-term changes to your habits to achieve spectacular results.
If you feel you need guidance in changing your lifestyle, seek the help of a credible professional (dietician, nutritionist) and don’t fall for “miracle cures” and extreme diets. Not everyone needs to be a top model, but a healthy body composition is within everyone’s reach!
Source: Semmelweis Health Promotion Centre, Budapest, Hungary