Is it OK to be overweight but not obese

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated September 16, 2024

Contributions sourced from

Overview - Obesity

The term obese describesa personwho has excess body fat.

In the UK it's estimated thataround 1 in every 4 adults and around 1 in every 5 children aged 10 to 11 are living with obesity.

How to tell if you're living with obesity

The most widely used method to check if you're a healthy weight is body mass index (BMI).

Body mass index (BMI)

BMI is a measure of whether you're a healthy weight for your height. You can use the NHS BMI healthy weight calculator to find out your BMI.

For most adults, if your BMI is:

below 18.5 you're in the underweight range
18.5 to 24.9 you're in the healthy weight range
25 to 29.9 you're in the overweight range
30 to 39.9 you're in the obese range
40 or above you're in the severely obese range

If you have an Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background you'll need to use a lower BMI score to measure overweight and obesity:

23 to 27.4 you're in the overweight range
27.5 or above you're in the obese range

BMI score has some limitations because it measures whether a person is carrying too much weight but not too much fat. For example, people who are very muscular, like professional sportspeople, can have a high BMI without much fat.

But for most people, BMI is a useful indication of whether they're a healthy weight.

Waist to height ratio

Another measure of excess fat is waist to height ratio, which can be used as an additional measure in adults who have a BMI under 35.

To calculate your waist to height ratio:

Find the middle point between your lowest rib and your hip bone. This should be roughly level with your belly button.
Wrap the tape measure around this middle point, breathing naturally and not holding your tummy in.
Take your measurement and divide it by your height, measured in the same units (for example, centimetres or inches).

For example, if your waist is 80cm and you are 160cm tall, you would calculate your result like this: 80 divided by 160, which equals 0.5.

A waist to height ratio of 0.5 or higher means you may have increased health risks.

How to measure your waist

This video explains how to measure your waist so you can calculate your waist to height ratio.

Media last reviewed: 10 November 2023 Media review due: 10 November 2026

Risks of living with obesity

Obesity is a serious health concern that increases the risk of many other health conditions.

These include:

Living with overweight and obesity can also affect your quality of life and contribute to mental health problems, such as depression,andcan also affect self-esteem.

Causes of obesity

Obesity is a complex issue with many causes. Obesity and overweight is caused when extra calories,particularly those from foods high in fat and sugar, are stored in the body as fat.

Obesity is an increasingly common problem because the environment we live in makes it difficult for many people to eat healthily and do enough physical activity.

Genetics can also be a cause of obesity for some people. Your genes can affect how your body uses food and stores fat.

There are also some underlying health conditions that can occasionally contribute to weight gain, such as an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), although these types of conditions do not usually cause weight problems if they're effectively controlled with medicines.

Some medicines can also make people more likely to put on weight, including steroids and some medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes or mental health conditions.

Treating obesity

The best way to treat obesity is to eat a healthy reduced-calorie diet and exercise regularly.

To do this, you can:

eat a balanced calorie-controlled diet as recommended by a GP or weight loss management health professional (such as a dietitian)
take up activities such as fast walking, jogging,swimming or tennis for 150 to 300minutes (2.5 to 5 hours) a week

You may benefit from joining a local weight management programme with group meetings or online support. Your GP can tell you about these.

You may also benefit from receiving support and counselling from a trained healthcare professional to help you better understand your relationship with food and develop different eating habits.

If you're living with obesity and lifestyle and behavioural changes alone do not help you lose weight, a medicine called orlistat may be recommended.

If taken correctly, this medicine works by reducing the amount of fat you absorb during digestion. Your GP will know whether orlistat is suitable for you.

A specialist may prescribe other medicines called liraglutide or semaglutide. They work by making you feel fuller and less hungry.

For some people living with obesity, a specialist may recommendweight loss surgery.

Outlook

Managing a complex issue like obesity can be hard. Losing weight takes time and commitment.

The healthcare professionals involved with your care can provide encouragement and advice about how to mange your weight, build healthy lifestyle habits and maintain weight loss achieved.

Completing a weight management programme, regularly monitoring your weight, setting realistic goals, and involving your friends and family with ways tolose weight can also help.

It's important to remember that losing what seems like a small amount of weight, such as 3% or more of your original body weight, and maintaining this for life, can significantly reduce your risk of developing obesity-related complications like diabetes and heart disease.

Information:

Social care and support guide

If you:

need help with day-to-day living because of illness or disability
care for someone regularly because they're ill, disabled or because of their age (including family members)

Our guide to care and support explains your options and where you can get support.

Couch to 5K

If it's been a long time since you did any exercise, you should check out the Couch to 5K running plan.

It consists of podcastsdelivered over the course of 9 weeks and has been specifically designed forabsolute beginners.

To begin with,you start running forshort periods of time, and as the plan progresses, gradually increase the amount.

Atthe end of the 9 weeks, you should be able to run for 30 minutes non-stop, which for most people is around 5 kilometres (3.1 miles).

Page last reviewed: 15 February 2023 Next review due: 15 February 2026

When Your Partner Is Obese

I recall my mother looking at an obese person who we happened to pass on the street and say, Isnt that terrible that your problems are visible for everyone to see.

I met my partnerlets call him Aaronabout a year ago, several years after she died. Although I am sure she would have liked Aaroneverybody doesI know she would have urged me anxiously to push him to lose weight. Fat looked ugly to her and when she referred to problems, she didnt just mean health issues. She meant problems.

To her, obesity made you a walking announcement of being out of order.

Maybe because I live in a time when more and more people are fatseveral of my thin friends from childhood are now obeseI dont believe that people who are overweight have more emotional problems than thin people. But my mother did have it right that it is a particular burden for your problem to be visible to every stranger.

The nations obesity epidemic may have lessened the stigma, but challenging beliefs still persist. I know a woman who told me shed threatened to leave her husband because he had become obese and diabetic in the last five years, and she didnt believe he cared about losing weight. This especially irked her because he was unemployed. Its historically been true that obese people are less likely to be hired than thin people with equivalent qualifications. They are less likely to be promoted, and more likely to have lower wages.

When I met him, he was happy and seemed oblivious to her tension. That obliviousness, I believe, will help them stay together. If he becomes insecure in the relationship, I believe it will deteriorate. No one wants to lose power and feel at a disadvantage. He may have been less anxious because hes male. An obese woman may believe that if her husband leaves her he could more easily replace her than she could him. Men do tend to be more weight-biased when dating than women, some research suggests, maybe because they tend to focus more on looks overall. An obese woman will have more trouble dating than an obese man, all else being equal.

But confidence carries the day, in both men and women. Ive known obese women who did just finethey were highly gregarious and attracted many admirers. Aaron makes an excellent impression, too; when my friends first met him, they expressed how well he carried his weight and urged me to take him seriously.

Id never dated anyone close to Aarons size. But he is warm, smart and outgoing, andkey for meathletic. My shortlist of requirements included wanting to hike, ski, and generally spend time outdoors. This was all true of him. Aaron is an obese person who is fit, fitter than almost anyone else I know.

I admired that and the way he projected confidence. I knew I couldnt count on him to lose weightI would have to accept him.

Youd think that accepting Aaron would have meant I became more accepting of obesity generally. Sadly, not so. For the first few months, I was in love and found his body magical and sexy and endearing. But I had critical thoughts about larger people I saw, the way my mother did. I looked at obese people with contempt. I also began fretting about the 15 pounds I needed to lose, which hadnt bothered me much before. Even though I thought I wasnt feeling critical of him, I made jokes about his weight. Aaron was noble about it: He saw that I was dealing with the issue in this way, but he did keep me in line when I went too far.

Obesity does affect your sex life. Things go well when were going well, and less well when were not. Emotional dynamics trump all.

After those first few months, I settled into feeling less judgmental of obesity. I dont see a fat guyI see someone I love.

Hence my advice: If your partner has become heavier, and you find yourself less attracted, I believe that the solution lies in the quality of your interactions. Work on the relationshipwhich might mean apologizing for past mistakes, being more candid, taking an interest in areas of your partners life you tend to ignore, or finding new ways to have fun. Start by demonstrating the value of your relationship, and the person you love may respond by trying to please you, which may or may not mean losing weight. But if youre pleased, thats the goal.

A version of this piece appeared on Your Care Everywhere.