What is obesity?

Obesity is a condition that occurs when there’s too much body fat. It is a chronic disease that may need regular medical care and can sometimes make daily activities more challenging. Obesity is related to several other health problems, including type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer, heart disease, joint pain, and sleep apnoea. It’s important to understand that obesity is a serious matter that has its own symptoms and challenges.

If you're wondering whether you might be living with obesity, the best step is to have a chat with your healthcare provider for a formal diagnosis.

One common way they assess whether you're living with obesity is through Body Mass Index (BMI), which helps categorise individuals based on their weight in relation to their height. To calculate your BMI, they take your weight in kilograms and divide it by your height in meters squared. ​

Your BMI will then fall into one of these categories:

However, it's important to remember that BMI doesn't tell the whole story. Factors like muscle mass, bone structure, and fat distribution can affect the interpretation of BMI, especially among different ethnic groups. For instance, some populations, such as those of South Asian descent, might have health risks associated with obesity at lower BMI levels than individuals of European descent.

As a result, healthcare providers may consider using adjusted BMI thresholds or other measurements, like waist circumference, to get a fuller picture of your health status.

So, while BMI is a helpful tool for screening, it's just one part of the assessment. If you have questions about how your ethnic background may influence your health assessment, don't hesitate to ask your healthcare provider for more information.

Having an excess amount of fat on the body is the most obvious symptom of obesity. But, there are also other symptoms you may experience if you're living with obesity. These can include but are not limited to:

• Problems moving and doing physical activity, such as walking or climbing stairs.
• Having uncomfortable, fast, or difficult breathing. You may feel puffed, short of breath, or winded.
• Sweating more.
• Starting snoring or snoring more frequently.
• Feeling tired all the time.
• Joint and back pain.
• Having low confidence and self-esteem.
• Feeling isolated.
• Having depression, anxiety, and mood disorders.

If these symptoms sound familiar, it may be a good idea to talk to your doctor. Understanding obesity and your own situation will be helpful when talking to your healthcare provider.

Obesity is a complex, chronic disease influenced by a range of factors. Excess weight can be caused by consuming extra calories from foods that are high in fat or sugar, however, obesity care is not as simple as eating less and moving more. Genetics can impact how our bodies use food and store fat, this in turn can be influenced by our environment – what food is readily available to you and how much exercise you are able to do. Body weight can also be impacted by underlying health conditions or certain medicines. 

Our brain also has an influence over our body weight. Some people living with overweight or obesity may struggle to lose weight and keep it off. Hormone levels during weight loss can change to make people feel hungrier and slow down energy expenditure – this is the body's attempt to regain the lost weight. Our bodies are hard-wired to hang on to those extra calories because, for thousands of years, it was a basic survival mechanism. 

Healthcare professionals recognise that obesity is a disease that's caused by genetic, environmental and behavioral factors combined. Your healthcare provider can help you to find a sustainable obesity management plan, that is tailored to your goals, needs and lifestyle.