OVERWEIGHT & OBESITY

OVERWEIGHT

Overweight refers to increased body weight in relation to height, when compared to some standard of acceptable or desirable weight. Overweight may or may not be due to increases in body fat. It may also be due to an increase in lean muscle. For example, professional athletes may be very lean and muscular, with very little body fat, yet they may weight more than others of the same height. While they may qualify as overweight due to their large muscle mass, they are not necessarily “over fat”’ regardless of BMI.

OBESITY

Obesity is defined as an excessively high amount of body fat or adipose tissue in relation to lean body mass. The amount of body fat (or adiposity) includes concern for both the distribution of fat throughout the body and the size of the adipose tissue deposits. Body fat distribution can be estimated by skin fold measures, Hip Waist Ratio, or techniques such as ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging.

Reference: www.cdc.gov