Be healthy

It is a well documented fact that people who are overweight or obese are more poorly treated in society than those who are thinner. In particular, people who are overweight or obese often feel as though they’re being told that their bodies are inadequate or ugly and thus develop any number of psychological problems as a result of the ensuing unhappiness. Plenty of these people, however, feel happy in their own skins and have no desire to change their body shape and size. If you are overweight or obese and wish to stay that way, the following tips may help you to avoid these psychological issues and to become more comfortable with the body you have.

1. Join a fat acceptance group

There are many groups of people who are comfortable with their weight and advocate of being treated as equals of their thinner counterparts. For instance, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) works to promote being comfortable with one’s self as an overweight or obese person. They keep an archive of articles related to the importance of being comfortable as an overweight or obese person, and science related to the great weight debate. You also might be able to find a more local fat acceptance group

2. Be confident

Many of the psychological problems associated with being overweight or obese are as a result of poor self-image and low self-confidence. In order to be more comfortable with being overweight or obese, it is important to learn ways to gain self-confidence. If you are looking to maintain your weight, don’t be ashamed of your decision. Instead, know that people will respect you more if you are comfortable with your weight and present yourself as such. Look people in the eye and walk with your head held high. Furthermore, overweight and obese people who are more comfortable with their weight and feel less threatened and maliciously targeted by their social interactions are less likely to gain more weight.

3. Be healthy

Certainly being overweight or obese can contribute to making one unhealthy, or be a side effect. Even if one intends to stay overweight and obese, it is important to get some amount of exercise so as to stay healthy. Take up some type of exercise that fits your particular needs and abilities. For instance, swimming is a great sport for people who are overweight or obese because it is very low impact and builds good cardiovascular health.

Overweight or no?

1. What defines being obese or overweight?

Doctors define being obese as being more than 20% over the expected and healthy weight. This, of course, needs to be adjusted for people who have great amounts of muscle (which weighs a great deal), though people whose muscle puts them over the obese mark are less common than those who are simply obese or overweight. Though this is a rough approximation, it is important to be properly aware of one’s expected weight according to gender, height, and other extenuating circumstances. Properly, the National Institute of Health defines being overweight is having a BMI (the percent of one’s body that is made of fat) of 27.3% or more for women or 27.8% or more for men while the World Health Organization defines being above 25% as overweight. Both define above 30% as being obese.

2. How many people?

In America, it is most commonly believed that approximately 60%-75% of people are overweight or obese. Approximately 25% of the country’s population is considered properly obese. Of these estimates, it is believed that 25 to 32 million (about 13% or more) children and teenagers are overweight or obese. In America, over the past years every category of person has increased its numbers of overweight or obese people except for the adult female category which seems to have stayed steady. Worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates that approximately 1.6 billion adults were overweight, while at least 400 million of these people were obese. By 2015, they project that these numbers will rise to 2.3 billion overweight adults and 700 million obese adults. At least 20 million children under the age of 5 are considered overweight or obese.

3. Which countries are most overweight?

Contrary to popular belief, the United States is not considered the most overweight country, though it does make the top ten. The top ten most overweight countries are almost all in the Pacific Islands, and are, in order, Nauru (number one), Micronesia, The Cook Islands (a free associated state of New Zealand), Tonga, Niue (New Zealand has responsibilities for its external affairs), Samoa, Palau, Kuwait, United States of America, and Kiribati. Most of the island nations suffer from a combination of poor nutrition as a result of the lack of availability of fruits and vegetables, genetic dispositions, and, in some cases, obesity still being as a sign of wealth. In terms of being actually obese, the United States does make the top of the list with nearly a third of the population being obesity, followed by Mexico, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Luxembourg, and the Czech Republic. It is notable that the number ten country, the Czech Republic, has less than half the obesity rates of the United States of America.