Since you are visiting this website you more than likely are overweight, or at least you feel as though you are. Perhaps you ask yourself the question that is in the title of this article: Am I Overweight? The answer is often based as much on feelings and emotions as on actual data, and therefore very subjective. In medical and scientific terms:

* You are overweight if you weigh more than your recommended body weight range in the chart you can see on the Am I Overweight page. Another measure is the Body Mass Index (BMI) table on the same page, a figure that represents the percentage of your body weight that is due to fat. It is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. In other words the algebraic expression for BMI is: BMI = Kg / (m)2. BMI ratings between 20 and 25 are considered in the healthy range, and ratings between 26 and 30 are considered overweight.

* But BMI may overestimate body fat or inaccurately estimate total body fat in muscular persons or those losing muscle, according to the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute. For example, older persons often have lost muscle mass and, so, have more fat for a given BMI than younger persons do. That’s why waist measurement is often checked as well. Another reason is that too much body fat in the stomach area also increases disease risk. Waist size of more than 40 inches in men and more than 35 inches in women is considered high.

* If you are more than 20 percent over your recommended body weight range, you are considered obese. For example, the chart indicates that a 5’6” person’s recommended weight range goes as high as 154 pounds. Twenty percent of 154 (154 X .2) equals 30.8. Rounded up to 31 and added to the base weight of 154, it would indicate that a person who is 5’6” and weighs 185 is considered to be obese. A BMI rating between 30 and 39 would indicate obesity.

* Someone who has a BMI rating of 40 or more or is more than 100 pounds more than his or her recommended body weight range is considered morbidly obese.

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