• Introduction to diabetes
• Treatment & your health
• Eating well
• Keeping active
• Smoking
• Managing your weight
• Am I overweight?
• Getting started
• Losing weight and managing your diabetes
• More help to lose weight
• Treatments
• Structured Education
• Monitoring your health
• Living with diabetes
• What care to expect
• Complications
• Food and recipes
• Educational events
• Your stories
• My life - for young people with diabetes

Am I overweight?

Your Body Mass Index (BMI) will tell you how much excess body weight you have and your waist circumference will show whether you need to lose fat around your waist.

Work out your BMI and waist circumference to see whether you need to lose any weight.

BMI

To calculate your BMI:

BMI =  weight (kg)/(height (m) x height (m))

For example, if you are 1.80m tall and 95kg, your BMI would be 29.3

29.3  = 95/( 1.8 x 1.8)

one foot = approx 0.3 metres
one pound = approx 0.45 kilograms

Then check your BMI with the categories below.

• Underweight: a BMI of up to 18.4, Asian adult less than 18.5
• Healthy weight: a BMI of 18.5–24.9, Asian adult 18.5–22.9
• Overweight: a BMI of 25–29.9, Asian adult 23–24.9
• Obese: a BMI of 30–39.9, Asian adult 25–34.9
• Morbidly obese: a BMI of 40 or more, Asian adult 35 or more

Waist circumference

By measuring around your waist you can get a good idea if you have excess fat around your waist.

Waist circumference measurements:

• White and black men should be below 94cm (37 inches).
• Asian men should be below 90 cm (35 inches).
• White, black and Asian women should be below 80 cm (31.5 inches).

How much weight do I need to lose?

Probably not as much as you think. Losing between 5–10kg (1–11/2 stone) if you are very overweight is enough to improve your health significantly. You don’t have to reach an ‘ideal’ weight to benefit your overall health. Aim for a realistic weight loss, losing weight slowly over time (0.5 –1.0 kg (1–2 lbs) a week.

How quickly should I lose weight?

Be realistic about what you can achieve. Remember, in the long run it is better to make small changes that you feel you can stick to, rather than completely altering your diet and not sticking to it. By making one or two small changes to your eating habits or levels of activity each week, you are more likely to stick to them in the long term. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t lose any weight some weeks – it’s the long-term results that really matter.