Weight loss

Being overweight or obese places you at an increased risk of developing chronic disease such as heart disease and type II diabetes. It can also affect your joints including knee and back pain and also place you at an increased risk of developing cancer.

There are many reasons why we might put on excess weight. These include:

Food choices: it is easier and sometimes cheaper to get takeaway or food that isn’t as good for us.
Overeating: portion sizes have increased over time at the same time as our activity levels have decreased.
Physical inactivity: energy burnt throughout the day needs to be increased to get the best weight loss results.
Genetics
Cultural factors
Medications: some medication can lead to weight gain. If possible a healthy lifestyle may prevent the need for you to take some of these medications.
The modern environment: everybody has a busy lifestyle with work and family and we have also moved from more physical work to less active office jobs reducing the amount of activity, or energy burnt.

Are you at risk of obesity related disease?

The World Health Organisation uses the body mass index (BMI) to define weight ranges. BMI is calculated by your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared kg/(m*m). (BMI = weight (kg) / height² (m)). Your BMI will be in one of four categories:

less than 18.5 is underweight
18.5 to 25 is in the normal weight range
25 to less than 30 is overweight
greater than 30 is obese.

The BMI gets some criticism (sometimes rightly so) for being unrealistic and in some cases it is. We generally believe though that if your BMI is over 30 then you do need to reduce your weight.

Another way to determine your risk for developing a chronic condition is to measure your waist circumference.

For men: greater than 94 cm puts them at increased risk; greater than 102 cm at substantially increased risk.
For women: greater than 80 cm represents an increased risk; greater than 88 cm a substantially increased risk.

Obesity and Exercise

Diet and exercise both play a part in helping a person to achieve a healthy weight. However, starting an exercise program can be a daunting task if you are carrying excess weight, not currently active or don’t know what to do. There are many barriers that maybe stopping you from being active such as procrastination, injury, mobility, lack of money, lack of time, apathy and medical condition. This is where an Accredited Exercise Physiologist will be able to guide you through starting a physical activity program. They will work through your barriers allowing you to become more active and develop the best exercise plan to achieve your goals.

Weight loss education program (coming soon)

Diet and exercise both play a part in helping a person to achieve a healthy weight. However, starting an exercise program can be a daunting task if you are carrying excess weight, not currently active or don’t know what to do. There are many barriers that maybe stopping you from being active such as procrastination, injury, mobility, lack of money, lack of time, apathy and medical condition. This weight loss program will guide you through starting a physical activity program. It will work through your barriers allowing you to become more active and develop the best exercise plan to achieve your goals.