As a rule of thumb, you are overweight if your bodyweight is excessive for your height (unless you are a champion bodybuilder or World's Strongest Man, then the rule changes).

Usually you can tell just by looking at yourself in the mirror - be honest! Anything that wobbles when you move (apart from the obvious) is excess to your body's requirements.
Body Mass Index can be calculated here. If this is over 25, you are overweight, less than 18 is underweight - which is also not good. Over 30 is obese, over 40 is morbidly obese and will most definitely shorten your life.

10 things to do TODAY if you are overweight

• Make a decision to do something about it. Find an unflattering photo of yourself at this weight and stick it on the fridge door. You will see it every time you are about to raid the fridge. Simple, but effective.
   
• Go through your cupboards and take out  all the unhealthy items. This includes candy, chocolate, potato chips and snacks, donuts, cakes, cookies, soda and so on. Don't forget the Ben & Jerry's in the freezer!
   
• Now put back in a small amount of the things you really can't live without - we're making small changes here, remember. Try to give up too much too soon and it'll end in tears.
• Give the rest away to a skinny friend, or donate it to a shelter for the homeless.
   
• Get rid of anything "family-sized". From now on, it's minimum size treats.
   
• Put all that you've kept in 1 cupboard and close the door firmly. This way, you won't open a cupboard looking for Baked Beans and be caught unawares by a Supersize bag of M&Ms when you're feeling peckish and vulnerable.
   
• Set yourself an attainable short-term weight loss target such as "I will lose 1lb by this time next week." Write it down. This is important.
   
• Weigh yourself, measure your waist and hips and write that down as well. From now on, you will only weigh yourself once a week, at the same time, wearing minimum clothing. Your waist and hips are re-measured monthly. The reason for not weighing yourself every day is because bodyweight changes on a daily basis due to fluid intake and with ladies, time of the month. True weight loss (fat loss) is gradual, so once a week is ideal.
   
• Take the time now to plan your meals for the week. Write it up where you can see it - a whiteboard in the kitchen is ideal. You should be eating 3 meals a day, with 2 small snacks in between. That way, you should never feel starving hungry, and your blood sugar levels will stay steady, preventing you from feeling weak and shaky.
   
• If you normally are at work all day, plan to take a healthy lunch with you 2 or 3 days. It's much easier not to be tempted to go to McDonalds when you've taken the trouble to make a pack-up. Even if your mornings are manic, it only takes 5 minutes to make a ham salad sandwich in wholewheat and pop it in a coolbag with a couple pieces fruit and a carton of fresh juice. Easy!
   
• If you normally eat a lot of takeouts each week, make a decision to have only one, and plan which night you'll have it. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
   
• Go to the store and buy fresh food for the week. Lots of salad items, different kinds of fresh fruit and veg, wholewheat or granary bread, pasta, rice. Lean meat, canned fish, soup, eggs. The idea is to always have the ingredients available to make a quick, healthy lowfat meal or snack. Eat before you go shopping, then you won't be tempted by the freshly-baked Danish!

Congratulations!

If you've done these 10 things today, you've made a big step in the right direction. The secret to successful weight loss and weight management is small changes to your lifestyle that you can maintain.
Each step may seem insignificant, but look back in 3 months or so and you'll see how far you've come and how well you've done!
 

All the best,

Carol J Bartram

Article

Are You Overweight?