What is a healthy bodyweight?
A healthy bodyweight is the weight that's in the best range for your height and size - not overweight and not underweight. Maintaining a healthy bodyweight means finding the right balance between eating well and being active each day. If you don't do enough physical activity to burn up all the fuel or energy you put in (as food and drink), the excess energy is stored as fat in the body, which causes overweight and obesity.
- Overweight - increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, joint problems, asthma, sleep problems, infertility, certain types of cancer, kidney disease and psychosocial problems such as discrimination and poor self-esteem.
- Obese - the risk of suffering from one or more of the conditions listed above is greatly increased.
- Underweight - is also associated with an increased risk of poor health.
There are many benefits of maintaining a healthy bodyweight including:
- Improved general health;
- Decreased future health risks;
- More energy;
- Improved ability to be active;
- Improved self-confidence;
- Improved mental wellbeing;
- Fitting into your clothes better; and
- Getting more out of life.