Being overweight can bring about many serious psychological and physical risks and complications. On a mental level, you may be unhappy with your appearance, which may contribute to poor self-esteem and low confidence. Healthwise, being overweight can lead to many problems down the road, especially if you continue to gain weight and become obese. According to the Mayo Clinic, being overweight is associated with diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, some cancers, stroke and sleep disorders.
Body Mass Index
Your body mass index is a number that is a ratio between your height and your weight. It is a reliable indicator for most men, but there are problems with this method of determining whether you're overweight. Most notoriously, BMI does not take into account body composition. So, body builders who have put on a large amount of muscle may fall into the overweight category while having very little body fat. The method is easy and cheap and should be viewed as a starting point to determine whether or not you need to lose weight. The Center for Disease Control uses BMI to divide people into normal, overweight and obese categories. For adult men, a BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese (see Resources).
Body Fat Percentage
According to a 2011 study by the Mayo Clinic, which was first published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, those of normal weight as determined by BMI are still at risk for myriad health problems if they carry visceral fat. Visceral fat collects around the organs in your midsection. To determine your body fat, you can get a caliper test at a gym or your doctor's office, whereby a measuring tool is used to pinch and measure the amount of fat on various points of your body. In another method, called hydrostatic testing, you are submerged in water and a machine estimates the amount of fat in your body. For adult men, a body fat percentage between 18 to 25 percent is acceptable, with athletes falling below that, in the 6 to 17 percent range. Any percentage over 25 percent is considered overweight.
Belly Fat
The amount of fat you carry in your belly may be a good indicator of your risk for obesity-related diseases, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. If you have a healthy BMI and body fat percentage, you may still be at risk for high blood pressure if you carry too much of your fat in your belly. According to Michael Jensen, M.D., an endocrinology specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, you are at risk as an adult male if your belly measures more than 40 inches around.
Body Volume Index
The Body Volume Index, or BVI, is an alternative to the BMI. As of July 2011 standards have not yet been established to determine what criteria a man must meet to be considered overweight by its scale. The Body Volume Index was developed taking the objections to the BMI into account --- namely, that BMI does not account for body composition or body shape. The BVI also takes into account age, gender, blood results and previous medical history to calculate the individual's risk factor. The BVI is determined by a 3D scanner as well as a computer analysis of specific information about you inputted by your doctor. The Body Volume Index measures BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, and waist circumference. A three-year clinical study from 2007 to 2010, called the Body Benchmark Project, led to the development of BVI. It is very likely that the BVI will overtake the BMI as the new measurement standard.
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