It is not good to be either underweight or overweight. Eating too many of the wrong foods can make you overweight, which can lead to ill health, such as heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. Not eating as much food as your body needs could also affect your health. If you’re concerned about your weight, get in touch with your GP or a dietician.
Height/Weight Chart
Most of us know if we’re overweight by looking in a mirror or by the size or tightness of our clothes.
You may like to check your weight on the chart on the right, which also takes account of your height. If your weight is within the ‘overweight’ or ‘very overweight’ sections, you are wise to be thinking about trying to lose some weight.
Your long-term goal is to be in the ‘ideal’ section, but just a 10% reduction in weight can produce real improvements in your health.
If you're underweight, this may be of concern. You may need to put on weight, in which case this should be done as part of a well-balanced and nutritious diet. If your weight is very low, consult your GP.
If you're overweight for your height, make sure you don't put on any more weight. Try to cut down on the amount you're eating, especially food and drinks high in fat or sugar, and try to do more physical activity.
Aim to lose no more than 0.5kg to 1kg (1 or 2 pounds) a week. Losing weight gradually can help you keep the weight off for good.
If your weight has reached the obesity level, this could increase your risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and osteoarthritis. If you fall into this group, it's important for you to lose weight.
Please note- this is just a guide, and is aimed at healthy adults, not children, young people or older people. Also, if you have well-developed muscles, you may find that you will fall into the category of overweight on the chart, when in fact you may have a healthy body shape and very little fat. If this is the case, please see the ‘Your Body Shape Section’
Your body shape
Here you'll find help to work out if your waist is a healthy size for your height.
If you have too much weight around your middle, often called an 'apple' shape, this increases your risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. If the weight is around your hips, this is often called a 'pear' shape. Someone with an apple shape will face greater health risks than someone who has a pear shape, even if they are both overweight.
If you have well-developed muscles, you may find that you will fall into the category of overweight on the body mass index calculator (and the height/weight chart), when in fact you may have a healthy body shape and very little fat. This guide will help you to find this out.
Brown 'Take care' area
This means you will probably have a tall thin 'chilli' type of shape. This isn't desirable for good health so you need to take care. You may need to gain weight.
Green 'OK' area
This means you will probably have a healthy 'pear' shape, which is a healthy shape. With this type of body shape, any excess fat is stored under the skin around the bottom, hips and thighs, which is less harmful to health than having an apple shape.
Amber 'Take care' area
This means you will probably have a 'pear-apple' shape, which means you should take care. Make sure you don't put on any more weight, especially if your measurements fall towards the upper end of the area.
Red 'Action' area
This means you will probably have an 'apple' shape. With this body shape excess fat is stored deep below the skin in the stomach area, which will increase your risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, raised blood pressure, Type II diabetes and some types of cancer. Your health is likely to be at risk so speak to your GP about losing weight.
Need to lose some weight?
A regular eating pattern is an important part of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
It's not a good idea to go on a crash diet and it's important to make sure you continue to eat a balanced diet, otherwise you might not be getting all the nutrients you need to keep your body healthy. We all want to feel healthy and trim, but no-one wants to deprive themselves of all the things they love drinking, eating and doing. The good news is you don’t have to completely – you can swap some things instead.
In fact, cutting out the things we love often means we don’t keep up the changes we make for very long. So any good work we do gets easily undone later on. One of the best ways to be healthy is to make some swaps and build them into your life for the long term. The more you do, the better you’ll feel – and you won’t have to say ‘no’ to everything. For some more information on swapping, download the Change 4 life swap it, don’t stop it booklet.
The eatwell plate shows the best proportions of foods from the five main food groups. Healthy eating not only means eating the right foods, but also the correct portion sizes.
Although everybody is different, as a rule most people will lose weight if they eat between 1,500 (female) and 1,800 (male) calories (kcal) a day.
Please click on the weight loss plan tab (left) for the British Heart Foundation’s (BHF) recommended daily portion sizes based on the eatwell plate which shows how many portions from the different food groups you could eat for 1500 and 1800 kcal/day, there is also a space for you to write your own plan in the blank column.
If you would like an individualised plan, please consult your doctor.
Please use the portion guides (courtesy of the BHF) to establish how much of the different food types counts as a portion.
Exercise and Activity
Physical activity is a good way of using up extra calories, and helps us to maintain our body weight or assist weight loss.
It's a good idea to get active each day and it’s recommended that a young person aged 5-18 should engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 60 minutes every day. However, build up to this gradually.
You don't need to join a gym or play competitive sports to do this. You could:
• Go for a walk after lunch
• Choose the stairs instead of taking the lift
• Walk (or even jog) some of your shorter journeys
• Get off the bus one or two stops earlier
Visit Fitness & Exercise Section for more ideas
If more structured sport appeals to you such as swimming, the gym, exercise classes or sport please visit our Sport or Fitness & Exercise sections or contact your FESCo at your College
Tips, Links and more info
A regular eating pattern is an important part of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
When making healthier choices, top tips include:
• Cut down on fat – especially saturates
• Eat more fruit and vegetables
• Eat more starchy foods such as bread, pasta and rice
• Cut down on salt and sugar
For more information about the different food types please see the eatwell plate page of this website
If you would like to see more information about what to look for on food labels, please visit guide to food labelling page.
This section is just a guide to get you started thinking more about healthy eating, the amount and the type of foods you eat.
For more information, please download the British Heart Foundation publication below so you want to lose weight….for good
