Belly Fat: Sign or Symptom

We may tend to see ourselves just as we are but some signs can be symptoms of potential health risks. Body fat can position itself in many places, however being overweight is not the same as being obese.

Obesity vs Overweight

Obesity means having too much body fat. It is different from being overweight, which means weighing too much. The weight may come from muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Both terms mean that a person’s weight is greater than what’s considered healthy for his or her height.¹

Obesity increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, and some cancers. If you have obesity, losing even 5 to 10% of your weight can delay or prevent some of these diseases. For example, that means losing 10 to 20 pounds if you weigh 200 pounds.

Normal Weight

As we have blogged before, your weight distribution is a significant factor in assessing your health.

[N]ormal-weight people can have what’s called central obesity because of the belly fat. They’re also nearly three times more likely to die from heart disease and twice as likely to die of any cause compared to other normal-weight individuals with a healthy waist-to-hip ratio. Another danger: Normal-weight people may not feel the need to improve their lifestyle by making healthier choices, which can only increase their health risk.²

Dr Aron provides a clinical review of your health, symptoms and history to develop a profile for your personalized weight loss treatment protocol.

[B]ody shape was a better indicator of calcium or plaque status than weight or BMI. For both men and women, the larger the belly is in relation to hips the greater the possibility of having arterial calcium in the heart.
Those with the largest waist to hip ratios in the group studied were nearly twice as likely to have coronary calcium and three times as likely to have atherosclerotic plaque compared to those with the smallest. Even incremental increases in waist to hip ratios meant steady increases in calcium deposits.²

Lose Weight Now

Visit Dr Aron Medical Weight Loss Center at WeightLossNYC.com to learn how her medical weight loss program may benefit you.

Sources:MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine¹, Dr Oksana Aron blog²

Labels: fat, lose weight, obesity, overweight, women