Adults should be active for at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) every week. Find out more:
activity guidelines for adults (19-64 years old)
activity guidelines for older adults (65 and over)
It has long been known that regular exercise is good for our physical health. It can reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and strokes.
In recent years, studies have shown that regular physical activity also has benefits for our mental health. Exercise can help people with depression and prevent them becoming depressed in the first place.
Dr Alan Cohen, a GP with a special interest in mental health, says that when people get depressed or anxious, they often feel they're not in control of their lives.
"Exercise gives them back control of their bodies and this is often the first step to feeling in control of other events," he says.
Who can benefit and what type of exercise is best?
Anyone with depression can benefit from doing regular exercise, but it's especially useful for people with mild depression.
"Any type of exercise is useful as long as it suits you and you do enough of it," says Dr Cohen. "Exercise should be something you enjoy, otherwise it will be hard to find the motivation to do it regularly."
How often do you need to exercise?
To stay healthy, adults should do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity every week. Find out more about:
physical activity for adults (19-64 years old)
physical activity for older adults (65 and over)
If you haven't exercised for a while, gradually introduce physical activity into your daily routine.
Even a 15-minute walk can help you clear your mind and relax. Any exercise is better than none.
How to get started
Take part in a team sport, attend classes at a sports centre, or just be more active in your daily routine by walking or cycling instead of travelling by car.
Find an activity you can do regularly. For more ideas on different types of exercise and the benefits of being more active, see our Fitness section.
To find local exercise classes and sports clubs, search the sport and fitness directory.
If conservation work appeals to you, look at the Green Gym website. Green Gym projects, run in association with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), provide exercise for people who don't like the idea of a sports or leisure centre.
A typical project involves working in local woodlands or creating community gardens. Sessions are free and led by a TCV member of staff.
Exercise on prescription
If you haven't exercised for a long time or are concerned about the effects of exercise on your health, ask your GP about the exercise on prescription programme. Many GP surgeries across the country prescribe exercise as a treatment for a range of conditions, including depression.
Your GP will refer you to a local active health team for a fixed number of sessions under the supervision of a qualified trainer.
You decide what type of activity will suit you with your GP and the active health team. Depending on your circumstances and what's available locally, the exercise programme may be offered free or at a reduced cost.
Further information on exercise and mental wellbeing
Many treatments are available for depression, including talking therapies, antidepressant medication and self-help of various kinds. Find out more about treatment for depression.
If you've been feeling down for more than two weeks, see your GP to discuss your symptoms. They can tell you about the choice of treatment available for depression and help you decide what's best for you.
Causes
Energy imbalances cause the body to store fat
Energy imbalances can cause overweight and obesity. An energy imbalance means that your energy IN does not equal your energy OUT. This energy is measured in calories. Energy IN is the amount of calories you get from food and drinks. Energy OUT is the amount of calories that your body uses for things such as breathing, digesting, being physically active, and regulating body temperature.
Overweight and obesity develop over time when you take in more calories than you use, or when energy IN is more than your energy OUT. This type of energy imbalance causes your body to store fat.
Your body uses certain nutrients such as carbohydrates or sugars, proteins, and fats from the foods you eat to:
make energy for immediate use to power routine daily body functions and physical activity.
store energy for future use by your body. Sugars are stored asglycogen in the liver and muscles. Fats are stored mainly as triglyceride in fat tissue.
The amount of energy that your body gets from the food you eat depends on the type of foods you eat, how the food is prepared, and how long it has been since you last ate.
The body has three types of fat tissue—white, brown, and beige—that it uses to fuel itself, regulate its temperature in response to cold, and store energy for future use. Learn about the role of each fat type in maintaining energy balance in the body
Medical conditions
Some genetic syndromes and endocrine disorders can cause overweight or obesity.
Genetic syndromes
Several genetic syndromes are associated with overweight and obesity, including the following.
Prader-Willi syndrome
Bardet-Biedl syndrome
Alström syndrome
Cohen syndrome
The study of these genetic syndromes has helped researchers understand obesity.
Endocrine disorders
Because the endocrine system produces hormones that help maintain energy balances in the body, the following endocrine disorders or tumors affecting the endocrine system can cause overweight and obesity.
Hypothyroidism. People with this condition have low levels of thyroid hormones. These low levels are associated with decreased metabolism and weight gain, even when food intake is reduced. People with hypothyroidism also produce less body heat, have a lower body temperature, and do not efficiently use stored fat for energy.
Cushing’s syndrome. People with this condition have high levels of glucocorticoids, such ascortisol, in the blood. High cortisol levels make the body feel like it is underchronic stress. As a result, people have an increase in appetite and the body will store more fat. Cushing’s syndrome may develop after taking certain medicines or because the body naturally makes too much cortisol.
Tumors. Some tumors, such as craneopharingioma, can cause severe obesity because the tumors develop near parts of the brain that control hunger.
Medicines
Medicines such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, antiepileptics, and antihyperglycemics can cause weight gain and lead to overweight and obesity.
Talk to your doctor if you notice weight gain while you are using one of these medicines. Ask if there are other forms of the same medicine or other medicines that can treat your medical condition, but have less of an effect on your weight. Do not stop taking the medicine without talking to your doctor.
Several parts of your body, such as your stomach, intestines, pancreas, and fat tissue, use hormones to control how your brain decides if you are hungry or full. Some of these hormones are insulin, leptin, glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1), peptide YY, and ghrelin
Risk Factors
There are many risk factors for overweight and obesity. Some risk factors can be changed, such as unhealthy lifestyle habits and environments. Other risk factors, such as age, family history and genetics, race and ethnicity, and sex, cannot be changed. Heathy lifestyle changes can decrease your risk for developing overweight and obesity.
Unhealthy lifestyle habits
Lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, not enough sleep, and high amounts of stress can increase your risk for overweight and obesity.
Lack of physical activity
Lack of physical activity due to high amounts of TV, computer, videogame or other screen usage has been associated with a highbody mass index. Healthy lifestyle changes, such as being physically active and reducing screen time, can help you aim for a healthy weight.
Unhealthy eating behaviors
Some unhealthy eating behaviors can increase your risk for overweight and obesity.
Eating more calories than you use. The amount of calories you need will vary based on your sex, age, and physical activity level. Find out your daily calorie needs or goals with the Body Weight Planner external link .
Eating too much saturated and trans fats
Eating foods high in added sugars
Visit Heart-healthy eating for more information about healthy eating patterns.
Not enough sleep
Many studies have seen a high BMI in people who do not get enough sleep. Some studies have seen a relationship between sleep and the way our bodies use nutrients for energy and how lack of sleep can affect hormones that control hunger urges. Visit our Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency Health Topic for more information about lack of sleep.
High amounts of stress
Acute stress and chronic stress affect the brain and trigger the production of hormones, such as cortisol, that control our energy balances and hunger urges. Acute stress can trigger hormone changes that make you not want to eat. If the stress becomes chronic, hormone changes can make you eat more and store more fat.
Age
Childhood obesity remains a serious problem in the United States, and some populations are more at risk for childhood obesity than others. The risk of unhealthy weight gain increases as you age. Adults who have a healthy BMI often start to gain weight in young adulthood and continue to gain weight until 60 to 65 years old, when they tend to start losing weight.
Unhealthy environments
Many environmental factors can increase your risk for overweight and obesity:
social factors such as having a low socioeconomic status or an unhealthy social or unsafe environment in the neighborhood
built environment factors such as easy access to unhealthy fast foods, limited access to recreational facilities or parks, and few safe or easy ways to walk in your neighborhood
exposure to chemicals known as obesogens that can change hormones and increase fatty tissue in our bodies
Family history and genetics
Genetic studies have found that overweight and obesity can run in families, so it is possible that our genes or DNA can cause these conditions. Research studies have found that certain DNA elements are associated with obesity.
Did you know obesity can change your DNA and the DNA you pass on to your children? Learn more about these DNA changes
Eating too much or eating too little during your pregnancy can change your baby’s DNA and can affect how your child stores and uses fat later in life. Also, studies have shown that obese fathers have DNA changes in their sperm that can be passed on to their children.
Race or ethnicity
Overweight and obesity is highly prevalent in some racial and ethnic minority groups. Rates of obesity in American adults are highest in blacks, followed by Hispanics, then whites. This is true for men or women. While Asian men and women have the lowest rates of unhealthy BMIs, they may have high amounts of unhealthy fat in the abdomen. Samoans may be at risk for overweight and obesity because they may carry a DNA variant that is associated with increased BMI but not with common obesity-related complications.
Sex
In the United States, obesity is more common in black or Hispanic women than in black or Hispanic men. A person’s sex may also affect the way the body stores fat. For example, women tend to store less unhealthy fat in the abdomen than men do.
Overweight and obesity is also common in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This is an endocrine condition that causes large ovaries and prevents proper ovulation, which can reduce fertility.
Screening and Prevention
Children and adults should be screened at least annually to see if they have a high or increasing body mass index (BMI), which allows doctors to recommend healthy lifestyle changes to prevent overweight and obesity.
Screening and Prevention
Children and adults should be screened at least annually to see if they have a high or increasing body mass index (BMI), which allows doctors to recommend healthy lifestyle changes to prevent overweight and obesity.
Screening for a high or increasing body mass index (BMI)
To screen for overweight and obesity, doctors measure BMI using calculations that depend on whether you are a child or an adult. After reading the information below, talk to your doctor or your child’s doctor to determine if you or your child has a high or increasing BMI.
Children: A healthy weight is usually when your child’s BMI is at the 5th percentile up to the 85th percentile, based on growth charts for children who are the same age and sex. To figure out your child’s BMI, use the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) BMI Percentile Calculator for Child and Teen external link and compare the BMI with the table below.
Adults: A healthy weight for adults is usually when your BMI is 18.5 to less than 25. To figure out your BMI, use the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s online BMI calculator and compare it with the table below. You can also download the BMI calculator app for iPhone external link and Android external link .
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Body mass index (BMI) is used to determine if you or your child are underweight, healthy, or overweight or obese. Children are underweight if their BMI is below the 5th percentile, healthy weight if their BMI is between the 5th to less than the 85th percentile, overweight if their BMI is the 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile, and obese if their BMI is the 95th percentile or above. Adults are underweight if their BMI is below 18.5, healthy weight if their BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, overweight if their BMI is 25 to 29.9, and obese if their BMI is 30 or above. *A child’s BMI percentile is calculated by comparing your child’s BMI to growth charts for children who are the same age and sex as your child.
Healthy lifestyle changes to prevent overweight and obesity
If your BMI indicates you are getting close to being overweight, or if you have certain risk factors, your doctor may recommend you adopt healthy lifestyle changes to prevent you from becoming overweight and obese. Changes include healthy eating, being physically active, aiming for a healthy weight, and getting healthy amounts of sleep. Read healthy lifestyle changes for more information
Signs, Symptoms, and Complications
There are no specific symptoms of overweight and obesity. The signs of overweight and obesity include a high body mass index (BMI) and an unhealthy body fat distribution that can be estimated by measuring your waist circumference. Obesity can cause complications in many parts of your body.
High body mass index (BMI)
A high BMI is the most common sign of overweight and obesity.
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Body mass index (BMI) is used to determine if you or your child are underweight, healthy, or overweight or obese. Children are underweight if their BMI is below the 5th percentile, healthy weight if their BMI is between the 5th to less than the 85th percentile, overweight if their BMI is the 85th percentile to less than the 95th percentile, and obese if their BMI is the 95th percentile or above. Adults are underweight if their BMI is below 18.5, healthy weight if their BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, overweight if their BMI is 25 to 29.9, and obese if their BMI is 30 or above. *A child’s BMI percentile is calculated by comparing your child’s BMI to growth charts for children who are the same age and sex as your child.
Unhealthy body fat distribution
Another sign of overweight and obesity is having an unhealthy body fat distribution. Fatty tissue is found in different parts of your body and has many functions. Having an increased waist circumference suggests that you have increased amounts of fat in your abdomen. An increased waist circumference is a sign of obesity and can increase your risk for obesity-related complications.
Did you know that fatty tissue has different functions depending on its location in your body?
Visceral fat is the fatty tissue inside of your abdomen and organs. While we do not know what causes the body to create and store visceral fat, it is known that this type of fat interferes with the body’s endocrine and immune systems and promotes chronic inflammation and contributes to obesity-related complications.
Complications
Obesity may cause the following complications:
Metabolic Syndrome
Type 2 diabetes
High blood cholesterol and high triglyceride external link levels in the blood
Diseases of the heart and blood vessels such as high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart attacks and stroke
Respiratory problems such as obstructive sleep apnea , asthma, and obesity hypoventilation syndrome
Back pain
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Osteoarthritis, a chronic inflammation that damages the cartilage and bone in or around the affected joint. It can cause mild or severe pain and usually affects weight-bearing joints in people who are obese. It is a major cause of knee replacement surgery in patients who are obese for a long time.
Urinary incontinence, the unintentional leakage of urine. Chronic obesity can weaken pelvic muscles, making it harder to maintain bladder control. While it can happen to both sexes, it usually affects women as they age.
Gallbladder disease
Emotional health issues such as low self-esteem or depression. This may commonly occur in children.
Cancers of the esophagus, pancreas, colon, rectum, kidney, endometrium, ovaries, gallbladder, breast, or liver.
Did you know inflammation is thought to play a role in the onset of certain obesity-related complications?
Researchers now know more about visceral fat, which is deep in the abdomen of overweight and obese patients. Visceral fat releases factors that promote inflammation. Chronic obesity-related inflammation is thought to lead toinsulin resistance and diabetes, changes in the liver or non-alcoholic fatty acid liver disease, and cancers. More research is needed to understand what triggers inflammation in some obese patients and to find new treatments.
Diagnosis
Your doctor may diagnose overweight and obesity based on your medical history, physical exams that confirm you have a high body mass index (BMI) and possibly a high waist circumference, and tests to rule out other medical conditions.
Treatment
Treatment for overweight and obesity depends on the cause and severity of your condition. Possible treatments include healthy lifestyle changes, behavioral weight-loss treatment programs, medicines, and possibly surgery. You may need treatments for any complications that you have.
Healthy lifestyle changes
Behavioral weight-loss programs
Your doctor may recommend you enroll in individual or group behavioral weight-loss programs to treat your overweight and obesity. In these programs, a trained healthcare professional will customize a weight-loss plan for you. This plan will include a moderately-reduced calorie diet, physical activity goals, and behavioral strategies to help you make and maintain these lifestyle changes. Read Living With for more information about required follow-up for these behavioral treatment programs.
Did you know your brain’s pleasure and reward centers can be stimulated by food and the act of eating, making it harder to change eating patterns and lose weight?
Researchers know that our brains can become patterned so that we feel pleasure or reward from eating. This can make us unconsciously crave food so our bodies feel that sense of pleasure. It can also make it hard to change our eating patterns, lose weight, or maintain a healthy weight. Researchers are studying whether cognitive behavioral therapies can be an effective treatment for overweight and obesity by retraining the brain to not associate pleasure with food and the act of eating.
Medicines
When healthy lifestyle changes are not enough, your doctor may treat your overweight and obesity with FDA-approved medicines. These medicines work in the following parts of your body.
Brain. Several medicines change the way the brain regulates the urge to eat, which can help to decrease appetite. Some examples of these medicines are diethylpropion, phendimetrazine, lorcaserin, naltrexone/bupropion, and liraglutide.
Gastrointestinal tract. Orlistat is the only available medicine. It blocks your intestines from absorbing fat from foods in your diet.
Weight loss medicines are not recommended as a single treatment for weight loss. These medicines can help you lose weight but when combined with lifestyle changes may result in greater weight loss. Some of these medicines should not be used if you have certain conditions or are taking certain medicines. Also, these medicines have side effects. Talk to your doctor if you are pregnant, planning to get pregnant, breast feeding, or have a family history of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke.
Surgical procedures
Some patients with obesity do not respond to healthy lifestyle changes and medicines. When these patients develop certain obesity-related complications, they may be eligible for the following surgeries.
Gastric bypass surgery. A small part of the stomach is connected to the middle part of the intestine, bypassing the first part of intestine. This decreases the amount of food that you can eat and the amount of fat your body can take in and store.
Gastrectomy. A big portion of the stomach is removed to decrease the amount of food that you can eat.
Gastric banding. A hollow band is placed around the upper part of the stomach creating a smaller stomach. This decreases the amount of food you can eat.
Talk to your doctor to learn more about the benefits and risks of each type of surgery. Possible complications include bleeding, infection, internal rupture of sutures, or even death. Read gastric bypass surgery external link for more information.
Interested in learning why these surgeries lead to weight loss in some patients?
First, these surgeries reduce the amount of food stored in the stomach and the amount of calories your body can take in. This can help your body restore energy balance. Second, these surgeries change the levels of certain hormones and the way the brain responds to these hormones to control hunger urges. After surgery, some people are less interested in eating or they prefer to eat healthier foods. In some cases, genetic differences may affect how much weight loss patients experience after bariatric surgery.
Living With
If you have been diagnosed with overweight and obesity, it is important that you continue your treatment. Read about tips to help you aim for a healthy weight, the benefit of finding and continuing a behavioral weight-loss program, and ways your doctor may monitor if your condition is stable, worsening, or improving and assess your risk for complications.
Tips to aim for a healthy weight
Changing lifestyle habits takes time and patience. Follow these tips to help you maintain the healthy lifestyle changes your doctor recommended to aim for a healthy weight.
Use our Daily Food and Activity Diary or the United States Department of Agriculture’s online SuperTracker external link to record your daily food intake and physical activity. You, your doctor, or health care provider can use this diary to monitor your progress.
Set specific goals. An example of a specific goal is to “walk 30 minutes, 5 days a week". Be realistic about your time and abilities.
Set doable goals that don’t change too much at once. Consecutive goals that can move you ahead in small steps, are the best way to reach a distant point. When starting a new lifestyle, try to avoid changing too much at once. Slow changes lead to success. Remember, quick weight loss methods do not provide lasting results.
Learn from your slips. Everyone slips, especially when learning something new. Don’t worry if work, the weather, or your family causes you to have an occasional slip. Remember that changing your lifestyle is a long-term process. Find out what triggered the slip and restart your eating and physical activity plan.
Celebrate your success. Reward yourself along the way as you meet your goals. Instead of eating out to celebrate your success, try a night at the movies, go shopping for workout clothes, visit the library or bookstore, or go on a hike.
Identify temptations. Learn what environments or social activities, such as watching TV or going out with friends, may be keeping you from meeting your goals. Once you have identified them, use creative strategies to help keep you on track.
Plan regular physical activity with a friend. Find a fun activity that you both enjoy, such as Zumba, jogging, biking or swimming. You are more likely to stick with that activity if you and a friend have committed to it.
Find and continue a behavioral weight-loss program
Some people find it is easier to aim and maintain a healthy weight when they have support from a weight-loss specialist or other individuals who also are trying to lose weight. Behavioral weight-loss programs can provide this support, and they can help you set goals that are specific to your needs. Your weight-loss specialist usually reviews or modifies your goals every six months based on your progress and overall health.
When you are choosing a behavioral weight-loss program, you may want to consider whether the program should:
offer the service of multiple professionals, such as registered dietitians, doctors, nurses, psychologists, and exercise physiologists.
provide goals that have been customized for you that consider things such as the types of food you like, your schedule, your physical fitness, and your overall health.
provide individual or group counseling to help you change your eating patterns and personal unhealthy habits.
teach long-term strategies to deal with problems that can lead to future weight gain, such as stress or slipping back into unhealthy habits.
When selecting a program, you may want to ask about:
the percentage of people who complete the program.
the average weight loss for people who finish the program.
possible side effects.
fees or costs for additional items such as dietary supplements.
Monitoring your condition and its health risks
You should visit your health care provider periodically to monitor for possible complications, which if left untreated can be life-threatening. Your doctor may do any of the following to monitor your condition.
Assess your weight loss since your last visit. A weight loss of approximately five percent in an overweight patient may improve the function of the fat tissue and help lower bad cholesterol and other substances that can predispose to complications.
Measure your waist circumference if you are an adult. If your waist circumference is greater than 35 inches for women or greater than 40 inches for men, you may be at risk for heart disease, stroke, or type 2 diabetes. South Asians and South and Central Americans have a higher risk of complications, so waist circumference should be smaller than 35 for man and 31 for women. To correctly measure your waist, stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hip bones. Measure your waist just after you breathe out.
Order blood tests to screen for complications. A lipid panel test can check if you have high cholesterol or triglyceride levels in your blood. A liver function test can determine if your liver is working properly. A fasting glucose test can find out if you have prediabetes or diabetes.
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