Definitions

Body Image

Body image is the mental picture you have of your body

• what it looks like,
• what you believe about it, and
• how you feel about your body.

Self-esteem is the "real" opinion you have of yourself,

• how you value and respect yourself as a person
• Your self-esteem has a direct effect on how you take care of yourself, emotionally, physically and spiritually.

Self-esteem and body image also exert influences on each other - it is hard to feel good about yourself if you hate your body!

Body Mass Index (BMI)

The Body Mass Index is a method for calculating our 'normal' or 'healthy' body weight. It does so by measuring the amount of fat on your body in relation to the amount of muscle. You can do this by weighing yourself (in kilograms) and dividing this by the square of your height (in metres). The formula is weight in kilograms/height in metres.

BMI should never be used as the only measure of your health or weight. It has a number of limitations. It was developed for use on adults over the age of 18 and is therefore not of much use when assessing young adults who have not reached full growth. It is also not that useful when assessing:

• Individuals who are very muscular
• Individuals who are naturally lean
• Adults over 65 years of age
• Pregnant and lactating women.

Disordered Eating

Disordered eating includes a wide range of abnormal eating. This includes the behaviours seen in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, chronic restrained eating, compulsive eating and habitual dieting. It includes irregular, chaotic eating patterns. Often physical hunger and satiety (fullness) are ignored.

Disordered eating has negative effects on overall health - emotional, social and physical. It may cause the individual to feel tired and depressed, decrease mental functioning and concentration, and can lead to malnutrition with risk to bone health, physical growth and brain development.

Obesity

Obesity means too much fat tissue compared to lean tissue in the body. However, the term is often used loosely to describe the fact that many people are fatter than society's thin ideal.
The World Health Organization defines someone as obese if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is higher than 30. (see Body Mass Index for information on the limitations of the BMI).

Obesity is not just a consequence of over-eating and under-exercising, as popular media often suggest. Obesity is a condition affected by a person's genes, environment, emotions and behaviour.
Obesity may affect one regardless of sex, age, geography or socio-economic group. However, poor people are often at greatest risk.

Obesity is not an eating disorder, although some obese individuals may also have eating disorders.