- With Mayo Clinic nutritionist
Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
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Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
As a specialty editor for the Food & Nutrition Center, Katherine Zeratsky helps you sort through the facts and figures, the fads and the hype to learn more about nutrition and diet.
A Marinette, Wis., native, she is certified in dietetics by the state of Minnesota and the American Dietetic Association. She has been with Mayo Clinic since 1999.
She is active in nutrition-related curriculum and course development in pediatrics at Mayo Clinic Rochester and nutrition education related to the physiology and recommended intakes for premature infants.
Other areas of interest include breast milk and formula safety, neonatal feeding, and nutrition for breast-feeding mothers.
She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, served a dietetic internship at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and worked as a registered dietitian and health risk counselor at ThedaCare of Appleton, Wis., before joining the Mayo Clinic staff.
Definition (1)
- Normal weight obesity: A hidden health risk?
Treatments and drugs (4)
- Gastric bypass surgery: What happens if I regain the weight?
- Weight-loss hypnosis: Does it work?
- Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
- see all in Treatments and drugs
Lifestyle and home remedies (2)
- Breakfast: Why is it so important to weight control?
- Fast weight loss: What's wrong with it?
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Question
Normal weight obesity: A hidden health risk?
Can you be considered obese if you have a normal body weight?
Answer
from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
As surprising as it may sound, you can have a normal weight but actually have so much body fat that you're considered obese — a situation known as normal weight obesity. And normal weight obesity means you may have the same serious health risks as does someone who's obese.
A formula called body mass index (BMI) is used to determine whether you're at a healthy weight for your height. But BMI doesn't tell the whole story because it doesn't measure body fat. So you may have a normal BMI while your body fat percentage is dangerously high. Obesity is actually defined as having an excessive amount of body fat — not weighing too much.
Researchers are still trying to determine what percentage of body fat counts as obesity when your weight is normal, and whether guidelines should be different depending on your age and sex. Some researchers have said that for women body fat should be less than 30 percent and for men less than 20 or 25 percent. Anything over that would be considered normal weight obesity. So, if you're a woman who is 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters) tall and you weigh 140 pounds (63.5 kilograms), you would have a normal BMI of 23.3. But if 42 of those pounds (19 kilograms) are fat — 30 percent — you would have normal weight obesity. If you're a man who is 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall and you weigh 160 pounds (72.6 kilograms), you would have a normal BMI of 23.6. But if 40 of those pounds (18 kilograms) are fat — 25 percent — you would have normal weight obesity.
Like obesity, normal weight obesity may increase your risk of serious health problems, including:
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Metabolic syndrome
If you're concerned about your body fat percentage, talk to your doctor. Your doctor may want to measure your body fat and recommend additional tests to see if you're at risk of obesity-related conditions. Your doctor will also probably encourage you to start eating healthier and increase your activity level.
Next questionGastric bypass surgery: What happens if I regain the weight?
- Defining overweight and obesity. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- Marques-Vidal P, et al. Large differences in the prevalence of normal weight obesity using various cut-offs for excess body fat. European e-Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. 2008;3:e159.
- De Lorenzo A, et al. Normal-weight obese syndrome: Early inflammation? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2007;85:40.
- Lopez-Jimenez F (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Rochester, Minn. July 14, 2009.
- Understanding adult obesity. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/understanding.htm. Accessed June 15, 2009.
- Romero-Corral A, et al. Normal weight obesity: A risk factor for cardiometabolic dysregulations. Abstracts from the 48th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation. 2008; 117(11), e207.
