Abstract
Obesity is defined as an excess of adipose (or fat) tissue. Until most recently, excess weight was defined in terms of normative tables of weight for a given height, such as the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (1983) charts or statistics from the National Research Council (1989). This method for defining obesity does not actually measure adiposity, however, and is no longer generally used in research programs on obesity (Bray, 1992b). Methods for estimating body fat range from relatively inexpensive methods, such as measurement of skin-fold thickness, to expensive methods such as magnetic resonance. In recent years, the use of body mass index (wt/(ht)2) has become a popular method for defining weight status. The body-mass index (BMI) has been found to be highly correlated with other measures of adiposity, except in bodybuilders and other athletes with high muscle mass (Garrow, 1983).
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Williamson, D.A., Champagne, C.M., Jackman, L.P., Varnado, P.J. (1996). Lifestyle Change. In: Van Hasselt, V.B., Hersen, M. (eds) Sourcebook of Psychological Treatment Manuals for Adult Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1528-3_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1528-3_12
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