A healthy weight is where you are not too thin and not too fat for your height. Healthcare professionals use a particular method to work out a person's healthy weight for his/her height. This method is known as body mass index (BMI).

BMI = your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. To convert your weight from pounds to kilograms multiply by 0.4536. To convert your height from feet to meters multiply by 0.3048

For example: Mary weighs 65kg and is 1.64m tall 65 (1.64) squared = 24.17

A healthy balance should be between 18.5 and 25. If your weight is less than 18.5 then you are underweight, but if your weight is over 25 then you are overweight and if it exceeds 30 you are obese. However, some people feel more comfortable at a higher weight while others feel healthier having a lesser weight. Sometimes the BMI reading can be misleading and you may need to undergo a body fat measurement and waist-height ratio to determine if your weight is putting you at risk. Whether you are an 'apple' or 'pear' shape, your shape affects your heart's health. Fat around the waist increases your risk of heart problems. A waist measurement of more than 89cm in a women and 102cm in men puts their heart at risk. Normally obesity is obvious, weightlifters and body builders have a high BMI but low proportion of body fat. Therefore the risk of cardiovascular problems is low.

Before losing weight there are a number of factors to consider.