What do we do?
Obesity is a disorder which results from a chronic imbalance between energy intake and energy consumption, thus leading to the accumulation of fat and weight gain. Obesity is also a chronic disease whereby the excess of body fat can be detrimental to health and engender diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, sleep apnoea and hypertension.
In Belgium about 15% of the population suffers from Obesity. This incidence increases to 25 to 30% among those aged 55 or more.
Obesity is a chronic disease, which implies:
· the need for long-term multidisciplinary treatment (as with hypertension, diabetes, asthma),
· there are no short-term cures,
· stopping a treatment noticeably leads to patients relapsing.
To determine whether you are severely overweight, you can apply the BMI index (Body Mass Index). Your BMI is calculated as follows: weight in kg divided by your length in metres squared.
Obesity is classified according to the level of BMI.
Another simple method to establish possible overweight is to measure your abdominal circumference at the level of your navel. This method is more appropriate than the BMI to estimate the amount of belly fat. Indeed studies have shown that belly fat is harmful to your health.
The abdominal circumference should be no more than 94 cm in men and 80 cm for women.
The more weight one looses, the better for one’s health. A 5% to 10% loss in weight already diminishes the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Obesity is caused by many factors. This is why all these contributing factors need to be tackled to achieve positive results: to loose sufficient weight in a sustainable manner.
Our Obesity Clinic allows patients through a single consultation to meet an Endocrinologist (specialist in metabolisms), a Dietician, a Behavioural Therapist and a Movement Therapist. In certain cases, an Obesity Surgeon may also be consulted.