Fat is known to have two main purposes:
1) Fat stores excess calories in a safe way so you can use them when you're hungry, and
2) Fat releases hormones that control metabolism.
The truth is that overweight women have higher levels of male hormones, which increases their risk of heart disease. Those hormones also cause male pattern balding, some excess facial hair, and acne. More truth? Overweight people often suffer from sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, which is dangerous. Sleep apnea causes breathing to stop many times during the night. This makes oxygen levels drop, which affects the heart and increases risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes. But relax; a certain amount of body fat is necessary for storing energy, heat insulation, shock absorption, and other functions.
Abdominal, or belly, fat is viewed as a bigger health risk than hip or thigh fat. It has a worse effect on insulin resistance, boosting the risk of diabetes, and a worse effect on the level of fats in the blood, boosting heart and stroke risks. Belly fat, or an apple-shaped body, is also most associated with heart disease and other diseases, such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The bigger your waist, the higher your risk of developing heart failure, a condition where the heart isn’t pumping enough blood out and fluid begins to back up into the lungs and/or pool in the feet and legs.
Obesity is an excess proportion of total body fat. A person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. The most common measure of obesity is the body mass index, or BMI. A person is considered overweight if his or her BMI is between 25 and 29.9; a person is considered obese if his or her BMI is over 30. BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilos by your height in meters squared, or by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing by your height in inches squared.
The normal amount of body fat (expressed as a percentage of body weight) is between 25%-30% in women and 18%-23% in men. Women with over 30% body fat and men with over 23% body fat are considered obese.
Believe it or not, healthy skin and hair are maintained by fat. Fat helps the body absorb and move the vitamins A, D, E, and K through the bloodstream.