A burgeoning waist line may be doing more than keeping you out of your tight jeans; it could be shortening your life. Your waist size and body mass index are important indicators of increased health risk due to excess body fat.

Losing upper belly fat can challenge even the most industrious athlete, but it’s easier to lose than you think. A combination of diet and exercise to lose weight everywhere is the only way to trim your middle -- spot reduction doesn’t exist.

Many children today live at an unhealthy weight. More than 12 percent of children aged 2 to 5 years are obese, as are 17 percent of children aged 6 to 19, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity increases a child's risk of emotional and physical health problems.

Your body’s metabolism involves all of the chemical and biological processes necessary for the conversion of food into energy and the use of the energy.

Advertisements blast you with the latest and greatest devices and techniques to break up or get rid of your fat cells. While they sound wonderful, vibrating devices and special massage techniques are not effective against fat cells.

Based on average U.S. women’s body weights and heights, women in the United States weigh more than they should. An estimated 64 percent of American women are overweight or obese, according to Weight-Control Information Network. A woman’s height, frame size and amount of lean body mass determine her ideal body weight.

Body mass index is used to estimate whether a person is at a healthy weight and body fat percentage for his height.

Exactly how much you weigh is a matter of genetics and your body composition. Instead of aiming for a particular number on the scale, make feeling fit and fabulous your goal. Your body type influences how your weight distributes, what exercises best suit you and what you should eat to fuel activity.

Illnesses related to obesity cause nearly 300,000 deaths per year in the United States, which makes obesity second only to smoking as the leading cause of preventable death.

Your strength-to-weight ratio is simply your strength divided by your body weight. The ideal ratio depends on your gender and what lift you're performing. Competitive athletes' goals for the strength-to-weight ratio differ from those for the average gym-goer.

When it comes to weight loss, monitoring your body composition can be just as helpful in assessing your progress as tracking numbers on a scale.

No special exercise machine or fad diet effectively burns fat lumps in the body. To rid your body of excess fat, you have to create a calorie deficit through changes in your diet and exercise. If you choose a sensible, healthy plan that suits your lifestyle, you are more likely to stick with your weight-loss effort.