Weight-watchers will now have a tough mission on hand. The country’s fitness measurements have become learner recently with the new guidelines which state that 80 million Indians are overweight. Alarmed by reports that India will become the global diabetes capital by 2050, the health ministry has reduced the diagnositc cut-offs for body mass index (BMI) to 23 kg/m2 and the standard waist circumference, which is now pegged lower than international norms, to fight the battle against bulge. While statistics say that in Delhi every second person is obese, many city doctors, surgeons and health experts feel that Chennai is competing with the figures.

Speaking about the newly formulated norms, Dr.Ravindran Kumeran, a bariatric surgeon from Apollo Hospital says, “Ask any doctor who closely works with obese patients and he will tell you that the figures of the number of obese people in the city are starting and has risen drastically over the last one year alone. One in three Chennaiites is obese today.”

Elucidating on the reasons behind it, he says, “This is mainly because of the outlook of the people in the South who believe that being over weight adds to their good looks and is considered a sign of prosperity. An obese child is considered as a healthy child in our society. Also, the changing lifestyle patterns with desktop work culture and the high-calorie diet is to blame. It is high time people wake up to the fact that they are a part of a high-risk group and make a proactive effort to stay healthy.”

“Diabetes is the biggest silent killer which kills four times as many people compared to smoking or drinking and the main reason behind it is excess flab. We need to have an anti-obesity drive to siphon of the excess flab. There are a large number of people who are going in for diabetic surgery and about six percent of the women fall a prey to ovarian cancer and breast cancer because of obesity,” says Dr.J.S. Rajkumar, laproscopic surgeon and chairman of Lifeline Hospital who performs about 5-8 surgeries per month.

A Krishnamurthy, a cardiologist with Vijaya Hospital agrees saying, “I think the new guidelines are an excellent initiatives as a large number of Indians suffer from abdominal obesity compared to people in the west, whose bodies are uniformly obese. The number of diabetics patients is alarming.”

“The ‘right diet’ with all the fruits and juices that I thought was healthy was working adversely.”

When it comes to women, obesity is a matter of greater concern. Says Rashmi (name changed on request), who rues the fact that she did not consult a dietician in the early stages of obesity as she thought she was perfectly normal, “I was never really thin but in 2005 I started gaining weight rapidly. I tried exercise and a lot of other measures but nothing helped as I reached 86 kgs. When I probed the matter, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Disorder (POD). It was then that I realised that the ‘right diet’ with all the fruits and juices, that though healthy, were working adversely and I went for regular treatment.” Speaking about the disorder, Dr.Renuka David, a gynaecologist and founder of Radiant Wellness center says, “Obesity is the prime cause of POD in women. Earlier I had one in 20 cases of it but now one in every four women face this problem in Chennai and the figures are increasing rapidly.” She adds, “Two in three youngsters who walk in are overweight and once their BMI exceeds the 30 marks they find it difficult to knock off the flab. I hope that people weigh their option well for a healthy lifestyle, otherwise they will have to go in for expensive and risky surgeries.”