Definitions of obesity in men and womenĪ body mass index (BMI) of ≥ 30 kg/m 2 is widely used to define obesity in both men and women, with a BMI of ≥ 25 kg/m 2 and 102 cm (men), > 88 cm (women). People are born female or male but learn to be girls and boys who grow into women and men. The word ‘gender’ is used to define those characteristics of women and men that are socially constructed, while ‘sex’ refers to those that are biologically determined. In this report we have tried to stick to accepted definitions of the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’: 1 The literature is still limited and we acknowledge that, although we would have liked to explore the effects of diversity, such as age, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, disability or sexual orientation, the evidence for these was sparse. This project attempts to provide the current evidence base for engaging obese men with weight loss and provide pointers to designing successful services. Evidence from qualitative and quantitative research is starting to accumulate on how men who are obese may be helped to lose weight, but there has been little systematic research to synthesise the evidence base.

We show that men are under-represented in weight-loss programmes in developed countries and briefly discuss the growing literature on possible explanations. In this chapter we briefly discuss definitions, epidemiology and risks of obesity and possible benefits of reducing obesity in men.

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