In the UK, approximately 58 per cent of women and 65 per cent of men are overweight or obese.
Carrying too much weight puts you at risk of a number of health conditions, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis.
However, judging people on their size is not always an accurate way to determine health.
A growing number of people who seem as they they are a normal, healthy weight are carrying around dangerous amounts of hidden fat.
Indeed, one in four slim people have pre-diabetes and are ‘metabolically obese’, according to research.
Also known as ‘skinny fat’ or Metabolically Obese Normal Weight, they have an unhealthy amount of fat around their organs.
This visceral fat can be more metabolically dangerous than subcutaneous fat – which lies directly under your skin – and it can increase insulin resistance and inflammation.
It is thought that ‘skinny fat’ people don’t eat well or do enough exercise because they are already slim.
These are three serious health conditions you can get if you are a healthy weight but lead an unhealthy lifestyle.
Heart disease
Research published in 2015 by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that people of a normal weight who had fat around their middle were more likely than overweight or obese people with regular fat distributions to die of cardiovascular disease.
The researchers looked at 15,184 adults between ages 18 and 90 and linked mortality risk to fat distribution.
Diabetes
Diabetes is often associated with people who are overweight or obese, and 90 per cent of people with type 2 do carry too much weight, according to Diabetes UK.
However, you can still develop the condition if you’re slim, due to bad eating habits, yo-yo dieting, stress and not doing enough exercise.
This is due to hidden visceral fat which can cause inflammatory substances to affect your liver and pancreas, and lower your insulin sensitivity, placing you at risk of type 2.
High blood pressure
Many slim people have an elevated blood pressure, while not all overweight people do.
Research by the University of Michigan found that a fourth of adults in the recommended-weight range had a high risk of heart problems, including high blood pressure.
Stress, alcohol and not enough exercise can all raise blood pressure.