You might look in the mirror each morning and wish you could drop a few pounds or at least lose a few inches from the hips but ask yourself this - do you really need to lose weight or are you just being far to self critical?

A good way to judge whether you need to diet or not is to work out you Body Mass Index (BMI).

This is a simple formula used by health professions to assess whether an individual is at risk of developing obesity related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

Although your BMI will give you a good indication as to whether you need to lose weight or not, it unfortunately doesn't distinguish between body fat and muscle and remember muscle weighs more than fat therefore your BMI should only be used as an indicator as to whether you need to lose weight or not.

Firstly, you’ll need to measure your height in metres and then weigh yourself in kilogram’s.

Once you have your measurements multiply your height by itself and then divide the resulting figure into your weight the answer is your BMI.

Once you’ve worked out your BMI you can use the guidelines below to work out whether you really do need to lose weight or not -

BMI less than 18.5  - Underweight

BMI 18.5-25 - Ideal

BMI 25-30 - Overweight

BMI 30-40 - Obese - should lose weight

BMI greater than 40 - Very obese - lose weight now