Many SMCs have set up weight management style courses, in one case invitations were set out to a select group of individuals all who had BMI's over 35 to attend for a lifestyle course. This would have involved the fat/water/muscle test previously mentioned, waist measurements, analysing food diaries, Phy Ed programme and even motivational techniques talks by the mental health team. Needless to say we only had 3 people turn up for the initial chat and then only 1 attend after that.
People want a miracle cure or magic pill that involves no effort on their part. As is common in many areas of life these days people's problems are always someone else's fault.
Distribution of body fat and cholesterol levels are possibly more important than someone with a slightly raised BMI. Skinny people can also have high cholesterol levels and research is showing that fat can also be held around internal organs.
Diabetes UK and the British Heart Foundation are placing emphisis on waist measurements for diabetes and coronary heart disease risk. If you want to find out if you're at risk
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/measure%2Dup/
http://www.bdaweightwise.com/lose/lose_waist.aspx