Body Mass Index Bmi Are You At A Healthy Weight
The body mass index, or BMI, helps clarify an important distinction between
being overweight or being obese. If you weigh too much, you’re
obviously overweight. But if you have a very high proportion of body fat,
you’re obese. Based on your body mass index, your doctor or another health professional will classify your weight as healthy, overweight, or obese.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the BMI
“describes body weight relative to height and is correlated with total body fat
content in most adults”. In almost all cases, this means that the BMI will
accurately reflect your weight and proportion of body fat as a function of your height and weight
when categorizing you as healthy, overweight or obese.
Calculating your approximate body mass index is relatively straightforward,
although you’ll probably need a calculator just to save time. To get your BMI,
multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Next, divide that
result by your height in inches. Then divide that result by your height in
inches one more time.
As an example, let’s say you weigh 180 pounds and are 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Multiply 180 by 703 to get 126,540. Next, divide this by 70 (70 inches is the
same as 5′ 10″) to get 1807.7. Now, divide 1807.7 by 70 one more time. The
result — 25.8– is your approximate BMI or body mass index. If you don’t have a
calculator handy, you can get the same result using the free interactive BMI
calculator at www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm.
If the above example sounds you, you might be surprised to learn that you’re
ever so slightly heavier than your doctor might like. A BMI from 18.5 up to 25
is considered healthy, from 25 up to 30 is classified as overweight, and 30 or
higher is obese.
Generally, says the NHLBI, the higher a person’s BMI, the greater the risk for health problems. In addition to causing your
BMI to skyrocket, excess body fat is a well-recognized health risk. Men and
women with waist lines in excess of 40 and 35 inches, respectively, are much
more at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Like every rule of thumb, this one also has it exception. Bodybuilders, for
example, often have a body mass index above 25 and sometimes even above 30. In
this case, however, the higher BMI reflects the fact that bodybuilders have
more muscle mass without having more fat.
Finally, there’s still only one sure way to lower your BMI if you’re overweight
or obese: Eat less and exercise more. Your body will burn more calories than you eat and your body
mass index will go down over time.
PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS SOLUTION
There
are many people who attempt to lose
weight,
some will succeed and others will fail, however the biggest battle for people who are able to
reduce their weight,
is often to keep
to their ideal weight.
Many people will find that they have soon returned to the weight that they were
before they went on their diet or even that they are actually fatter. This can
of course be very depressive and can result in them losing a lot of their self-esteem. What is needed is for a permanent solution to their weight
problems.
There are some obvious routes to take in the battle to lose weight. They would
include increasing the amount in which we exercise and reducing the amount we
eat. It is this eating issue that can be the hardest
to control and to reduce as our temptations often get the better of us.
In my opinion what we need to do is to make our house a fat free zone. If we become hungry and start looking through
the cupboards and notice for example a packet of crisps, it can often be very
difficult not to eat them. Our desire for instant food can become too great and
our inner demons try and convince us
that one packet will not hurt. If that packet of crisps had not been in the
cupboard we would have not been put into that position of temptation and would
of course not have been able to eat them.
A number of years ago, when I went about losing my own excess weight, I decided to remove all of the foods from all
of the cupboards which I was aware that I needed to stop eating. I also removed
certain drinks such as alcoholic drinks which were also something which
contributed to my weight problems. I put into the dustbin all of the takeaway menus that I had and basically attempted to make it
as hard as possible for me to eat or drink anything that I shouldn’t have been.
When out and about I had to be determined to keep to my diet and to not be
tempted to buy any of these items from the shops etc. This was not easy to do as I am somebody
who loves all of these fatty type foods.
In my weekly food shop I bought far more fruit and vegetables and was surprised at how quickly my taste buds started to change. I soon looked forward to eating an apple as an
example and the weight slowly but surely started to reduce.
After a number of months I reached a weight that I was happy with. My wife
stated that I was now
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