Posts Tagged ‘body mass index bmi’

There are a few different ways to determine if you are overweight. Underwater weighing, computerized topography and measurement of skin folds with calipers can be the most accurate ways to measure fat. They can also be expensive and need to be done by professionals. Other options include the body mass index and waist measurement.

One of the most popular tools available is the body mass index (BMI). The body mass index was developed as a simple guide to assess your weight. This tool is an inexpensive, easy way to compare your body weight to the general population. It does have its limitations though. It does not take into account certain people, such as athletes, that have a higher than average amount of muscle. Muscle does weigh more than fat so these people may be considered overweight according to the BMI chart. Whether this puts them at a higher risk for disease is still unclear. Anyone who is overweight is at a higher risk of developing problems such as osteoarthritis. Our bodies are designed only to carry so much weight. Conversely, the BMI chart may put a person with too little muscle mass in the healthy range. This can include elderly and malnourished people who may obviously have health problems.

So, it is important to look at this as only one tool to determine if you need to lose weight or not. For most people it will be obvious, but others may have to check with a healthcare professional before starting a weight loss program.

Visit http://www.natural-weight-loss-programs.com/need-weight-loss.htm to calculate your BMI for free. Also, you can calculate how many calories you need in a day and how many you need to lose weight.

A few years ago, I heard about a very disturbing survey. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the statistical details, but I’ll never forget the point. Someone asked a group of children in a US primary school if they would rather lose an arm or be fat. Some overwhelming percentage (I want to say close to 80 percent) said they would rather lose the arm. Think about that for a second. Our society places such a severe stigma on being overweight that 5-year-old children say they would rather give up an arm than be fat.

There’s so much pressure around us to be thin that it’s easy to forget that optimal body weight really is about our health, and not just our trouser size. But recently, a couple of new studies on health and weight confirmed that maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves – and that letting it slide can be the most dangerous.

In one study, the American Medical Association reported that on average, obese people were found to have nearly twice the chronic health problems of people of normal weight. Keep in mind that obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or more. (BMI is a mathematical formula that calculates the ratio of height to weight.) It was adopted by the National Institutes of Health in 1998 as the new gold standard in body weight.

BMI’s of 18.5 to 24.9 are considered “normal,” while values of 25 and over are considered overweight. A BMI of 30 or higher ranks as obese. According to the AMA study, about 56 percent of the American population falls into the overweight group. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 19.8 percent of Americans are obese. Before BMI was introduced, the old Metropolitan Life height-and-weight charts were the yardstick and body weights 20 percent or more above the recommended levels were considered obese. Here in the UK things aren’t much better, as we’re getting fatter as a nation and obesity rates are on the increase.

But it was the other study I found absolutely shocking. It was put out by the RAND Institute in Santa Monica and was published in the latest edition of the British journal “Public Health.” Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the study consisted of a telephone survey of 9,585 adults who were asked about their weight, height, smoking and drinking habits, income, quality of life, and if they had any of 17 chronic health problems, including asthma, cancer, diabetes, and heart problems.

The researchers found that the obese people had slightly more health problems than people in poverty, and far more than daily smokers or heavy drinkers, indicating that obesity may be a much greater health risk. Honestly, I was dumb-founded. Smoking, heavy drinking, and poverty – these are three very strong, very negative forces with staggering effects on health. It seems almost unfathomable that being overweight could be more dangerous than they are. Obviously we aren’t saying that smoking or heavy drinking are good for you, but thought the comparison was very powerful.

If you’ve tried to lose weight and feel like you’ve lost the struggle, I can sympathize. Weight is something I’ve struggled with most of my life. So please don’t think I’m giving this advice lightly or think it’s as easy as skipping a serving of potatoes. Being overweight is a complex physical, mental and emotional problem for most of us who struggle with it. But looking at these studies, I realize that the time has to be now. I don’t want to wake up in 10 years and still be saying, “I’ll start tomorrow.”

In recent weeks, I’ve gotten back into an exercise routine that I’d been lax about, given up deserts, and stopped drinking all fizzy drinks – diet and regular.
Trust me. I know how hard it is. There are many mornings when I would rather push the snooze button than get up and get on that treadmill (today was one of them). And, as I said, I’ve given up a lot of my favorite foods recently. But it seems silly to have quit smoking years ago only to learn that a weight problem may end up being even more dangerous for me.

Let’s stop putting it off until tomorrow and start today – right now. It’s the absolute best thing we can do for ourselves – and the people who love us. And as those pounds come off (and they will!), you’ll look great while doing something important for your health.

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Obesity is steadily growing to be major lifestyle problem for most Americans. In fact, studies have shown that with the influx of new fat-rich, fast food diets, Americans have begun to get larger and heavier. Also, in an alarming development, more and more people are getting overweight at a younger age.

Being overweight means that one has an excess amount of weight – which does not limit itself to fat. There are ranges in weight that is acceptable for people of different age and height groups. If you weigh more than recommended for your height and age group, then you should seriously consider shedding off some pounds.

Health professionals use the Body Mass Index (BMI), to ascertain whether a person is overweight or not. This measurement seeks to find out how heavy a person is per amount of body space he or she has. The BMI is a handy tool in assessing whether a person is healthy or overweight.

Being able to know your BMI and watch your weight is essential to good health. While most people just think that being overweight is something that is painful to look at – with repercussions to one’s overall self-esteem, there are other, graver reasons why one should be concerned about his or her weight.

The truth is that obesity is a major factor in many debilitating diseases that have gone up in frequency of late. Heart disease, Stroke, Diabetes, and other major diseases can be traced to obesity and ultimately to one’s diet and lifestyle.

Therefore, to be able to avoid these lifestyle diseases, it becomes imperative that one is able to keep from becoming obese. There are two major ways to do this – a proper diet, and exercise (or a more active lifestyle). Because of the increase in daily conveniences in today’s world, people are becoming increasingly sedentary and fail to work their bodies into health.

The only way to regain this health is to return to a more active type of lifestyle coupled with a return to healthier, less-fatty foods.

Losing Calories is as Easy as Counting Them
But how do people get fat? While genetics can be a big factor, the overriding principle here is that everything that you eat has varying amounts of calories that your body needs for energy. If you consume more than you need, your body ends up storing it for later use. This is when your calories become fat tissue.

The problem here is that it could lead to a vicious cycle where you keep consuming more energy than you need, this will lead to more fatty deposits that will accumulate throughout the years unabated. This underscores the need for more restraint and discipline with our diet.

To lose fat, one must consume just enough calories so that the body does not have to store the energy as fat. It will instead burn the energy up. If you eat just a little less than your body needs, your body will turn to its fat stores for energy.

However, it does not mean that if you stop eating at all, you will lose fat. In fact it would be quite the contrary. If you stop eating altogether and pig out once in a while, it would lead to increased fat deposits because your body would have adjusted to so little energy in the body.

So what is the solution?
The solution to this debacle is to eat just the right amount of calories throughout the day in small but frequent meals. Couple this with exercise, and you have a surefire way of burning the fat nothingness.

However, when going for exercise, it has to be the aerobic kind, meaning it has to be a regular sustained exercise that for more than 20 minutes. This type of exercise uses oxygen and fat to generate energy. Weight lifting on the other hand is anaerobic and uses glycogen instead for energy.

How do you tell the two apart
If you are able to talk a bit while performing an exercise, then it is most probably aerobic. Your heart rate for such exercises should span the 130 bpm range.

Calories
Going back to calories, you should remember that to keep your calories in the range for your weight. Look at the nutritional information to make your decisions. Also you should consult with a nutritionist for further advice on your recommended calorie intake and reduction plan.

Lee Dobbins writes for http://calories.health-webzone.com where you can learn more about calories, how to count them and how to use them to lose weight.