Understanding Body Mass Index
One of the commonest mistakes people make in weight loss circles is trying to make judgments about the healthiness or otherwise of their weight by just looking at the figures that their weighing scales show them. This is a situation where, for instance, you will hear a person arguing that they are overweight just because their weighing scale registered 160 pound the last time they stepped on it, or that they have lost enough weight because they have moved from 200 to 160 on the pound scale; without taking into consideration the other factors that go into judging what is healthy or unhealthy in terms of weight.
The truth of the matter is that there is no weight figure that can be said to be ideal or not ideal for anyone, for the simple reason that 'healthy weight' is relative - and dependent on a number of factors, one of which is, of course, the height of the person in question. What might be considered a healthy weight for a very tall person might therefore not be a very healthy weight figure for a relatively shorter person, hence the fallibility of the 'absolutionist' approach to weight, where people attempt to make judgments as to how healthy or unhealthy their weight is by just looking at the weighing scales. What the body mass index (BMI) does, then, is to introduce the height factor into the weight loss effort, in attempting to find out what - in objective terms - an ideal weight for a particular person should be.
The journey towards establishing what your body mass index is starts with your standing on the weighing scale, and establishing what your weight (in kilograms, is). Next, you stand under height-measuring equipment, and establish what your height (in meters, is). Once you establish what your height in meters is, you square the figure, and divide the weight in kilograms you established earlier by the square of your height in meters, so that: body mass index = weight (in kilograms)/(height in meters)2
Now applying BMI to weight loss, if you are a man, and the figure you obtain by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters falls between 20.1 and 25 - then your weight is healthy, and rather than focusing on weight loss, you should focus on sensible diet and exercise measures to maintain that healthy weight.
In a similar manner, it has been established that ideal body mass index figures for women fall between 18.7 and 23.8, so that if you are a lady, and your BMI falls within this range, then you need not worry about weight loss (at least from a medical perspective), but rather on maintaining your healthy weight.
The body mass index offers a better guide as to whether you really need to lose weight given the fact that weight tends to be relative, and even from a common sense point of view, a 6 foot person weighing 90 kilograms might not sound (and look) as outrageous as a four foot person weighing the same. - 17269
The truth of the matter is that there is no weight figure that can be said to be ideal or not ideal for anyone, for the simple reason that 'healthy weight' is relative - and dependent on a number of factors, one of which is, of course, the height of the person in question. What might be considered a healthy weight for a very tall person might therefore not be a very healthy weight figure for a relatively shorter person, hence the fallibility of the 'absolutionist' approach to weight, where people attempt to make judgments as to how healthy or unhealthy their weight is by just looking at the weighing scales. What the body mass index (BMI) does, then, is to introduce the height factor into the weight loss effort, in attempting to find out what - in objective terms - an ideal weight for a particular person should be.
The journey towards establishing what your body mass index is starts with your standing on the weighing scale, and establishing what your weight (in kilograms, is). Next, you stand under height-measuring equipment, and establish what your height (in meters, is). Once you establish what your height in meters is, you square the figure, and divide the weight in kilograms you established earlier by the square of your height in meters, so that: body mass index = weight (in kilograms)/(height in meters)2
Now applying BMI to weight loss, if you are a man, and the figure you obtain by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters falls between 20.1 and 25 - then your weight is healthy, and rather than focusing on weight loss, you should focus on sensible diet and exercise measures to maintain that healthy weight.
In a similar manner, it has been established that ideal body mass index figures for women fall between 18.7 and 23.8, so that if you are a lady, and your BMI falls within this range, then you need not worry about weight loss (at least from a medical perspective), but rather on maintaining your healthy weight.
The body mass index offers a better guide as to whether you really need to lose weight given the fact that weight tends to be relative, and even from a common sense point of view, a 6 foot person weighing 90 kilograms might not sound (and look) as outrageous as a four foot person weighing the same. - 17269
posted by X - Men at
11:33 AM
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