If you are trying to lose fat, then one of the most important things is measuring your progress. BMI or Body Mass Index is one method of estimating if your weight is in a healthy range. But BMI may not always be the best way to determine if you’re at a healthy weight.
What is BMI?
Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of a person’s weight relative to their height. The exact formula is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. You can use this calculator to determine your BMI.
BMI was originally used by insurance companies to determine risk factors when assessing someone for insurance. In 1985 the National Institute of Health started using BMI as a standard for determining obesity.
What is considered to be a healthy BMI?
When is BMI useful?
BMI can be useful to get a quick way to determine weight related health risks for most people. As BMI rises, risk factors for several diseases also rise. People with a higher BMI have increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and breast cancer.
When is BMI misleading?
BMI can be misleading in a few different ways:
It doesn’t take into account muscle mass. A person with a large amount of muscle can have low body fat, but a high BMI. Conversely, someone with very little muscle can appear to be within the healthy range, but actually have a high percentage of body fat. This is common in older adults when they are inactive.
It doesn’t take into account the location of the fat. Fat located around the belly is more likely to cause health problems than fat located at the hips
Body frame size is not taken into account.
Ethnicity is not taken into account. Health risk for black people is often overestimated and health risks for people of asian descent is often underestimated.
What are other ways to measure?
BMI is often used because it is the simplest way to get an indication of overweight or obesity, but here are some other ways that provide a more accurate measurement.
Waist circumference is a good measure that complements BMI. Waist circumference is one of the simplest measurements you can take. A larger waist circumference can indicate the presence of abdominal fat which is more likely to cause health problems.
Hip to waist ratio. Take both hip and waist circumference to get an even more accurate indication of abdominal fat presence.
Have a trained fitness professional measure your body fat with calipers. However, this measurement depends on the skill of the tester and can be inaccurate for some groups of people. Because of this, I’m not a huge fan.
Use a body fat scale. Great to see body fat, muscle, visceral fat tends.
More accurate body fat measurements like a DEXA scan are often used by athletes
I can help
If you are having trouble sorting out all the options for improving your health and losing fat I can help. I can help you with a personalized eating plan. And I make sure that we can measure your success as we go. Book a free nutrition assessment to find out more.
Warm wishes,
Vicki Witt | Clinical Nutritionist | Holistic Coach | Reiki Master | Certified LEAP allergy therapist Over 25 years of successfully helping you achieve optimal health and weight loss 🍏| www.vickiwittweightloss.com
About Vicki:
Vicki Witt is a Clinical Nutritionist, Holistic Health Coach, and Reiki Master. She has been practicing over 25 years and specializes in holistically customizing diet and lifestyle plans to each individual for weight loss and hormonal control. Her clientele often report they feel the best they have ever felt and wish they had started sooner. One of the USA and Australia's top Nutritionists, she has won multiple awards for her services in the industry.
Certified and Registered Nutritionist
Comments