Like you already know, the body mass index or
BMI is a way to determine if an individual is in a healthy weight range. It can
be calculated with a simple equation:
BMI = weight (kg)/height2 (m)
By the US standards set by CDC the number that
we get falls into one of these categories:
Very severely underweight: < 15.0
Severely underweight: 15.0 – 15.9
Underweight: 16.0 – 18.4
Healthy weight: 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight: 25.0 – 29.9
Obese: 30.0
– 34.9
Very obese: > 35
And if take a look at Japan:
Healthy weight – 18.5 – 22.9
Overweight – 23.0 – 24.9
Obese - > 25.0
Last but not least, the ranges for Slovenia:
Healthy weight: 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight: 25.0 – 29.9
Obesity, stage 1: 30.0 – 34.9
Obesity, stage 2: 35.0 – 39.9
Obesity, stage 3: > 40.0
The BMI range is country specific, because of
the different race, lifestyles and other.
You can calculate your BMI here. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/metric_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
But unfortunately the BMI has a few major
flaws. It doesn’t take into account that our bodies are made out of different
ratios of 4 components. Water, lean mass, bone mass and fat mass. So an
individual, who has a high lean mass (a lot of muscles), can appear to be
overweight or even obese by BMI standards while having almost no subcutaneous
fat on their body (bodybuilders). If we compare a professional bodybuilder, who
is 180 cm tall and weighs 95 kilo to an untrained individual with the exact
same numbers and a high percentage of body fat, their BMI is the same, even
though the obvious difference in their physical appearances.
Thankfully there are a number of other
techniques for measuring your body composition, which will give you a more
detailed result, like the 3 fold caliper measure or waste to hip ratio.
Waste to hip ratio is a more accurate method of
measuring the health of a person, and determining the
risk of developing serious health conditions such as heart disease.
With a measuring tape measure the hip circumference
and the waist circumference at the widest parts. After that just calculate the
waste to hip ratio with the following equation:
WHR = Waist/Hip
In men abdominal obesity is defined as a WHR of
above 0.90 and 0.85 for women. If your numbers are lower than that you have a
reduced chance of developing all sorts of diseases such as type 2 diabetes,
heart problems, hypertension (increased blood pressure) and other.
You can calculate your waste to hip ratio here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/tools/hip_to_waist/hip_to_waist.shtml
Picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/2n8mhw
References:
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