What is a Healthy Weight?
So many resources on weight loss vacation have already been written. Several have recommended a healthy weight loss diet, others consisted of a weightloss exercise. Some required you to hire an orange county personal trainer, but the question is, do you understand what healthy weight loss really is? What is a healthy weight?
The US National Heart Lung and Blood Institute uses three criteria in assessing the health risks associated with obesity and overweight – the body mass index (BMI), the waist circumference and other healthy risk factors.
The BMI is one of the most popular weight assessment systems being used today. In this system, a person is given a score depending on his/her height or weight. The higher your BMI score, the higher your risk of developing health related illnesses. The normal BMI for both men and women is between 20 to 24.99. Anything lower, and you’re underweight, higher and you’re either overweight or obese. People who have a BMI of 40 and above is categorized under morbid obesity and have the highest risk for health related problems.
The drawback of the BMI is that the weight categories it uses are not universally accepted. Aside from that, it doesn’t take into account the muscle-fat ratio and can overestimate risks for athletes and people who are into physical exercise. Also, there is no allowance made for age or sex which could underestimate the risks for old people who have lost muscle mass.
The waist circumference is an independent indicator of health risk. According to several studies, fat which is stored in the abdominal area poses greater health risk than fat which is stored in the lower part of the body. Excess abdominal fat can cause hypertension, health disease and high cholesterol level in adults. Women who have a waist circumference of 35 and above are high risk for health related illnesses while men whose waists are over 40 have substantially increased health risks.
Aside from BMI and the waist circumference, there are other health risk factors which need to be considered. Physical inactivity, unhealthy lifestyle, family history of premature heart disease, high blood pressure, high LDL cholesterol, high triglycerides and high blood sugar can cause excessive weight gain leading to obesity.