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Body Mass Index
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Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of your body fat based only on your height and weight and can be used by most adult men and women.
These BMI values are widely used by the medical community to determine if a person is overweight and by how much.
There are however, two situations in which BMI values may not be valid:
- - It may overestimate body fat in athletes and those who have a muscular build.
- - It may underestimate body fat in older persons and those who have lost muscle mass.
You can calculate your own body mass index using the following formula or by using the handy BMI charts below.
To use the chart, find your height in feet and inches at the left side of the chart.
Move across this row to the column which has your weight in pounds, at the
very top. Your body mass index is the number which intersects your height row
with your weight column.
- Use BMI chart A if your weight is between 120 and 185 pounds.
- Use BMI chart B if your weight is between 190 and 250 pounds.
If your BMI is:
- less than 18.5, you are underweight.
- between 18.5 and 24.9, you are at a healthy weight.
- between 25 and 29.9, you are overweight.
- 30 or more, you are obese.
If you are overweight, use the BMI chart to find out how many pounds you need to loose to get into your healthy weight range:
- Find your height in feet and inches at the left side of the chart.
- Move across this row untill you reach a bmi value of 24.
- Next move directly to the top of the chart to see which weight this 24 body mass index value corresponds to.
You should always strive to maintain a health weight, since being overweight greatly increases your risk of getting many diseases such as:
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Gallstones
- Arthritis
- Stroke
- Heart Disease
According to a report issued in 2004 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three American adults is not only overweight, but is obese. There are twice as many obese people now as there were just three decades ago, and it is mainly due to the fact that we are eating more and exercising less!
A more recent study published in December 2006 by the American Journal of Epidemiology concluded that belly fat is better than BMI at judging obesity related heart disease risk. Heart disease risk was found to increase with increasing abdominal fat even among men or women of normal weight or BMI values.
So maintaining a healthy BMI along with a normal waist circumference is key to reducing coronary heart disease.
Ref: American Journal of Epidemiology 2006 164(12):1150-1159 ( web link )
Taking apple cider vinegar along with regular exercise, eating normal portions of nutritious food, and reducing the consumption of refined and processed food is a sure way to loose weight naturally and maintain a normal BMI and waist circumference.
Return from Body Mass Index to Apple Cider Vinegar and Weight Loss
