Do you know which your HEALTHY body weight is?
Do you know which your HEALTHY body weight is?
One of the most common ways to determine your healthy body weight is to calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI).
To calculate your BMI, you will need to know your height (in inches) and weight (in pounds). What you should do is to multiply your weight by 703. Take this number and divide it by your height squared. The number that comes out is your BMI.
The BMI formula looks like this:
BMI = Weight (in pounds) x 703 / Height2 (in inches)
If you’re using the metric system, the formula for BMI is:
BMI= Weight (in kilograms)/ Height2 (in m2).
For both women and men, the BMI categories are:
- Underweight = <18.5
- Normal weight = 18.5–24.9
- Overweight = 25–29.9
- Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater.
Although BMI can be used for most of the people, it does have some limits:
- It may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build.
- It may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle.
Once you know your BMI and the category into which you fall, it is important to figure out what the proper course of action is for someone in your BMI category. If you fall into the underweight, overweight or obese categories, you may want to consider contacting a nutritionist to help you with a plan for getting back to your healthy body weight.
The advice of a nutritionist is very important because a healthy body weight and BMI for one person may not be the same for another. This is not about how much you weigh alone. Physical activity, eating and sleeping habits and stress are other criteria which should be taken into account when you are trying to determine your healthy body weight. Anyway, you should not compare yourself to others. The accent should be put on what is healthy for each one of us as individuals.
