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What is A Healthy Body Weight?




We are inundated with pictures of the "ideal" woman. Everywhere we look in our media driven world, there are images, icons and inferences of the 'perfect' female shape! The cold hard fact behind those images is that many of them are altered or enhanced in some way and do not depict the actual person "photographed or especially the typical female form. The pressure one feels to lose weight is immense after being bombarded every day with media selling products based on slimness, sex appeal and fashion. The constant message (lie) is that only slimness will make you desireable.

Current demographic trends in western countries are negative. We are faced with a sea of high fat, high sugar foods combined with less physical activity. It is time to pay attention to our weight, but not for any reasons of desirability or some socially flaunted body image. The most important reason for work towards a healthy body weight is for your longterm health rather than for how your body looks.

Being overweight and obesity are major public health problems. Since the 1990's both adult men and women have become heavier. Obesity rates have more more than doubled in the last 20 years! Children are also becoming fatter. Many believe that we are inadvertently training our overweight children to become obese adults. There is a new saying, "We are digging our graves with our teeth!"

Why should we be concerned with achieving a healthy body weight?

Being Overweight is linked with diabetes. - In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured two studies about obesity and its impact on health. The first study focused on the relationship between obesity and diabetes, in the U.S. between the years 2000 and 2001. The numbers are discouraging. There has been an alarming 5.6% increase of obesity in both men and women - from all ethnic groups, age ranges and educational levels. The occurrence of diabetes has also increased - going up 8.2% from 2000.

Being Overweight is linked with premature death. - The second study found that obesity appears to markedly decrease life expectancy, especially among young adults. Researchers compared Body-Mass Index (BMI) to longevity and found a correlation between premature death and higher BMI's. For example, a 20-year-old white male, 5'10" weighing 288 pounds with a BMI of greater than 40 was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity. Findings were similar for women with higher BMI's, who were estimated to lose an average of eight years. While these studies reference extreme levels of obesity, there are still millions of overweight people in developed countries with a life expectancy rate that is three to five years less than their healthy-weight counterparts.

Being Overweight is linked with heart disease. - Overweight people tend to have higher blood pressure and higher blood cholesterol. Both of these conditions are major risk factors for heart attack and other blood vessel diseases. Being overweight can contribute to problems in the joints, and is also associated with other serious diseases.

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How can you tell if you are overweight? - We are all different shapes and sizes, so there is no one recommended weight for your height. Instead, actuaries have determined that there is a range of weights that are healthy for your height. One way to check your ideal weight is to calculate your Body Mass Index or BMI.

Your BMI is a ratio or comparison of your height and weight expressed in a number. To find out your BMI you need to divide your weight (measured in kg) by your height (measured in m) squared. If you do not know your measurements in the metric system you can find any number of BMI calculators online that will do the conversion for you into empirical measures. One such calculator is available at the link listed at the end of the above paragraph.

The accepted definitions of weight categories by BMI are:  Underweight - BMI less than 18.5
Healthy weight - BMI between 18.5 and 24.9
Overweight - BMI equal to or greater than 25 and up to 29.9
Obese - BMI equal to or greater than 30.

These BMI values only apply to adults aged 18 years and over and are based on studies of Caucasian populations. Therefore, they are not applicable to children and adolescents and they may not be appropriate for people of other cultural backgrounds.

Another way to check your weight is to measure your waist circumference, using a tape measure. This gives you an idea of whether you have a lot of fat stored around your middle.

Waist circumferences associated with increased health risk are:  For men - Waist circumference greater than 94cm (37 inches).
For women - Waist circumference greater than 80cm (31 inches).

Being a healthy weight can help:  improve blood cholesterol levels, blood pressure and blood glucose levels
- reduce your risk of other health related problems
- improve self confidence and self esteem
- make it easier to be physically active.

If you are obese or overweight, do not gain additional weight. Better still look after your body and follow a healthy lifestyle incorporating a nutritious, delicious, health enhancing weight loss program. Just by losing 10 pounds you can significantly improve your overall health and your life span

For weight loss that works check out BurnTheFat.com.










News About Healthy Body Weight


ABC News

Can a Scale Solve Teen Obesity? Not So Fast
ABC News - 6 hours ago
New research suggests that teens who weigh themselves weekly have an easier time losing weight. But there may be more to the story, health experts say. ...


Self-Weighing Could Help Teens Achieve Healthy Weight Control
Health Behavior News Service - 20 hours ago
By Joan Vos MacDonald, Contributing Writer Overweight teens who weigh themselves at least once a week are more likely to engage in other healthy weight ...


That Happened!

Weight-loss surgery bodes well for pregnancy
That Happened!, New York - 10 hours ago
It is important to have healthy eating habits before and during your pregnancy. You want to try and maintain a healthy weight in order to help prevent ...
TV Ads Contribute to Childhood Obesity, Economists Say That Happened!
all 2 news articles


Photos: Peptides Discovered to Alleviate Chemotherapy Side Effects
MarketWatch - 8 hours ago
Mr. Mollstedt continued, "Antioxidants act as a shield for healthy cells, while allowing chemotherapy to battle cancerous cells. ...


10 paths to higher fitness, better overall health
Fort Leavenworth Lamp, KS - 4 hours ago
Multiply your body weight in pounds by 15-17 to get an estimate of how many calories you need to consume each day from carbohydrates, fat and protein. ...

healthy body weight - Google News




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