BMI-related stories
Our Brains Are Wired to Crave Food and Have Poor Self-Control: What We Can Do
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| Amazon.com |
That's Fit: How does self-control suck your energy?
Judith Horstman: Like most activities, self-control takes energy, and that requires fuel. And yes, not doing something is an activity. A part of your brain -- usually the reasoning thinking part -- has to expend energy to not react to stimulus such as a luscious piece of calorie-laden pie. As one researcher says in the book, willpower is more than a metaphor: It's an expensive metabolic activity. That seems doubly unfair, doesn't it? You need to take in fuel (eat) to control your urge to eat.
Staying Alive: Why Every Pound Counts
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| Photo: mod as hell, Flickr |
So who fared the best? Researchers found that women who reported a BMI of 18.5 to 22.9 at age 18 and kept it stable over the next 30 years were the healthiest, and women who maintained the same weight throughout their lives -- regardless of BMI -- were healthier than those who let the numbers on the scale creep up.
According to the researchers, "These data emphasized the significance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout adulthood to enjoy a long and healthy life." In other words? A little bit of extra junk in your trunk -- even if you're not reaching obese proportions -- won't do you any favors in the long run.
Need inspiration to stay fit until your golden years? Check out this 74-year-old body builder!
The End of BMI? Know Your Maximum Weight Limit
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| Photo: Getty Images |
Here's an example using me: I am a 5-foot 6-inch "healthy" active person. I plug in my numbers to any online BMI chart and out pops my "healthy range" which means if I weigh between 120 and 150 pounds (which I do, on the low end), then my "healthy weight range" of 120 to 150 pounds should have a BMI between 19 and 24. OK, but what exactly does it mean?
For years, fitness experts have been considering re-jiggering the BMI formulations to reflect your Fat Mass Index (FMI) instead, which is the number we're truly interested in and the number that pertains to diseases such as diabetes and obesity. In fact, scientist Thomas Kelly of Hologic Inc. in Bedford, Mass. and colleagues recently revealed new body fat composition measures as part of the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Kelly and colleagues suggested FMI could eventually replace BMI as a more accurate indicator of excess body fat and, therefore, of obesity-related health risks.
eScale - Follow Your Weight on the Internet
Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products
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| Photo: bodytrace.com |
for as little as $19.99. Want more bells and whistles? Up goes the price, which might be worth it if the thing helps you score diet and fitness success.It hasn't arrived on the scene just yet, but soon to be unveiled is a new pricey gadget called eScale, which is a bathroom scale connected to the Internet. BodyTrace, the company behind the technology, thinks the instant feedback you'll get from using this product will make it well worth its $119 price tag. You decide, here's how it works:
Just step on the scale to weigh yourself, and your weight and BMI will be wirelessly and instantly transmitted to a website where you can follow your progress -- you'll have a page that looks something like this. You'll also get access to recipes and diet/fitness ideas, and you can play around with an interactive food diary, Twitter about your accomplishments (or setbacks) and check in with the BodyTrace blog -- posts are dry and technical right now (evolution of the design and styrofoam packaging for the batteries), but maybe they'll liven up once the product starts delivering in September. You can pre-order here.
What do you think: Is the eScale worth its price? And will you buy it?
Fat is the New "Normal"
Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss
Retailers would like to help us remain in a state of denial about our ever-expanding waistlines. They'd like us not to notice how fat we're actually getting.
We don't like facing up to the fact that we're becoming fatter by the minute, and most of us don't particularly like buying "fat clothes." We'd prefer not to notice that those size 8 dresses that used to fit no longer do, or that when we try on those 32-inch waist jeans that used to fit so well, they now feel like they were made for just one of our legs. When that happens, we just don't buy as much. Retailers noticed -- and they have a solution. They changed the sizes.
"In recent years," writes Elizabeth Landau on CNN.com, "brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing," which means "you may actually be a size 14, and, according to whatever particular store you're in, you come out a size 10," says Natalie Nixon, associate professor of fashion industry management at Philadelphia University. Why? Simple. It makes the consumer -- you and me -- feel good.
Regina Benjamin - Does Size Matter For Health Officials?
Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment
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| Photo: Getty Images |
So why, then, is America talking about Dr. Benjamin's weight? As Slate points out, the Internet is a-twitter (heck, even Twitter is a-twitter) about Dr. Benjamin's BMI. Can a health official who's overweight -- and therefore, some presume not in charge of her own health -- really take care of America's health?
Take, for example, this quote from a commenter at the Washington Post: "It is clear why she was selected and it has nothing to do with health," writes wagner4. "Someone who is failing- not succeeding at the very basic levels of control and self restraint regarding food and their health....Is this what we want America's Doctor to look like. We are rewarding the sub-standards not the very best in their field."
Religious Diets, BMI for Kids and Cancer Clues Women Ignore - Links We Love
Prayer -- the latest weight-loss weapon? From the "Hallelujah Diet" to "Body By God," we review the religious variety of slimming down on AOL Health.
You know when her next soccer match is and when her last tooth cleaning was, but do you know her ideal body mass index? Give our BMI calculator for kids a try.
Fatigue, weight loss and feeling full may be your body's way of telling you something is seriously wrong. Check out these cancer warning signs women typically ignore.
French Women Think They're Fat
French women don't get fat, that much we know. In fact, 5 percent of French women are actually underweight. But they're far more likely than women in other European countries to worry about that number on the scale. In fact, a study out of France's National Institute of Demographics says women in countries like Belgium, Spain and Portugal are more likely to be overweight. But interestingly, those same women are more likely to perceive themselves as thin.
In short: You might be overweight by BMI standards, but it's comparing yourself to your girlfriends that makes you feel fat or thin. "If a French person who feels fat were to go to the United States, he probably wouldn't feel fat any more," study author Thibaut de Saint Pol told AFP in an interview. He thinks that French women are under enormous pressure by French men to be thin. Unlike other European countries, French men fall solidly in the "normal" (and not overweight) category, on average.
Super-Thin Miss Universe Contestant Sparks Outrage
Scandal erupted on Thursday at the final for Australia's Miss Universe. And rightly so, I might add. Stephanie Naumoska, a 19-year-old model from Sydney, stands nearly 6 feet tall and weighs 108 pounds, giving her a body mass index lower than her age, just 15.1. That BMI is far below the cutoff of 18.5 that is used as the definition for underweight individuals.
Doctors and dieticians in local papers described the contestant as "skin and bones," but pageant director Deborah Miller chalked it up to Naumoska's Macedonian heritage.
Her lanky, underweight figure did not win her the title -- that went to 20-year-old television presenter and model Rachael Finch.
Click on the gallery below for more photos from the pageant.
(Story continues below the gallery)
Miss Universe
Miss Universe Romania Elena Bianca Constantin is helped by runners up to remove a confetti which stuck to her lips in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin, 20, will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)
Reuters
Elena Bianca Constantin reacts as she won the title of Miss Universe Romania in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin, 20, will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)
Reuters
A combination picture shows Elena Bianca Constantin, the winner of Miss Universe Romania wearing (L-R) a full length dress, a traditional folk costume and a swim suit during the contest in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin, 20, will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)
Reuters
Elena Bianca Constantin (L) smiles after she was crowned Miss Universe Romania in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin, 20, will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23, 2009. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA SOCIETY)
Reuters
Elena Bianca Constantin (2nd L) walks in front of runners up as she won the title of Miss Universe Romania in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin, 20, will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)
Reuters
Elena Bianca Constantin, 20, waves as she won the title of Miss Universe Romania in Bucharest June 27, 2009. Constantin will represent Romania at the Miss Universe beauty pageant due to be held in Paradise Island, Bahamas, on August 23. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti (ROMANIA ENTERTAINMENT SOCIETY)
Reuters
NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Miss Universe 2008 Diana Mendoza leaves a commercial film shoot set in the West Village on June 22, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Diana Mendoza
Getty Images
NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Miss Universe 2008 Diana Mendoza leaves a commercial film shoot set in the West Village on June 22, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Diana Mendoza
Getty Images
NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Miss Universe 2008 Diana Mendoza leaves a commercial film shoot set in the West Village on June 22, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Diana Mendoza
Getty Images
NEW YORK - JUNE 22: Miss Universe 2008 Diana Mendoza leaves a commercial film shoot set in the West Village on June 22, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Diana Mendoza
Getty Images
BMI - How Accurate Is it?
It turns out, depending on your race, it may not be so great.
Consistent with earlier findings that have shown BMI to be inexact, authors from a recent study in the British Medical Journal of Nutrition found "that the number used to indicate weight category does not reflect the same amount of body fat for some races compared to others."
If not BMI, what should you use?
Researchers compared the effectiveness of BMI to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) determination of percentage body fat. Their findings?
"Right now non-Hispanic white women are not considered obese until they have a BMI of 30 or above. Based on our data for Hispanic women the number would be around 28," study co-author Molly Bray, associate professor of Pediatrics - Nutrition at the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center, said in a press release. "For African American women the number to cross is around 32." The results for men were similar.
Obesity Can Cut 3-10 Years From Your Life
This finding comes from an analysis of 57 different studies that included almost 900,000 people. The short story is this:
- A normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
- Death rates were lowest among people with a BMI of 23 to 24.
- A BMI of 30 to 35 could potentially take two to four years off life.
- Being morbidly obese, or having a BMI of 40 to 45, could shorten life by eight to 10 years.
- Being underweight, with a BMI of less than 22.5, was also associated with a shorter lifespan.
Weight Loss In A Bottle
Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and author of 12 fitness bestsellers. She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider.
Before I start this post I just want to say: I do not condone excessive drinking. I am not recommending drinking as a health strategy. And I am certainly not telling you to use drinking as a weight loss strategy. I mention the body of research below just to demonstrate, once again, what a complex issue obesity really is.
Some recent studies have been finding some interesting associations between alcohol consumption and body weight. For example, researchers at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) found that Body Mass Index (BMI) was associated with the number of drinks individuals consumed on the days they drank. In the study, men and women who drank the smallest quantity of alcohol -- one drink per drinking day -- with the greatest frequency -- three to seven days per week -- had the lowest BMI's, while those who infrequently consumed the greatest quantity had the highest BMIs. The authors suggested several possible reasons for the observed associations of both quantity and frequency of alcohol use with BMI.
BMI or Body Fat Scale?
I don't really trust BMI. Convenient, I know, since mine is always high -- I'm tall, I'm big-boned (no, really, I am), and I have more muscle than most women, so even at my absolute fittest, I weigh more than I should by BMI standards. I'm far more interested in how much body fat I have, and I know I'm not the only one. But, like many of you, I don't want to go to my local health club and be poked and prodded so someone can determine my body fat percentage. Fortunately, that's not necessary.
LongLifeClub reviewed the Tanita Body Fat Scale, which sounds like a great gadget to have around the house. Body fat scales measure the amount of fat in your body by sending an electrical current through your body (you don't even feel it, but it's not for use by those with any type of surgically-implanted medical device, like a pacemaker). It takes into account your height, weight, age and gender as well.The one reviewed was just $79.95, but you can spend up to almost $300 on a Tanita scale if you opt for the Tanita Ironman Segmental and Full Body Composition Monitor. But, once you get the scale, how do you know what your body fat percentage should be?
Eggs and Toast - The Better Breakfast
Eat a bagel for breakfast or opt for eggs and toast and you'll consume about the same amount of calories: 350. Specifically, that's one bagel with two tablespoons of cream cheese and a three-ounce serving of yogurt or two scrambled eggs and two slices of toast with jelly. Pretty Even Steven, huh? Yep. But one breakfast is better for fighting the flab. Dieters in one study who ate eggs and toast five days per week for eight weeks lost two pounds more than bagel-eaters. Egg-eaters had a 61 percent greater reduction in BMI and took off an extra half inch from their waists, without raising their cholesterol. Their energy was higher too.
What gives? The egg protein, probably, and the yolks' mix of fats too. The combination seems better at reducing hunger throughout the day. But only when combined with a weight-loss plan. Eating eggs while not otherwise cutting back will not do the trick.
BMI - Normal is as Normal Does
- 56.2 percent fall in the normal range.
- 22.2 percent are overweight, but not obese.
- 12.8 percent are considered underweight.
- 8.9 percent are obese.
It's awesome that so many readers fall into the "normal" category. But it's important to keep in mind that BMI isn't a perfect measurement. Follow a healthy lifestyle, maintain an appropriate weight and use BMI as a general gauge only.
