body mass index-related stories
What celebrity has the same BMI as you?
Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment
Body Mass Index, or BMI, is used to determine if you're a healthy weight or overweight and at greater risk of developing certain health issues.More or less, the way it breaks down is like this:
- BMI 19-25; healthy
- BMI 25-30; overweight
- BMI above 30: obese
When do kids gain the most weight?
Healthy Kids, Obesity, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
It's not the school year when kids pack on the most pounds, says a study in the American Journal of Public Health. It's summertime. A bunch of kindergartners and first-graders from across the nation were studied recently, and here's what researchers found: Out of 5,380 kids, body mass index (BMI) -- a not-so-accurate measure of body fat -- rose more than twice as fast when kids were on summer break than when they were in school. Overweight kids benefited most by being in school -- they gained weight no faster than other kids during this time -- but during the summer months, they gained more quickly.
What's the deal here? Probably that kids have less access to food while in school. And maybe teachers instruct kids on how to make healthier choices about diet and exercise. What about physical education classes? Yep, these can help. Even though limited -- my kids get only 40 minutes per week -- it may be more than some kids get at home.
The lesson for us all: To recognize that what our kids learn outside the classroom, and especially during the lazy days of summer, has a major effect on childhood obesity and to do something about it. What will you do?
Fat bias
Diet & Weight Loss, Motivation
Guys can pack on a lot more weight than women before they experience weight discrimination, says a new study published in the International Journal of Obesity.
Researchers examined self-reported weight discrimination among adults ages 25 to 74. Women reported noticeable weight bias when they hit a body mass index (BMI) of 27, while men began to notice weight bias at a BMI of 35 or higher. A BMI of 27 applies to a five-foot, five-inch woman weighing 162 pounds, while a five-foot, nine-inch man weighing 237 pounds has a BMI of 35.
Now that is one significant difference in fat bias. I wonder what factors are at play here? Do overweight men wear their fat better than comparatively overweight women? I sure don't think so. The study was based on self-reports -- are men generally less sensitive or aware of weight discrimination? Is men's fashion better at hiding weight gain? Women are still bumping their heads against a glass ceiling in many professional arenas -- are they also ducking under a lower BMI ceiling of socially acceptable weights compared to men? Whatever the reasons, weight discrimination is simply wrong. What are your thoughts?
Fat gets a bad rap
Womens Health, Cellulite, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements, Men's Health
Hey, Hey, Hey: It's Protein Albert!! Doesn't have the same ring, does it? Nor does it create the same mental picture. Let's face it, fat gets a bad rap. If it weren't for simple semantics -- that is, the fact that 'fat' is also the word that we use to describe an excess of adipose tissue -- fat may be given a more fair shake.
But, what's done is done, and what remains is the fat fear. "Don't eat too much of that, it has a lot of fat in it. You'll gain weight." Or, "I'm on a low-fat diet -- I'm trying to lose weight." Sound familiar? It should, because statements like this are thrown around every day by people who are only partially correct in what they are saying.
First of all, there are both good and bad fats. Making the distinction between the two can mean the difference between raising blood pressure/increasing body weight/increasing bad cholesterol levels and lowering blood pressure/decreasing body weight/increasing good cholesterol levels. The point is that not all fats are created equal, and they are certainly not all bad for you.
Fertility hampered by obesity
Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss
Fertility was a chameleon cloud over my adult life. When I was single and not in the baby-seeking department, I hardly thought about it. As I reached my late 20s and nearly all my friends were married, I shot worried glances up at that fertility cloud, wondering if I'd ever meet Mr. Right and try for a baby someday. When I hit 30 still single, the cloud turned into an ominous thunderhead -- my eggs were drying up -- motherhood would never be. By the time I married at 32, the cloud was not as dark, but it did shoot a lightning bolt which screamed "Get pregnant now!" Two kids later, I'm not craning my neck as often anymore.
I know, I know ... dramatic, right? But seriously, a woman's fertility is no guarantee. It's this big unknown. Infertility and miscarriage are terribly painful. Women are also often marrying later in life, which can make it increasingly difficult for some to conceive. Now a major new study found an overweight woman's chance of conceiving falls steadily as her weight creeps upward.
Researchers at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam followed 3,000 women trying for a baby to examine the direct impact of body mass index on conception. All participants were ovulating normally, seeking assistance from fertility doctors for "unexplained fertility." For every BMI point between 30 and 35, there was a four percent drop in conception rates compared to women with a BMI between 21 and 29. A BMI of 25 is considered overweight. Severely obese women with a BMI over 35 were 26 percent to 49 percent less likely to conceive.
Last month, the British Fertility Society issued guidelines to its membership requesting fertility treatment be witheld from obese women until they shed weight. Obesity rates are rising. The cloud thickens.
Your child's BMI really is an important number to know
Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
A model's BMI! What? Are you serious? Don't get me wrong, while I agree that our emaciated model problem needs to be addressed, it doesn't deserve the attention it's getting -- we aren't a nation of underweight people. Sadly, and more importantly, we are a nation of well, obese people -- and sadly that includes our kids!Look around you. Look at your children. That's where the BMI index will be more useful and thankfully schools are taking notice, because you're not!
Some schools are sending Body Mass Index scores home with report cards. The BMI, in case you didn't know, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to both boys and girls (men and women).
BMI inaccurately calls some college athletes overweight
Nearly 500 college age students, about 1/2 athletes and 1/2 non-athletes, had their body fat measured and compared to their BMIs. A body fat percentage over 20% was considered "overfat." What the study found was that, especially in male athletes, the BMI inaccurately predicted "overfatness," much of the time. Because of the greater amount of muscle mass found in college-age athletes, experts believe the BMI thresholds for this group should be raised.
Read more on what BMI is, how it applies to you, and why it's used to define obesity here.
A new kind of report card: BMI scores for school-age children
Several school districts in states like Delaware, South Carolina, and Tennessee have what they think is a new weapon in the battle against childhood obesity -- mass weigh ins. Children are measured and the results are sent home in a letter to parents. Though the childhood scale doesn't use words like "obese," these BMI "report cards" are damaging to some nonetheless.
I can see this issue from both sides. On one hand, childhood obesity is a major health issue in our country and I think the public school system has a responsibility to get involved. But in many of the school districts involved, they are handing out these letters in one hand and serving up funnel cakes and fried school lunches in the other. Wouldn't the funding be better spent on improving the quality of foods served in the cafeteria? Couldn't the purpose be just as well served by sending home a general educational letter on the dangers of obesity? What about sending home the BMI formula so that parents and children could find their BMI together? That might even spur on whole families to get into shape (and teach a little math in the process.)
What do you think? Do you think BMI report cards are a trend that should continue, or are they just setting kids up for heartache as they compare (or silently choose not to share) the "number" they received?
What's your BMI?
I think everyone should know their BMI. If you're unfamiliar with that term, it means Body Mass Index, and it takes into account your height and weight to give you an idea of whether you are in a healthy or unhealthy weight range. You can find out your BMI by checking out this tool. If you scroll down, you will see that people with higher BMIs are at risk for a number of problems, including sleep apnea, diabetes and infertility. Pretty scary stuff!
My BMI is 22.5 -- well within the normal range. However, my partner, who is 6 ft 1 and 187 lbs, is bordering on overweight, even though he doesn't appear to have an ounce of fat on his body. I've heard that the BMI for muscular people is usually inaccurate, but for me it seems to work.
What's your BMI? Do you think it is an accurate measurement of your body type?
Tape may measure obesity better than BMI
Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment
There have been a lot of questions lately about whether a few extra pounds are hazardous to our health. Continuing this discussion, medical researchers are questioning if the universally accepted Body Mass Index (BMI) is truly an accurate measure in determining if someone is overweight. It may be that a simple measuring tape -- measuring your hip-to-waist ratio -- is the better way to show if you're overweight or not.
Dr. Donald Cutlip, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School, points out that while BMI -- measuring height-to-weight ratio -- might be beneficial in large population studies (where results are averaged), on an individual basis it can skew results in overly-buff (think bodybuilders) or elderly populations because of too much or too little muscle mass.
So, why look to the hip-to-waist ratio?
The Road To Fitville 8.14: obese no more
[That's Fit blogger Larissa Brown chronicles her journey to health and fitness through this regular weekly feature, Road To Fitville. Her first milestone is a local, two-day relay race on August 25-26.]
Well, it's official. I'm no longer obese! I am now simply overweight ... and loving it.
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated using a person's height and weight. According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (why do they always add the "in Atlanta" in sci-fi movies?), a person's BMI "provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people." Body fatness? Okay. It says that based on my height and my weight of 159.5 pounds as of today, I am overweight. Not in morbid trouble, but I could do better.
The thing is, they are right and wrong about me. I am overweight and I want to lose 9.5 more pounds. But even at my goal of 150, BMI standards will still put me in the overweight category. I have no plans to ever reach normal. I often joke that I'm dense, but seriously I look fine and feel terrific at 150 pounds. To get out of the overweight realm, I would need to drop to 140 pounds, a weight at which I'm bony and have to continuously diet pretty severely in order to maintain the status quo.
Imagine a lifelong diet that never ends? Nope. I'm going to be overweight when I meet my goal of 150 and switch to a maintenance level diet, but I will be fit and will feel and look thin and that's just fine with me.
