What Is Your Healthy Body Weight?

Since the 1980s both adult men and women in the USA, Australia,
New Zealand and the United Kingdom have become heavier. Obesity
rates have more than doubled in the last 20 years! Children also
are also becoming heavier and obesity is linked to high blood
pressure, heart disease and even shortening of life expectancy.
Some have said this generation is digging our graves with our
teeth!

How can you tell what is a healthy weight for you? Well,
certainly not by the stereotypical ‘perfect’ female shape we see
in the movies and on TV! The truth is these images do not depict
the typical female form. Men also struggle to find a realistic
picture of the healthy male. The pressure to lose weight to an
unrealistic slimness is immense and can lead to more heartache
rather than good health.

It is time to pay attention to our weight but how can we
determine what is a healthy body weight for each individual that
is not based on unrealistic expectations? The simplest 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:

· Men – Waist circumference greater than 94cm · Women – Waist
circumference greater than 80cm

Another way to check your 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 metres) squared.

The accepted definitions of weight categories by BMI are: ·
Underweight – less than 20 · Healthy weight – between 20 – 25 ·
Overweight – between 25 – 30 · Obese – 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.

The BMI does not take into account the ratio of body fat to
muscle. Very fit, muscular people may register with a higher BMI
but not need to lose weight.

A more reliable system to estimate how overweight you are and
which takes into account your muscle mass is the amount of body
fat as a percentage of total body weight. You can estimate your
body fat and obtain a report on your healthy weight at the
website listed in the authro’s resource box.

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