Your normal weight could be unhealthy for you. Apparently it’s not enough to look at your bathroom scale or to your body mass index or BMI. Your BMI is a measure of what your weight is in relation to your height to help you figure out if you are healthy. For example, normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9. Overweight is 25 to 29.9 and obese is over 40. You can calculate your own BMI at The US department of Heath and Human Services.

You also need to consider your levels of fat. Part of the problem is that BMI can be misleading. If you are very muscular, for instance, you may have a false high BMI because it does not account for the weight of the muscle. Besides, BMI does not factor in what is called central obesity which is when weight is carried around the abdomen and considered an increased disease risk.

Mayo Clinic did a research study in 2008 and identified the term normal weight obesity. This takes place when a person has a normal BMI but a large percentage of body fat, such as more than 30 percent for women and 20 percent for men. They observed over 2000 normal weight adults, men and women, and found that over half of them had normal weight obesity or NWO. They estimate that up to 30 million Americans have this condition.

The problem is people with normal weight obesity do not have much muscle mass and their bones are not very dense. This condition is more likely to take place in elderly people. People with NOW are also more likely to have metabolic syndrome which often leads to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. An earlier study reported that NWO women had higher biomarkers of inflammation putting them at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

One of the better programs that I’ve encountered is Healthy Weight  Loss Success Guide. The author not only discusses how to get your metabolism going but show you how to include foods that provide you with nutrition. Check it out; I think the author may have a trial version still available. If you purchase the program I do receive a commission but I bought it and I think it’s good and helpful.

If you are skinny it’s unlikely you have NOW. If someone is overweight they already know their BMI is high. It is the folks in the middle range that need to measure their body fat.

The answer to having a healthy weight is exercise. If you are dieting and losing weight you could be also losing muscle. A combination of aerobic exercise and strength or resistance training exercise that involves all muscle groups is probably where you need to look.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adults, age 18 to 64, do the following:

  • 2 hours and 30 minutes a week of moderate intensity or 1 hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity.
  • Increase to 5 hours a week of moderate intensity aerobic physical activity or 2 hours and 30 minutes weekly of vigorous intensity physical activity for extra health benefits.
  • Muscle strengthening activity for all major muscle groups at least 2 days weekly is probably where you need to focus.

Looks like we all have our worked cut out for us.

Much success to your healthy aging,

Ruthan Brodsky
Health & Business Writer
Content Marketer

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Filed under: Dieting and Weight Loss

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