To all the Americans deemed obese by the guidelines announced by the National Institute of Health. Don't panic.
"The good news is that you can have a high body mass index (BMI - a relative measure of body height to body weight) and can actually be healthier than someone who is thin but sedentary," says The American Council on Exercise (ACE).
BMI uses total body weight (not separate estimates of fat and lean body mass) in the calculation; it does not discriminate between the over-fat and the athletic, more muscular body type. Therefore, the percentage of fat mass and muscle mass should be taken into consideration when evaluating one's BMI.
The well-muscled and conditioned person with a high BMI will have a lesser health risk than the over-fat person with the same BMI. Research consistently shows that you can reduce health risk factors and build important muscle with regular exercise even if you don't lose weight.
Don't get stuck on where your weight is supposed to be or on your BMI score, states ACE. (over weight is defined as a BMI of 25 - 29.9 and obesity as a BMI of 30-plus. For instance, a BMI of 30 is about 30 pounds overweight and equivalent to 22l pounds in a 6' person, or l86 pounds in someone 5'6".")
Concentrate instead on building the good habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle. For weight loss, this means undertaking some form of physical activity four to five times a week.
A shortcoming of dieting in the absence of exercise is that when weight is lost, it's usually muscle as well as fat. As much as 25 percent of weight lost by dieting alone is lean body mass. When dieting is combined with exercise, chances are greater you'll lose more fat and less muscle.
BMI is only a rough indicator of body composition, ask a qualified fitness professional to help determine whether you're truly too fat. Step4wardFitness.com can do that for you. Contact me!
