Useful extras
June 02, 2009
Check out your BMI
Challenge Yourself for: 24 Hours
Do you know your current Body Mass Index? Does it matter? BMI is one useful tool in assessing your body’s overall health – but make sure you know the whole picture. Muscular athletes, seniors, and others with nonstandard ratios of muscle to fat may find that they need to adjust their results to better reflect their overall health. Today, challenge yourself to not onlycalculate your Body Mass Index, but also take an honest look at your individual body type, muscle mass, age, and other factors and decide for yourself if the number needs to change – or not.
129 comments
Lately I know I’ve been struggling to accept my weight gain (even though it is healthy gain). But I’m beginning to find that I’d rather have higher muscle content than simply a gaunt body!
I know how that is. I’m a dancer and my doctor is trying to get me to maintain my healthy weight, but I want so baldy to lose just a few pounds! However, I think it’s important to know where you’re healthy and accept that :D
I’m a 42 is thatgood?
I want to exercise regularly and gain 15 lbs.
Currently I’m 22 years old, my height is 5’3” and I weigh 80 lbs.
(BMI is 14.2)
I’ve been skinny/thin all my life ever since childhood. I adore (good) food but it’s also not a “need” for me either. I’m terribly picky – not just about food, but about a lot of other aspects to life as well.
Old habits die hard!
Knowing where my BMI is currently at, helps me to stay motivated to get back to the healthy range of where it should be and remain there for many many health reasons. Though I am close to being there from where I started, it is still a nice motivator to keep me in focus.
I know I have to buckle down and lose weight pronto!
On the flip side, I didn’t realize that my current BMI places me in the underweight category…I hadn’t been trying to lose weight, but training for/running a marathon this past spring resulted in this byproduct…I’ll have to pay more attention to calorie replenishment…and not with unhealthy/fatty foods, but with healthy options such as those offered by kashi products.
Good for you! I want to start running soon! Any tips?
With distance running you expend so much energy, it is VERY important to increase your caloric intake in healthy ways such as lean protein (such as white meat without the skin, beans, nuts, legumes) and complex carbohydrates! If you do not feed your body the necessary nutrients it needs to function properly and to withstand the intense training it can start using your own bodies protein (ie. your muscles) for fuel. Congrats and best of luck with the training!
I’m too fat 2 run.
I was told by my dietician that I need to gain weight to be healthy, and she said that I need to drink a high-calorie drink before bed to achieve this goal. I will be buying Kashi GoLean protein powder and adding it to milk and a banana for a healthy drink.
Is a protein drink really good to drink?
Yes! Protein drinks aren’t all bad-tasting, especially if you mix them with fruit but if you want to gain weight, then try it! My BMI is currently between either 16.1-16.6 so I guess I’m underweight.
I was encouraged by friends to join a gym a few months ago and it has really paid off. I never thought I had the time for much exercise because I work full time, but Planet Fitness is open as early as 5 AM and has a judgment free policy. I am able to exercise there usually 4 hours a week and have lost 10 pounds. I’m happy to see that my BMI is within normal limits!
I had twins 15 months ago and can no longer blame my weight on the pregnancy. I hope this will give me some motivation to start to loose the extra ‘baby weight’. Good luck to everyone!
After months of diet and exercise I am finally (just) in the right BMI (by 0.1). The problem I have with this, and weight guidelines in general, is that they don’t take into account sex and bone structure. Not a single scale asks for sex or if I am light, average, or heavy frame (and weight varies greatly with body frame).
I agree. I think B.M.I. is only one tool in keeping yourself in a healthy aspect. You can’t be fixated solely on it though. In the end, it’s your life and your body – if you’re categorized as “abnormal” yet you feel good about yourself and you eat properly, I think that’s all that matters… your happiness is more important than any numbers! :)
I’m with PaHiker. BMI also does not take into account muscle mass. I have lot of athletic, clean-eating friends who would be considered “overweight”. I myself fall into the “obese” category, but I am working on it, and I know my current lifestyle is healthier than most “skinny fat” people I see on the street. I proudly lift weights 4 days a week, do cardio 5 days a week, and relax on Saturdays with hot yoga. I carefully prepare my meals with wholesome, healthy foods, and I smile, knowing that I am doing something good for me, and that I am healthier every day.
my bmi is 19.6 which is low normal, I don’t need to diet. I do eat very health, lots of Kashi products.whole grains,nuts, beans, soy, lots of fruit and veggies. Would rather eat beans than red meat, I do have fish occasionally, as well as chicken and turkey!
Ugghh..just a reality check to keep me motivated to lose….
While I don’t agree with BMI being a good tool for measuring health, I do like that you put “but also take an honest look at your individual body type, muscle mass, age, and other factors and decide for yourself if the number needs to change – or not”. That “Or Not” is big with me.
As a Fat Acceptance person, I see BMI allowing naturally thin folks with sedetary lifestyles and poor eatting habits to be deemed by society as healthy due to BMI, while I run a 5k 6 times a week, do yoga and lift weights 4 times a week, eat as organically as possible, but I am “overweight”. That’s a disconnent, one that many feel as you can see in the comments. My exercise routine may have some folks thinking I am an athelete or “ripped”, not by any means. But I am healthy and should be seen as such. But we see thin as healthy and allow those bodies to be privileged in many ways.
Rather than looking at BMI, I believe people should begin to love their bodies for how they are. Eat when they are hungry, stop when they are full. (and eat foods that are good for them! and a little cake never hurt anyone…) And find exercise that they enjoy rather than the lastest hollywood trend that will burn the most calories ever. Also, research has found the way I and many others look at health, Health at Every Size, produces the health changes people need (more motion and lower cholestrol) while not being physically or mentally damaging, like traditional diets and weight loss programs: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar06/health0306.htm
I think the “or not” is a small step forward into realizing we don’t have to look a certain way or be a certain weight to be healthy. So thanks Kashi!
Thanks to the Wii Fit I got for Mother’s Day, I track my BMI almost daily.
I am aware of my BMI; my goal is to have a healthy lifestyle; I don’t use the word diet as this sets me up for failure. I will turn 50 this year and want to lose 45 lbs. I started walking daily (which I look forward to); changed the way I eat and what I eat and the amount that I eat. It has been 2 weeks and I have lost 10 lbs. I can’t afford to join the gym or other weight loss programs. I know what’s healthy and what is not. The flip side is if I want a cookie or a wine cooler…I will do it. I just have no desire at this time. Most of my motivation comes from chronic back pain which is degenerative in nature; I don’t like the way my clothes fit; and most of all, I want to feel healthy and feel good about myself!!!
Thanks to having a gastric bypass 1 year ago and learning to ear right, my BMI is finally in the NORMAL area! I feel so much better! I eat healthy most of the time, but still eat “junk” when I really crave it. (I don’t keep it in the house so I have to wait until a day or two pass until someone can take me to get it) by then I usually don’t want it.
The Kashi bars are a real treat for me and have helped a lot
YES! A full point BELOW overweight!
Before i started eating kashi my BMI was in the obese range and now after a few months ive dropped over 55 pounds and now in the healthy range thanks 2 kashi
I’m hoping to follow in dayankeekid40’s footsteps. Here’s to the first step!
BMI? How is it accurate if you do alot of weight training. I know I have some fat but even when I was really lean my BMI was 25 but I had a lot of muscle.
BMI is great for a sedentary, average framed person, but anything that makes you “not average” blows the BMI: heavy bone frame, higher muscle density (athletic). For someone like me, who was in the obese range, not into muscle building, but wanted to get back to normality, it is what it was designed to be: a guideline. From the CDC:
The correlation between the BMI number and body fatness is fairly strong; however the correlation varies by sex, race, and age. These variations include the following examples:
At the same BMI, women tend to have more body fat than men.
At the same BMI, older people, on average, tend to have more body fat than younger adults.
Highly trained athletes may have a high BMI because of increased muscularity rather than increased body fatness.
I am now at 24.1, which is .8 below fat; my ultimate goal is 22.8, but I also need to increase my fitness as well, which now means exercising more.
So the BMI isn’t a reliable indicator unless you’re a couch potato? I’ll be using other things, then.