In many developed countries, the number of overweight people exceeds 50%, moreover, their number is growing steadily from year to year. Improving the level of comfort, fast food enthusiasm, lack of active physical load on the body negatively affects the harmony of the current generation.
Overweight problems
Excess weight is an extra load on the joints, blood vessels, liver, and as a result - diseases of the heart, arteries and veins, musculoskeletal system. In addition, it is simply ugly, because excess fat can spoil the most beautiful appearance by nature, and with it both self-esteem and the attitude of others. However, excessive thinness also never paints anyone and brings no less health problems than being overweight.
Itās important to keep a middle ground in order to feel healthy and sociable. BMI - body mass index - will help you figure this out. Before determining the body mass index, you should find out the exact indicators of growth and weight.
What is BMI?
How to determine body mass index? After all, it is this indicator that characterizes how much the personās mass coincides with the medical calculation norm. Determining the degree of obesity by BMI is quite simple, for this you need to perform simple calculations. Of the auxiliary material, you only need a calculator.
The formula for calculating body mass index is as follows:
- body weight in kilograms should be divided by height in meters, squared.
How important is the link between BMI and health
It is important to remember that maintaining your weight in an ideal framework is an important step towards maintaining your own health. Distinguish the degree of obesity by body mass index. If the body mass index is less than normal, then there is a shortage of nutrients that the body needs so much. At the same time, the risk of developing endocrine and gastrointestinal diseases associated with an insufficient amount of nutrients in the body increases. The weight of such a person is less than normal, perhaps this is due to too accelerated metabolism, diet or poor appetite. He most likely has a disturbed energy balance.
What is energy balance? The mass of the human body directly depends on the number of calories that it receives with food. On the other hand, each person spends a certain amount of energy on biological processes. With a normal BMI, the energy input is equal to energy consumption, and as a result, a person has a normal weight. Energy in this case is measured by calories.
Energy and Calories
Nutritionists use the term kilocalorie (kcal) to develop nutrition for ideal weight. Each food product has its own calorie content, that is, a certain number of kilocalories, and therefore a certain amount of energy. The calorie content of food consumed is determined by the quantity and calorie content of the products themselves. Knowing the approximate energy consumption during active sports and physical activity, the consumption of an approximate number of kilocalories with food, you can adjust the amount of incoming and spent energy, thereby maintaining an ideal body weight.
Everyone is able to calculate the degree of obesity by BMI and find a balance between receiving and spending kcal, increasing physical activity or reducing the nutritional value of one's diet.
What BMI will tell
Now more about the value of BMI, which will help get the formula for calculating the body mass index. It consists in dividing the weight by the square of the personās height.
This index cannot be called an ideal characteristic of a personās weight, but it is more important for health than the readings of weights, since each person is individual in his physique, and his weight largely depends on the size of the skeleton. In addition, this formula is not suitable for growing organisms - children and adolescents. For athletes or people involved in bodybuilding, it is also unacceptable. As you know, muscles are much heavier than fat, and a pumped-up athlete may not correspond to the degree of obesity by the body mass index, being in excellent physical shape.
Everyone else can check their body condition by calculating their BMI. It is important to know that the risk of developing various diseases increases, the higher the body mass index.
Table of the relationship of body condition and BMI| BMI | Body condition |
| up to 18.5 | Low body weight, lack of nutrients |
| 18.5-24.9 | Ideal body weight |
| 25-29.9 | The presence of extra pounds |
| 30-34.9 | Stage 1 Obesity |
| 35-39.9 | Stage 2 Obesity |
| over 40 | Stage 3 obesity |
Depending on the indicators, obesity is classified according to BMI:
- low BMI;
- normal BMI;
- excess weight;
- obesity.
Low BMI
BMI is less than 18.5 - weight is below normal, the body does not receive enough nutrients from food or energy costs are too intense. In this case, it is necessary to establish a full three-time, at least, nutrition with snacks in breaks, so that the body has the opportunity to replenish the missing energy reserves.
If the obesity coefficient through height and weight falls within the range of 18.5-25, then the weight is normal from a medical point of view, although modern girls may tend to reduce it, considering that their figures are not slim enough. With a normal body mass index, it is very important to keep it at this level, eat right and lead an active healthy lifestyle.
Overweight
BMI is 25-30, so the owner of such a body is overweight. This is not very dangerous for health, but the load on all internal organs and joints is increased, which threatens with some problems, from increased pressure to the development of diabetes and coronary disease. It is quite obvious that body weight is increasing due to the imbalance between the arrival of energy and its consumption. But the genetic characteristics of each person are different, and with the same amount of calories consumed, one can remain thin, and the other can rapidly gain weight. It is necessary to bring the weight back to normal as soon as possible by balancing nutrition and burning more kilocalories, so that the energy consumption exceeds the calories coming from food.
What threatens obesity?
BMI obesity gives the most accurate description of the appearance and state of human health. First of all, it should be understood that obesity is a disease, with all its inherent causes, development mechanism, clinical manifestations and treatment methods. If there is a high degree of obesity by BMI, then the body is at risk. It is necessary to lose weight immediately, it is better under the supervision of a doctor and a nutritionist. Refusal of the usual high-calorie foods at the same time should be carried out gradually, since getting rid of extra pounds too quickly can significantly disrupt the metabolism. Nutrition must be built in such a way that all organs, including bones and joints, receive the necessary nutrients. Otherwise, the body runs the risk of weakening its regenerative powers and increasing the risk of various diseases. You need to lose weight by changing the amount of food consumed, and not their quality.
At the same time, you canāt refuse the usual food - this is also a significant stress for the body. It is necessary to gradually reduce the intake of junk food, especially oily. Low-calorie foods, especially vegetables, can be consumed in larger quantities, gradually replacing fatty and especially high-calorie foods. Each person should have an individual plan for losing or gaining weight. The number of calories burned daily depends on the level of physical activity, so it is important to determine your level, because the daily requirement of losing weight in kilocalories depends on it. The rate necessary for weight loss can range from 1200 to 1800 kcal per day. It is only necessary to adhere to these rules and tips, and this is the most difficult for a modern person.
What causes overweight?
The main reasons for the formation of extra pounds and obesity are the following factors.
- An excess of high-calorie foods in the diet, most often carbohydrates.
- Features of temperament and metabolism, hereditary tendency to obesity.
- Traditions and habits of the family, which are accompanied by abundant feasts.
- Restriction of active physical activity. Reluctance to play sports, passive rest.
- Endocrine diseases. In this case, we are talking about endocrine metabolic disorders that lead to obesity, often associated with congenital pathology or genetic diseases.
- Taking hormonal drugs that can lead to a sharp increase in weight. After their cancellation, the weight most often returns to the former.
Parting words to fat men
A healthy, active lifestyle is necessary for every person. Itās not necessary to play sports for burning calories, itās enough to find your own version of easy exercise and exercise it regularly to tidy up your body mass index. A calorie energy chart can help.
You can do it alone, daily performing a set of exercises or run in the mornings, or you can enroll in a wellness group of like-minded people and usefully spend time in society. All individually, the main thing is not to give up, not to go about age, laziness and stomach, but to maintain the health and beauty of your body as long as possible, despite the years.