It’s not healthy to be either overweight or underweight. Eating too much can make you overweight (this is where pure authentic Hoodia Gordonii can help), which can lead to health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers such as prostate and breast cancers. Eating less food than what your body needs can make you underweight which can also affect your health. So how do you know if you are a healthy weight or not?
How do you know that you need to lose weight?
It is easy to underestimate or overestimate your weight. Many people wrongly perceive what represents a healthy weight by comparing themselves to “underweight” celebrities or overweight friends and family.
The fact is there is a range of healthy weights that you need to keep your weight within. There are many methods you can use to find out if your weight is within a healthy weight range.
Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)
The “Body Mass Index” or BMI is a tool that has been used for many years by health professionals to assess whether a person’s weight is healthy or not. Your BMI will give you a rough idea on how much you should weigh based on your height. A BMI value between 18.5 and 25 is recommended for a normal healthy weight.
You can calculate your BMI value by dividing your weight (in kilograms) by your height (in meters) squared. For example, if your weight is 74Kg and your height is 1.80m than your BMI would be 22.84 (i.e. 74/(1.80×1.80)). Alternatively, you can use the BMI calculator provided in this section to estimate your BMI.
Measure Your Waist Circumference
Another way to find out if you are overweight is to measure your waist circumference. Research has shown that waist circumference is a more accurate measure of future health risk than BMI alone. It is believed that people who tend to store fat around their middle are at increased risk of developing health problems.
Measuring your waist circumference is simple; put a tape measure around the narrowest point of your waist. This is often the point between your lower ribs and your hips. Breathe out and measure the circumference. It is important not to tighten the measure type while measuring your waist.
If you are a man, your waistline should be less than 94cm (37in). For women it should be less than 80cm (32in).
Calculate your Waist-to-Hip Ratio
The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of the proportion of body fat stored around your waist and hips. It is believed that the WHR is more accurate than the BMI in predicting a person’s risk of heart problems.
Measure your waist size as described above. Next, measure your hips at their widest point. This is often around the buttocks. Finally divide your waist size by your hip size to get your waist-to-hip ratio.
Men with a waist to hip ratio greater than 1.0, and women with your waist-to-hip ratio greater than 0.8, are known to be an “apple shape” and therefore they are at greater risk of health problems.
Check your Body Shape
There is nothing wrong with your body shape as long as you maintain a healthy weight. However, when you are overweight, your body shape can put you at greater health risks.
There are four different body shapes: the pear, apple, pear-apple and chilli shapes. Depending on the shape of your body, you will store your extra body fat certain specific spot of your body. You can have a look here for more details.
