Posts Tagged ‘Body fat’

What is Body Mass Index (BMI)?

- Body Mass Index is a simple tool that is generally used to estimate the total amount of body fat.
- To calculate BMI, you need to know your weight and height in kilo-grams and centimeters or meters. The weight of a person is then divided by the height.
- A change in BMI over a short period of time is often used to measure the change in one’s lifestyle habits.
- It does not measure the percentage of body fat.
- The BMI measurement can sometimes be misleading – a muscleman may have a high BMI but have much less fat than an unfit person whose BMI is lower.
- BMI is a gross estimate for the amount of fat in your body. It tells you whether you need to lose weight or not.
- It is a useful tool for diagnosing obesity or malnutrition; however, such diagnosis should take into account a person’s age, gender, fitness, and ethnicity.
- In children, annual increase in BMI are usually due to increases in lean mass rather than fat tissue. Not until late adolescence does fat mass begin to affect the BMI.
- Women typically carry more subcutaneous fat than men do, particularly in the breast and hips, so their percent body fat may be higher without it necessarily being reflected in their BMI or having any adverse health effects.

BMI indicates you are :
- Underweight for BMI less than 18.5.
- Normal for BMI 18.5 – 22.9*.
- Overweight for BMI 23.0 – 24.9*.
- Obese for BMI 25.0 and above.
A BMI of over 25 in a person, with sedantary lifestyle, makes them more prone to problems like heart diseases, gall stones, high blood pressure or hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, breast and Colon Cancer.

Limitations of Body Mass Index (BMI)

- BMI calculation is solely dependant on the net weight and height of the individual and does not consider the distribution of muscle and bone mass.
- Risk of overestimating fatness in individuals with high muscle mass is there.
- BMI does not differentiate between body fat and muscle mass.
- BMI overestimates the fat and the risks to health in body builders and athletes.
- BMI can underestimate the amount of body fat in elderly people.

| More

If you found this post informative, why not sign up to receive new posts ?
It's simple, and free, and you can even opt to receive by email:
Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Good Health Tips by Email

How to take care of obesity using some natural home remedies.

The definition of obesity varies depending on what one reads, but in general, it is a chronic condition defined by an excess amount body fat. A certain amount of body fat is necessary for storing energy, heat insulation, shock absorption, and other functions. There are different home remedies to reduce weight :

- Salt helps in reducing weight. Add limejuice and salt to lukewarm water and drink empty stomach in the morning to reduce weight.
- Soak 4 to 5 garlic pieces in milk and boil it till the milk is reduced to half. Eat the garlic along with the milk. Garlic helps in removing the unnecessary fat from the body.
- Regularly taking cow’s milk with honey also helps in reducing weight.
- Including snake guord regularly in diet helps in reducing weight.
- Grind carrot and add to butter milk and drink regularly to lose weight.
- Papaya ( not the ripe one) cooked with dhal helps in reducing weight.
- Mix black pepper powder in vegetable soup and vegetables. It not only enhances the flavor of your food items but also helps in controlling obesity and burning excessive fat.
- Eat papaya or vegetable soup as your dinner for 2-3 months if you want a quick weight loss. This works in controlling obesity.
- Drink green tea or ginger tea as ginger is very effective in burning excessive fat in your body.
- Mix small amount of honey and fresh ginger paste. Take this with half tablespoon guggul to control obesity.
- Prepare a drink by adding half teaspoon fresh honey and half teaspoon fresh tulsi paste in a luke warm water. It is an effective home remedy for obesity control.
- You can also try this most common and simple home remedy for obesity. Add half teaspoon fresh lemon juice and half teaspoon fresh honey in a luke warm water. Take this every morning with an empty stomach.
- Eat tomato in early morning as it is beneficial in keeping cholesterol level to the normal and reduce fat.
- Horse gram is also very effective in controlling obesity. Soak 1-2 tablespoon of horse gram in a glass of water and allow it to rest overnight and take the soaked solution every morning in an empty stomach.
- Eat a lot of cabbage, can eat as a salad or added to other food. Try to replace one meal with a cabbage meal.
- Eating 10-12 fully grown curry leaves every morning for 3 to 4 months may be helpful in weight loss for obese and overweight people.
- Eating a tomato in the morning before breakfast for 3 to 4 months may be helpful in weight loss for obese and overweight people.