“A high waist-to-hip ratio most likely means high amounts of abdominal fat, and we know this comes with quite serious health risks.” “If I had to choose between making sure my BMI or my waist-to-hip ratio are within the ‘normal’ range, I would go for the latter,” says the University of Sydney’s Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, who co-led the study. A 2017 study proved that point, finding that people who carry weight around their middle but have healthy BMIs are at the highest risk of death from any cause, compared to people with higher BMIs who carry the weight elsewhere. One explanation is that BMI doesn’t reflect where body fat is stored, and it’s possible to have a healthy BMI, while carrying too much fat around your waist, a location that poses more of a health risk than weight carried on your hips and thighs. In fact, research shows that one in three people who have healthy BMIs are relatively unhealthy once other test results, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol are taken into account. Plus, a healthy BMI doesn’t always correlate with good health. It doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle, so people who have a large muscle mass will often have a high BMI, even though their body fat is in the healthy range. Research has made the connection between having a higher BMI and an increased risk of a number of diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer including breast cancer.īMI has many limitations and it’s not always accurate for everybody.
The same BMI measurements apply to both genders as the same risks of developing weight-related illness applies to both women and men. At WeightWatchers® we encourage members to focus on realistic weight-loss goals and provides the skills and techniques to help you achieve them. Even if that’s not enough to push you into a healthy weight range, it’s a great start when you’re overweight, with research showing it’s enough to deliver health benefits, like lowering risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. My BMI is too high, what can I do to lose weight?Ī good initial goal to aim for is losing 10% per cent of your body weight. Your BMI is over 30 – you are considered to be living with obesity. Your BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9 – you are considered to be living with overweight. Your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 – you are considered to be within a healthy weight range. Your BMI is under 18.5 – you are considered to be underweight. With this analysis, society can improve and optimise services for specific stages of life by targeting activities or products that will help maintain or restore abilities.Įssentially, ADL Smartcare’s LifeCurve™ provides individuals with insightful knowledge related to their personal ageing patterns.Now that you know your BMI, check where you sit in the BMI range below: This enables us to identify which stage along the ageing trajectory they are currently at by assessing where they fall on the LifeCurve™. This concept, known as the Compression of Functional Decline (CFD), looks at the correlation between a person’s abilities in completing activities of daily living (ADLs) and their physical fitness and strength markers.īy combining 15 ADLs with 4 fitness biomarkers, we can accurately determine each individual’s lifespan curve. Peter Gore and colleagues at Newcastle University. The ADL LifeCurve™ is an exciting development, based on the research of Prof. Our Health Habits Assessment survey helps us to measure the lifestyle habits of our clients that ultimately lead to or hold people back from living a healthy lifestyle. This disconnect between BMI and body fat content is due to different distributions of muscle mass and other factors, such as genetics, that can vary based on sex differences.įinally, someone who is short and muscular could have a high BMI but be perfectly healthy, this is known as the obese BMI paradox. Women, who often have a higher percentage of body fat compared to men with the same BMI, may still have too much fat even if their BMI is otherwise considered healthy. This is due to the natural fact that with age, more body fat accumulates in comparison to younger adults.Īs with any age group, it is important for older adults to remain tuned into their body’s dietary needs and regulations as well as lead an active lifestyle as best as possible. Though an older adult may have a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI), they can still have too much fat. However, many people argue that BMI is not an accurate measure of health and here’s why. There are BMI calculators for adults and BMI with age calculators for children that tell you what your “ideal weight” should be.
But before you judge yourself, you must understand that BMI is a very controversial topic in the medical field. If you’ve used our BMI with age calculator, the chances are that you are either feeling pretty good about yourself, or pretty rubbish.