Overweight Calculator: Are You Overweight?
That whose body weight places them into the obese category is obviously seen from the outside. But what about the borderline overweight? Is that ten pounds over the ideal weight raising your risk of health complications? Are you just ‘big-boned’? Do you fall into overweight category? How do you decide if you really need to lose weight - and how much you need to lose?
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Body Mass Index (BMI)
The body mass index, or BMI, helps clarify an important distinction between being overweight or being obese. If you weigh too much, you’re obviously overweight. But if you have a very high proportion of body fat, you’re obese. Generally, the BMI will accurately reflect your weight and proportion of body fat as a function of your height and weight when categorizing you as healthy, overweight or obese.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the BMI “describes body weight relative to height and is correlated with total body fat content in most adults”. It is generally an accurate representation of muscle-to-fat ratio, though there are some limitations.
- It may overestimate the BMI of an athletic person, because muscle is denser and weighs more than fat.
- It may underestimate the BMI of an older person, or others who have low muscle mass.
How to Calculate Body Mass Index
Calculating your approximate body mass index is relatively straightforward, although you’ll probably need a calculator just to save time. To get your BMI, multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Next, divide that result by your height in inches. Then divide that result by your height in inches one more time.
As an example, let’s say you weigh 180 pounds and are 5 feet 10 inches tall.
Multiply 180 by 703 to get 126,540. Next, divide this by 70 (70 inches is the same as 5′ 10″) to get 1807.7. Now, divide 1807.7 by 70 one more time. The result — 25.8– is your approximate BMI or body mass index.
BMI Calculator
If you don’t have a calculator handy, you can use the following BMI calculator which is also called Overweight calculator to check your own BMI:
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Check your BMI result with the following table to know into which category is your body weight.
BMI Categories
The table for determining risk factors associated with obesity is:
- Underweight : below 18.5
- Normal: 18.5 - 24.9 (considered healthy)
- Overweight: 25.0 - 29.9
- Obese: 30.0 and up
Generally, the higher a person’s BMI, the greater the risk for health problems. In addition to causing your BMI to skyrocket, excess body fat is a well recognized health risk. Men and women with waist lines in excess of 40 and 35 inches, respectively, are much more at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
However, there is always an exception for every rule of thumb. Body builders, for example, often have a body mass index above 25 and sometimes even above 30. In this case, however, the higher BMI reflects the fact that body builders have more muscle mass without having more fat.
Why You Need to Lower Your BMI When Overweight and Obese
If your BMI is above 25.0, your doctor or other medical professional can advise you on the best weight loss plan for you. You should know that there are great benefits to losing even a moderate amount of weight. Some of those include:
- Lowering your risk of diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, a weight loss of as little as 10 pounds can decrease the chances of pre-diabetes developing into diabetes by 58%.
- Lower your risk of heart disease. The American Heart Association states that coronary problems are directly correlated to weight. By losing weight to bring your BMI to within normal ranges, you significantly lower your risk of developing heart problems.
- Reduce your risk of arthritis and pain from arthritis. A number of forms of arthritis are related to weight. Losing weight substantially decreases the strain that additional weight places you your knees, hips, back and ankles.
How to Lower Your BMI
Finally, there is only one sure way to lower your BMI if you’re overweight or obese: Eat less and exercise more. Your body will burn more calories than you eat and your body mass index will go down over time.
Are you motivated to get started? You can follow the fast weight loss tips from this website, so you can start losing weight today.
If you are serious about losing your weight fast, I recommend you to follow weight loss programs available online. You pick your preference :
- Eat less
Strip That Fat, a fat loss diet system that focus on dieting strategies to lose as much weight as you want. Strip That Fat package also comes with STF Diet Generator software and Calorie Counting Worksheet and Calworries Guide to help your diet schedule easier.
- Exercise more
Turbulence Training, the program that promises maximum fat loss in minimum workout time. Download the free ebooks on the bottom of this page to get started.
The combination of both programs would give the best and fast weight loss result.
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