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Monday, November 3, 2008

The First Step Towards Optimal Health

The first step towards optimal health is to know your BMI (Body Mass Index)- a measurement of your total body fat. Many health experts believe BMI offers a better picture of overall health and fitness weight.

A recent World Health Organiation (WHO) report states that Asian experience obesity-health risk at lower scale of the BMI as compared to the Westerners. This is because Asians tend to accumulate intra-abdominal fat without developing generalised obesity. asians look thinner but are in actual fact fatter because they have more fat in their bodies. As such, the BMI for obesity has been lowered from 30 to 25 to reflect this increased risk of morbidity among Asians.

- A healthy BMI is between 1805 and 22.9
- A BMI higher than 23 is considered overweight
- A BMI over 25 is considered obese.

How To Calculate your BMI?

BMI = weight (kg)
----------------------
height (m) x height (m)

Waist Circumference (WC)

The WC measurement is simple to detemine, reliable and correlates well with abdominal fat content irrespective of BMI. It is also an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and most useful in individuals who are in the normal and overweight categories og BMI. People with wider WC are found to be more prone to obesity-related disease. The cut-off point for WC as recommended by WHO

Sex Waist Circumference (cm)

Male >85
Female >80

Check your waist circumference and use the above formula to find your BMI. Then, set your sights on losing your first 2 kilograms.