Body Mass Index or BMI is no stranger term to you. You’ve come across it innumerable times. Still, you have your fair share of doubts about BMI. Let us find out more details about BMI by finding answers to the following questions. What is BMI? What is its significance? How is it calculated? And finally, how important it’s to keep your BMI ideal?
What is BMI?
BMI is an easy and inexpensive method to find out in which weight category a person belongs to – underweight, healthy weight, overweight or obese.
What is BMI’s significance?
Owing to lifestyle-related reasons, obesity is quite common nowadays among people of all age groups. A bulging waistline and increasing weight are indications that its high time an individual took care of themselves to prevent cardiac ailments. By analyzing BMI, it is easy for doctors as well as individuals to find out whether a person is normal weight, underweight, overweight, or obese.
How is BMI calculated?
It’s quite easy to calculate your BMI. Want to find your BMI? Here’s how to go about it! Divide your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. Done? Now, the question remains is whether you are normal weight, underweight, overweight or just plain obese based, on your BMI. Well, it’s time to find the answers.
Know Your BMI
Once you divide your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters you get the number that is your BMI. Now take a look at the following numbers.
BMI less than 18.5: Underweight | BMI 18.5 to <25: Normal | BMI 25.0 to <30: Overweight | BMI 30 or more than 30: Obese
Which category do you belong to? If you’re underweight, you need to include foods that help you gain weight along with other measures such as exercising, etc. If you’re normal, congratulations! But make sure that you don’t remain idle. A sedentary lifestyle along with unhealthy eating habits is the most common causes of obesity. So, keep working out and continue eating a nutrition-rich diet. If you’re overweight, it’s time to say goodbye to relentless snacking on junk food, hit the gym and eat a healthy diet. If you’re obese, consult your doctor, adhere to his advice on diet and exercise and watch your weight.
With a proper diet, regular exercise and staying away from unhealthy habits, you can always keep your weight under control.
Know your family’s BMI
Knowing your BMI is easy. Similarly, knowing the BMI of your family members is also easy. Of course, an individual’s weight is prone to change. But those who exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet, the variations will be nominal. Keeping an eye on each other’s BMI and measuring it once in a month is a surefire way for a family to ensure its overall health and well-being.
Let us start on a new habit that will make sure that your spouse’s, father’s, mother’s, sister’s, son’s, daughter’s BMI remains in the healthy range!
Dr. Anand Lingan | Consultant – Cardiology – Paediatric | Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Mysore