What is BMI & Why is it Important?|What Are The Drawbacks Or Limitations Of BMI?

BMI or Body Mass Index (sometimes referred to as the Quetelet Index) is a measure which is derived from the height and the mass of an individual. It is the amount of fat in your body (body fat), which is measured in relation to your height and weight.

BMI is applicable to most men as well as women over the age of 20. For children, body fat is assessed with the help of BMI percentile.

BMI was discovered by Lambert-Adolphe-Jacques Quetelet, almost 150 years ago. BMI can be calculated using two different formulas, and is usually very easy to measure. All you need to know is your height and weight, and you will easily be able to find out your BMI.

The value of BMI is used to understand whether an individual is at a healthy weight, underweight, overweight or obese. Being obese can increase health risks significantly, hence BMI is an easy way and a non-invasive measure that will help you to keep track of your weight in relation to your height. BMI is usually the same for men as well as women; however, having the same Body Mass Index may not correspond to having the same degree of fatness since body proportions of two individuals may differ. Thus, it is important to note that BMI is not really a diagnostic tool; instead it is a measuring tool used to get an idea of your relative fitness.

A BMI value that ranges from 18.5 to 24.9 is considered to be healthy. A person having a BMI value which is less than 18.5 is considered to be overweight, and a person with a BMI value ranging from 25 to 29.9 is considered to be underweight. BMI values that are over 30 indicate obesity.

However, it is very important to note that your BMI alone will not indicate whether or not you are healthy. It is not a diagnostic tool, and individuals who are greatly concerned about any increase or decrease in their weight should visit a medical professional. While your BMI value is a good measure to gain an overall idea of your health, it needs to be used along with certain other medical tools to gain a true picture about your health and fitness level.

There are many tools that are easily available online that will help you to calculate your own BMI. BMI calculators are a popular choice, however, if you wish you may opt for a BMI Chart. With a BMI Chart, you simply have to find your height on the chart and your correct weight in relation to it. The chart itself will indicate your BMI.

While BMI is an excellent non-invasive tool that will allow you to assess your body fat, as well as your weight, many experts have expressed their concerns that it may not be the most accurate tool to measure your body fat. BMI, while considering a height-weight relation, fails to take into account the age and sex of a person. It has been noted that women tend to have more fat then men with the same BMI value and that older individuals have more fat when compared to younger individuals with the same BMI value.

Moreover, individuals who are more muscular in their built may be indicated to have a higher BMI value while being completely healthy, since muscle weighs more than fat. A person with a slimmer built may have a low BMI value, and considered to be healthy; while in reality they may have more fat than muscle in their body. Thus, BMI alone cannot be the most efficient tool to assess your fitness, and some other tests need to be taken into consideration.

However, while BMI cannot be used as a diagnostic tool, it may be used by individuals (who have an understanding of its uses as well as limitations) to maintain a healthy diet regime.

A Diet Chart is used by many individuals to keep a track of their daily meals. Diet Charts help you to decide and plan your daily meal with healthy recipes, as well as fixed timings so that you are able to keep a track of your weight. You may use a diet chart to gain or lose weight, or even just to ensure that you maintain your healthy weight. A diet chart indicates how much of which nutrient you should take every day.

When preparing a diet chart, it is very important to keep in mind that the diet should be balanced. A balanced diet is a diet which helps you to intake all nutrients that you need daily for the proper functioning of your body. These nutrients, minerals and vitamins help maintain your cells, tissues as well as your organs and also keep them healthy. A balanced diet promotes good health and generally makes you feel better. A balanced diet keeps you energetic, reduces problems with productivity, reduces health risks as well as improves sleeping patterns. A balanced diet helps you maintain your physical fitness, while also helping you achieve a more healthy mental life. These two factors definitely help with interpersonal relationships, and naturally help improve other aspects of your life.

The human body needs a certain amount of each nutrient every day so that it may use the energy provided by those nutrients to keep functioning normally. Excess of those nutrients are stored as body fat for later use. If there is an excessive deficiency in the supply of these nutrients, it may indicate malnourishment.

Eating healthy food is very important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Food is important to produce the energy that we require for our daily functioning. A healthy diet, which is full of nutrients that we need daily, is quite important for our physical as well as mental health at every stage of life. A healthy diet promotes healthy functioning of the body, which reduces our risks for developing chronic diseases, as well as increases our life expectancy.

A diet chart is very useful to keep a track of your daily food intake. Ultimately, it helps you to assess the amount of protein, carbohydrates as well as fats that you may have consumed in a day, week or month. Thus, it helps you to understand and maintain a healthy nutrient intake in your daily life. A diet chart is simple and easy to use. Instead of having to check the calo ries for each and every item you eat, you can simply follow a diet chart to be assured that you are maintaining the calorie limit that you require.

As discussed above, BMI is a helpful and non-invasive tool that helps you to understand where you fall in the healthy weight spectrum. BMI helps you to understand whether your diet chart should be geared towards you gaining weight, losing weight or maintaining your current weight. BMI is a helpful tool since it takes your height into consideration in relation to your weight.

Thus, with a diet chart based on your BMI, you can easily achieve your healthy weight goal. Maintaining a healthy weight has several benefits, such as:

• Increase in your energy, which allows you to participate in daily activities more enthusiastically.
• Reduction in joint and muscle pains.
• Improves the health of your heart.
• Improves the functioning of your circulatory system.
• Improves your sleeping pattern.
• It reduces levels of blood triglycerides as well as blood glucose, which ultimately helps in reducing your chances of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
• It improves the overall functioning of your body and circulation of bodily fluids.
• Reduces your chances of being diagnosed with some type of heart disease and certain types of cancer.

Thus, maintaining a healthy weight is essential for your overall well-being, and with a diet chart that is based on your BMI, you will be able to have a more clear idea of your fitness.

Today, issues related to weight are becoming increasingly common. It takes a toll on not only the individual’s physical healthy, but their mental health as well. Self-esteem as well as confidence levels drop from being overweight. With such demanding problems in today’s generation, it is important to understand how sometimes your weight alone may not be indicative of your health, and how other factors add to it.

Moreover, BMI also helps individuals assess their health risks. While BMI is not a diagnostic tool, an indication of obesity is not good. An increase in your weight indicates some health issues, and should be a matter of concern. Being underweight too has some serious health issues attached to it, which should be inspected as early as possible.

A healthy diet is not just important for your weight, it is also important for your proper functioning in different areas of your life. Low nutrition indicates low energy. As a student or a professional, low energy may result in low productivity and affect your job performance. Low energy levels may also affect your ability to concentrate or focus on your task, which will again lower your ability to be productive. These factors take a toll on an individual and increase their frustration as well as stress levels, thus affecting their mental health.

It is important that you stick to the diet chart you have planned. With our busy lives, we often forget to (or skip) a meal or two a day, which we substitute with some type of unhealthy snack. It is important that you maintain your diet plan if you wish to maintain your health. While preparing your diet chart it is also beneficial to look up recipes that will be easy for you to make, and which has ingredients that are easily available.

While visiting the store, it is also useful to look at healthy alternatives for a quick snack. While pre-packaged healthy food items may seem quite tempting, it is beneficial to look at their nutritional chart as well as ingredients to make sure you are actually consuming healthy food. Recipes for a quick and easy to make snacks are readily available on online blogs and forums. In these forums, you may also be able to open discussions on other healthy food alternatives based on your personal preferences as well as location!

It is understandable that in the midst of your busy schedules sometimes you may just forget to eat your meal at a proper time in the day. However, having your meal at a fixed time in your day, as indicated by your diet chart, is extremely crucial to ensure that you are able to maintain a healthy weight. To ensure that you eat your meals at a proper and fixed timing, you may find it useful to set alarms for your meal. This helps you remember to eat at a particular time during a busy work day.

Eating healthy alone may not help you achieve your desired health and fitness level. It is a well-known fact that daily exercise should be coupled with a healthy diet. It can be easily said a healthy diet and exercise go hand in hand. With that being said, a healthy diet is good place to start when working towards a goal of healthy lifestyle. With growing health issues, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is becoming a growing concern and need for many individuals. This has given rise to a large market of consumers that demand healthy alternatives. So, it is quite easy nowadays to be able to stick to your diet routines and a healthy eating habit. With a great many resources available online, there is no excuse to shy away from eating healthy. As discussed earlier, a healthy diet not only helps promote a healthy physical life, but it also helps your mental health as well. These two factors are quite important to other aspects of your life, such as your job or family relations.

Also Read:

• Health Risks of High BMI