I am not trying to scare you or scare myself but I am overweight.
I know it is rare for men to say they are overweight. Sure, I am a man but that does not excuse me from being honest. I am overweight.
Being overweight no longer means you are doing well financially or contented with life, as some communities think. Overweight is a matter of death and life.
Body weight isn’t just an issue with women.
Body weight is a real concern for anybody wishing to live healthily.
This is because overweight is the first warning sign that you are sliding into the danger zone of becoming obese.
How do you know you are overweight?
Overweight is a combination of two numbers. Most people just check their body mass (weight) and think that they are truly monitoring the parameter that determines their health. Checking body weight is good, but not entirely complete without taking into account body height and sometimes gender and age.
To know if the weight is posing risk to health, height and body weight are tabulated using a formula to give what is popularly known as BMI. BMI stands for body mass index.
Body mass index is calculated by diving the body weight in Kg by height in metres squared.
To tabulate BMI measure your body weight using a bathroom weighing scale and using a tape measure, take the height. From those two figures, divide body weight by the square of height in metres (100 cm make one metre).
So, what is my BMI
A normal or healthy BMI is between 18 – 24.9.
Anything below 18.4 means you are under weight.
BMI above 25 rings the bells sending warning signal as BMI between 25- 29.9 means you are overweight and anything above 30 classifies you as obese.
My BMI as at Feb 2012
My body weight is 72.6 Kg and my height is 169 cm. From the calculation; my BMI as it stands now is 25.4.
You may say that this is just on the borderline. True, but it is a warning that my health is at risk
Why is being overweight a risk to health
More than 50 ailments or diseases are linked to being overweight ranging from breathing problems to circulatory disorders (heart attack, high blood pressure, heart failure), muscle and joint problems (arthritis), and digestive ailments (colon cancer, gastroesophageal reflux disease). Being overweight can interfere with sleep, make it difficult to keep up physically with children or friends as well as shorten life.
What is the way forward?
The parameter that influences BMI by the greatest magnitude is the body weight. So, if I can cut my body weight I will definitely bring my BMI down to normal.
The main way to bring down weight is not hitting the gym although it is important, it is negative calorie balance that leads to weight loss.
If you burn more calories than those consumed, you are guaranteed to lose weight. There are very few exceptions to this rule.
Gym helps to keep body physically fit not necessarily to lose weight. This is because if you burn less calories in the gym than you consume form foods, there is less likelihood of losing weight.
I take it a personal challenge to bring down by BMI to normal. Looking forward to this challenge.