Height weight charts
Under, OK, over or obese?

The height weight charts ... what do they tell me?

They are the most common measurements made in order to determine obesity. These indices are mostly developed by the life assurance industry. But, these tables may not tell you that much:

• They represent people who live longer and have some sort of life insurance. This does not reflect the general population.

• Height weight chart ranges for lowest death rates do not necessarily reflect best height weight for health.

• These "standard values" make it difficult to assess the degree of obesity of "fatness". A person with the proper weight range may have excess body fat and lower lean body mass. Or, someone with increased muscular development maybe "overweight", despite having an extremely low amount of body fat.

Sorry, but looking at height weight charts, that aren't designed specifically for you, may tell you the wrong story. We are all different in shape, metabolism, activity, etc and need to use this to have our own perfect height weight range tailor made for us.

It's not that hard really. Don't we know with the help of the mirror? Yeah, that is reality, not a chart that we try to fit into. I'm an easy heart health weightwatcher.

If you need to know some guidelines that are easy to follow, work out your body mass index (BMI). This directly measures your height weight ratio and with the help of the mirror, your own knowledge of how you feel and what you do, you can gradually move your weight to it's optimal level for you.

Let's do an example.

1. Check your weight in kilogram [K]

2. Check your height in meter [M]

3. Calculate: K divided by (M x M) = BMI

Say you weigh 75 kilograms, are 1.80 meters tall

75 divided by (1.8 x 1.8) = 23.148

What does this number mean?

It is a quick guide to whether you are under weight, just right, over weight or obese.

• If your BMI is under 18-19, you are underweight and at greater risk of things like osteoporosis, reduced reproductive function, declining levels of oestrogen and reduced bone mass.

• If your BMI is between 20 and 25, you are about right for height weight.

• If you are between 25 and 30, you are overweight and are probably putting yourself at risk of developing diabetes (type 2). It is all about insulin. With more fat cells your pancreas has to work harder to produce insulin. Less glucose is absorbed into the cells for energy and the excess remains in your blood causing health problems such as kidney damage and increased risk of heart disease.

• If you calculated a BMI of 30 plus, you are considered obese. It doesn't sound nice and it isn't! But many of us are over 30 BMI and need to lose the excess fat cells. All this extra fat increases our risk of wear and tear of the lining of our joints, osteoarthritis, as well as the things in just "over weight"

This is a lot easier than trying to fit into some height weight charts that probably won't help me much anyway!

Instead of worrying about height weight charts why not try some easy weight watcher eating to get the body you want and great heart health as well