To Diet or Not?

"To Diet or Not? That is the question!" Does that sentence sounds familiar to you? Well, before starting any diet, it should be the question anyone should ask himself: "Do I really need to go on diet?!? What's my BMI ?"...

Introduction

Obviously, some signs help you to discover the "awfull" truth... Being out of breath on the top of the stairs... Don't be able anymore to enter in your favourite pants... Feeling that people are mocking you when you're eating an ice cream on a street... And you probably could name a few more of those signs...

But sometimes, you feel like you have to loose weight even when none of those signs appeared! You just feel you're too fat, or that you don't like the way your body looks anymore...

So, is there any "scientific" way of knowing if you really should do something for your health or not? Yes, there is, and it's called the BMI!

What's the BMI?

What's the BMI? BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It's a figure that helps you to know "scientifically" if you indeed have weight problems or not. Dieticians agree to say that a healthy BMI should be between 20 and 25. How to calculate your BMI? This quite easy... just use the following formula:

NOTE: The weight has to be in Kilograms (1 pound = 0.45 kilogram) and the height has to be in meters (1 inch=0.025 meter). Let's take an example to make it clear: a person who is 5 ft. 5 in. tall weighing 149 lbs. His weight is 149*0.45=67.05 kilos and his weihgt is 65*0.025= 1.63 meter. So, his BMI will be 67.05/(1.63*1.63)=25.21 This number is then rounded to 25.

How to interpret the BMI?

The results are generally split into 4 categories:

• 19 and below: You definitely DON't NEED any diet! This result is considered as "too thin". You might need advice from a dietician to actually gain weight!
• From 20 to 25: This is the best place. Everybody should be in this category to have a healthy weight.
• From 26 to 30: In this category you're a bit overweight and should try to do something to improve your situation. Diets are there to help you achieve your goal.
• Above 30:This is where obesity starts. Obesity shouldn't be cure by yourself, you really need medicine's advice to help you.

Conclusion...

After having read this article, you should know by now if you have to diet or not... You might have the nice surprise to see that you're in the ideal category, but still you might feel that your body's look is far away from the Top-Model's body... Well, you have to know that a lot of famous Top-Models have a BMI below 20. That is completely unhealthy and we should all stop to think they're an example to follow...

Print This Page!