What is BMI? What are the Principles of Weight Management?

BMI stands for body mass index and is a special mathematical formula based upon your weight in pounds divided by your height in inches squared and then the result multiplied by the number 705.

This may sound all so confusing so I have illustrated an example for you here. Imagine a woman whose weight is 180 pounds and is of the height of 5 feet 10 inches. She would have a BMI of 26 and would be considered on the over weight side of the index.

Lets take the height of the woman which is 70 inches and then square it and the result is 4900. We then take her weight in pounds 180 divided by 4900 and we get 0.036 which is then multiplied by 705 to give us 25.89 or 26 rounded. This is how we have come to get her BMI at 26.

The following is an easy to follow table which will assist you in determining your BMI. If the BMI of an adult is below 18.5 then he or she is considered under weight. Between 18.5 to 25 is normal. Above 25 to 29.5 is over weight. Individuals must take special care if they BMI fall between 25 and 34.5. They are prone to serious health risks.

Over-weight men with BMI over 25 and waist lines over 40cm must be very careful. Women have to be below 34cm. If the results are over these figures then diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are huge risk factors to these individuals. As a general rule if your BMI is over 30 then you are obese and must look at ways to bring the figure below the safety level to avoid falling victim to diabetes,etc.

What are the principles of weight management?
Some of the basic principles in weight management are:

Cut down on your calorie intakes in your meals. You can go about this by either reducing your meal intake or taking food that have less calories in them. By taking less food would mean you would start feeling more hungry and this would cause hunger pangs. If you could take smaller meals and take foods that have lower calorie values you could reduce the hunger pangs and still have a positive impact on your weight.

Try avoiding foods and drinks that have a high sugar level such as aerated drinks, sweets and chocolates.
Introduce an exercise regime into your daily routine; By introducing a slow walking pattern of 3000 steps initially you will find weight loss begin to happen. For an ideal routine you should work yourself up to 10000 steps per day at least 5 days a week. This will translate to about 45 minutes of brisk walking in your neighbourhood.

Avoid bad eating patterns: Avoid eating on the run and try and make time to relax and enjoy your food.

Eat right and avoid eating too often: By following a recipe book based on low GI foods you could very easily eat what is right for you and avoid over eating. You will be surprised to see how delicious these recipes really are. You will never ever want to eat rubbish again or at least you will think twice before you do so in the future.

Record what you eat: It is important that we write down everything we eat when we start our weight management program. It is surprising to see what slips under the radar and lands onto our plates at meal times.

Maintain and improve your health: The first step in our weight management program is to cut down our food cravings in the first 5 days. This is easily done by going on to a low carbohydrate diet high in fibre and vital nutrition. After the first 5 days you should begin your transform stage where you will start to reduce your body mass by doing at least 3000 to 10000 steps a day backed by a good healthy diet of low GI meals.

You will find you can easily lose a kg per week using a weight program suited for you. If you lose more than 2kg per week then you must be careful. We do not want to drastically lose weight and put too much stress upon our system. An average of half a kg is ideal for most people.

It is advisable to keep records especially visual ones of your body when you start. By keeping before and after photo shots along with weight and stomach measurements you can then watch the improvements in the days and weeks into your program.