What Does the BMI Have to do With Fat Loss?
If you are constantly on the lookout for new diets or weight loss methods, then you might have encountered BMI, or the body mass index. This is a number that is calculated from your height and your weight, and it is used as an indicator of how much body fat you have. Contrary to popular belief, the BMI does not provide a direct measure of body fat. Instead, it is a correlation, a number that is proportional to the amount of fat that you have in your body. There are other methods to determine how much fat you have, such as DXA, or dual energy x-ray absorptiometry; and underwater weighing. Calculating your BMI is the easiest way for you to measure your body fat, and it is an inexpensive method that doctors can use to screen you for health problems.
A BMI, despite its usefulness, is not a tool for diagnosis. If you have excess fat and excess weight, you may be at risk for many different diseases, but your health care practitioner would need more than just the BMI in order to determine what other sicknesses you will be at risk for. These would include measuring the thickness of a skin fold, evaluating your diet, assessing the extent of your physical activity, documenting your family history, and even taking blood samples in order to provide a richer picture of your body.
BMI will vary depending on your gender, race, and even how old you are. There are several trends that most medical institutions have found when it comes to BMI. For instance, at the same body mass index, women will usually have more body fat than will men. Elderly patients on the average will usually have more fat than adults even if they have the same BMI. An athlete may have the same BMI as someone who has little exercise, but this BMI will be due to increased muscle mass than an increase in body fat. This is the reason that BMI is not used too often on its own, and is used in conjunction with other tools for measuring body fat.
Your BMI is only one of the factors that are related to your risk for various illnesses. In order to present a better picture, scientists recommend that you look at the circumference of your waist, since the body fat in your abdomen is a risk predictor for diseases that are related to obesity; and be aware of other conditions that are related to obesity, such as high blood pressure. For more information, talk to your doctor about what you should do and what you should watch out for in order to keep yourself healthy. You may be looking to lose fat, but your BMI is not your only indicator.
