I am posting this article in response to a FAQ from my website. Many people are asking how they know if by being overweight they are putting their health at risk and what is being overweight? This got me looking into BMI, body Mass Index and the healthy weight chart.
The healthy weight chart is a fairly crude formula that takes into account many general factors relating to the overall body shape of a person.
The healthy weight chart sometimes referred to as the height weight chart can be very confusing to some people.
These charts work on a very similar way to the more modern BMI scale of calculating your 'healthy weight' based on some mathematics to produce a height to weight ratio.
In recent times many people have questioned the accuracy of such a system that is based on such generalised personal information as height and weight and is constructed using comparative data that dates back 40 years.
There is a particular problem with the modern diet that means that many of us now carry excessive and disproportionate amounts of fat around our waistline.
The height weight chart is used to give an approximation of whether you are within a healthy weight range.
The healthy weight range system was established by collecting data from the population as a whole.
For most people the height weight chart gives quite an accurate indication of where you are within the band of the healthy weight range.
Because of the generalised nature of these tools you should always look at other factors besides the height weight chart to be confident in the accuracy of your result.
Be aware that these simple tools can produce some misleading results for some people:
We identified a subject (over 6 foot in height) who has now been assessed as being at risk of fatty liver disease, even though his healthy weight range score indicated otherwise. This is an example of the problems with this simple system.
When fat is accumulated in the middle abdominal area it can increase the probability of fatty liver disease.
Men with an abdominal circumference of above 40 inches who are over 6 feet tall could be mislead as they may be considered in the overweight but not at risk category according to their BMI using the healthy weight chart.
Conclusion: Many practitioners are now moving towards the use of body fat percentage as a safer and more reliable method of calculating health risks relating to being overweight.
The healthy weight chart is a fairly crude formula that takes into account many general factors relating to the overall body shape of a person.
The healthy weight chart sometimes referred to as the height weight chart can be very confusing to some people.
These charts work on a very similar way to the more modern BMI scale of calculating your 'healthy weight' based on some mathematics to produce a height to weight ratio.
In recent times many people have questioned the accuracy of such a system that is based on such generalised personal information as height and weight and is constructed using comparative data that dates back 40 years.
There is a particular problem with the modern diet that means that many of us now carry excessive and disproportionate amounts of fat around our waistline.
The height weight chart is used to give an approximation of whether you are within a healthy weight range.
The healthy weight range system was established by collecting data from the population as a whole.
For most people the height weight chart gives quite an accurate indication of where you are within the band of the healthy weight range.
Because of the generalised nature of these tools you should always look at other factors besides the height weight chart to be confident in the accuracy of your result.
Be aware that these simple tools can produce some misleading results for some people:
We identified a subject (over 6 foot in height) who has now been assessed as being at risk of fatty liver disease, even though his healthy weight range score indicated otherwise. This is an example of the problems with this simple system.
When fat is accumulated in the middle abdominal area it can increase the probability of fatty liver disease.
Men with an abdominal circumference of above 40 inches who are over 6 feet tall could be mislead as they may be considered in the overweight but not at risk category according to their BMI using the healthy weight chart.
Conclusion: Many practitioners are now moving towards the use of body fat percentage as a safer and more reliable method of calculating health risks relating to being overweight.
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If you would like to learn more about the height weight chart see this article, height weight chart
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