Healthy Weight Week

JanineKelbach, RN

New year, new you! You see the slogan throughout the media, brochures, and hear it in conversation. It's a new year and time to make a change. A healthy weight is important for your to boost overall health, lower disease risk, and keep you energized.

Assess your Why, then your Weight

Assessing your why means to look at the "whys" in your life that make you want to lose the weight. Some may include:

To Live Longer for my Children
To move Faster at Work
To Feel Healthy
To Look Better
To Lower my Disease Risk

You can add to the list, but this is a start. Understanding your why will help motivate you into losing the extra pounds.

Assessing your weight number is upsetting to everyone who knows they have to lose weight. Remember having those amazing barbeques over the summer, large holiday meals, and ice cream treats? Your weight didn't increase overnight.

After you stand on the scale, jot down the number, but don't focus solely on it. A scale is a tool to give you a starting point. You have to look beyond the number and look at the other tools like your Body Mass Index (BMI), wrist, and waist circumference.

Why the BMI?

A Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated by a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square height of the person in meters. The calculated results give a number. If the number is in the low range, it can be an indicator of low body fat. Whereas, if the number is in the higher range it can indicate higher body fat. It is only a screening tool, and therefore, does not diagnose the health of an individual.

According to CDC.gov:

If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range.
If your BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, it falls within the normal or Healthy Weight range.
If your BMI is 25.0 to 29.9, it falls within the overweight range.
If your BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obese range.

BMI Calculator Waist Circumference

The National Institute of Health provides a simple to use BMI calculator on their website. This can help you start to set a goal for your weight.

Obese on the BMI Calculator

Many people use the BMI calculator and end with the negative feeling of being labeled, "obese". The one consideration the BMI calculator does not include is the different body types.

The three body types include the ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph (left to right in the picture.) If you are an ectomorph, you may not have to lose weight, but you have to gain muscle. Whereas the endomorph (most women), have higher BMIs, but may not necessarily need to shoot for the stars when it comes to a lower BMI. The endomorphic body should never be a 19 BMI, or they will be considered underweight. When you look at your body what shape do you see?

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Wrist Circumference

Some calculators can determine a small, medium, and large body frame by measuring your wrist. To do this, measure the wrist with a tape measure and use the following chart to decide whether you are small, medium, or large boned.

Women:

Height under 5'2"
- Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
- Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
- Large = wrist size over 5.75"
Height 5'2" to 5' 5"
- Small = wrist size less than 6"
- Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
- Large = wrist size over 6.25"
Height over 5' 5"
- Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
- Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
- Large = wrist size over 6.5"

Men:

Height over 5' 5"
- Small = wrist size 5.5" to 6.5"
- Medium = wrist size 6.5" to 7.5"
- Large = wrist size over 7.5"

If you happen to be the small bone type, and an ectomorph, your goal should be on the lower end of normal for a BMI. If you are a large frame and an endomorph, you can be on the higher side of normal BMI and be considered healthy.

Waist Circumference

Measuring your waist is another way you can assess if you are at a health risk. The CDC mentions that higher abdominal fat and waist circumference can correlate with an increased risk of Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease.

How to Measure your Waist Circumference

According to the CDC, measuring your waist circumference should start with a tape measure. Then:

Stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hipbones
Keep the tape horizontal around the waist
Make the tape snug around the waist, but not compressing the skin
Breathe out and measure your waist.

If your measurement for a man is over 40in and 35in for a woman, you are at a high risk for obesity-related conditions.

Embrace YOU and You Will Succeed

You may have read this article to get ideas on how to lose weight, instead of gaining clarity on why it's important. Every diet that is out there, that actually works, is based on two principles: Diet and Exercise. Those who lose weight, and kept it off, use those two principles. Fad diets don't work. As soon as you stop the fad diet, weight piles on.

Diet Tips

Smaller plate, instead of measuring smaller portions
Add more vegetables and fruit, and make your meat a rewarding meal at the end of the week
Pack on the go snacks like pretzels, apples, and carrots

Exercise Tips

Find an exercise accountability partner
Take a challenge, or challenge yourself
Set goals that have intention (add "when" when you say "Go to the gym")

The process of losing weight is a marathon, not a race. Most people spend years putting the weight on, so it will take some time to take it off. Love who you are and you will succeed, according to research. Stanford University School of Medicine did a study and found that 63 percent of participants who had a positive body image were more successful at losing and maintaining weight for a year compared to a 26 percent success rate for those who were discontent with their bodies.

When you set weight loss goals, start small. In January, people set huge fitness goals, and by March, the gym is empty. Set small, attainable goals, then increase over time. You can do this, when you think you can't, go back to your why.