Healthy Weight Chart - Is BMI Reliable?

By Sam Jones


I recently did some research for an article that was requested by several readers to my website. The question was, Am I Overweight? This got me thinking about how we determine healthy weight and the tools we use such as the healthy weight chart.

In my article I explain the differences between the different methods of calculating the healthy weight range of an individual using the healthy weight chart.

The healthy weight chart or height weight chart can give a result that leaves some people confused.

To clarify, these charts can be used to produce a rough idea of where we are in a healthy weight range, what band we fall into based on a height and weight formula.

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.

The problem is that some people especially those who are taller than the average person, can be given a false sense of security when using the height weight chart as a measure of healthy weight.

The healthy weight of an individual can vary and the height weight chart is intended to be used as a guideline to determine if a man or woman is in the healthy weight range.

Healthy weight range like many other similar systems is designed by taking in information from many sources of population data and averaging it out to produce the system.

For the vast majority of the population the height weight chart gives a realistic picture of where you are within the range of healthy weight.

The real question though is, if the height weight chart can be relied upon?

Be aware that these simple tools can produce some misleading results for some people:

We found that a taller than average man who was considered to be in the healthy weight range had developed some liver function problems.

Fatty liver disease is thought to be related to the amount of fat that is carried around the abdomen.

So if you are a tall person who tends to carry weight around the middle of your body you should ask your doctor for advice, and NOT rely on BMI as a measure of your healthy weight.

To sum up: Due to known inaccuracies of the measurement systems for height to weight ratio, more doctors have now updated their advice to patients to be aware that carrying weight around the middle part of your body can put you at increased risk of diseases.




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