Healthy Weight Chart - Is BMI Reliable?

By Sam Jones


Lots of visitors to my website have commented on my article relating to the question: Am I Overweight? For this article I did some research relating to the current trends and opinions on measuring healthy weight using 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.

There are several names for the healthy weight chart, some refer to it as the height weight chart but is essentially the same thing.

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.

There are some questions about the accuracy of this system. The height weight chart has been around for several decades and many of us have seen it pinned up on the medical practitioner's wall when we have visited the surgery.

The fact is that due to many changes in lifestyle and the modern diet this age old method may well be due for retirement. In some cases it has produced some very misleading results.

All the information from the height weight chart is for information purposes only and should be used together with other relevant factors to decide if you are within a 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.

Because the height weight chart is predicated on data from so many people it is usually fairly accurate and gives you an idea of where you fit in a wide band range of healthy weight.

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.

In some cases the results for certain individuals when using these methods proved to be wrong.

Our subject who was over 6 feet in height was given a false assessment when using the methods discussed above. His physician has said he is at risk of fatty liver disease because of his accumulation of abdominal fat.

If you are tall but carry excessive weight around your abdominal region you should seek medical advice as you may be at increased risk of disease.

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.

Conclusion: Instead of relying on a generalised BMI healthy weight system you should pay attention to fat distribution in the abdominal region and also overall body fat percentage as a more accurate and personalised approach to determining healthy weight.




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