Achieving your ideal weight is a goal for many people, especially those struggling with weight issues. Whether you want to gain or lose weight, you should first calculate your ideal weight so that your efforts to reach your target weight are not wasted.
Why is it important for you to get and maintain your ideal body weight?
Achieving and maintaining an ideal body weight is crucial for overall health. It also helps prevent various diseases that can disrupt well-being.
If you are overweight or obese, you are at higher risk of developing health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, respiratory problems, and some types of cancer.
This is why maintaining an ideal body weight is crucial to help reduce the risk of these diseases. Furthermore, once you reach your ideal weight, it can make you feel more confident about your body.
Ideal body weight can vary from one person to another, depending on factors such as age, height, body composition, muscle mass, and overall health.
There are several ways to calculate ideal body weight, below SVRG will reveal several ways.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body Mass Index (BMI), also known as BMI, is one of the most common ways to calculate ideal body weight. The BMI calculation produces a single number, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is categorized as follows:
- A BMI of less than 18.5 indicates underweight.
- A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 indicates a healthy or ideal weight range.
- A BMI between 25 and 29.9 may indicate being overweight.
- A BMI of 30 or higher may indicate obesity.
However, the CDC also notes that BMI should not be used as the sole measure of ideal body weight. This is because BMI calculations do not assess a person's body composition or health. BMI is only one basic measurement tool that should be used in conjunction with other tests and assessments to determine potential health risks.
So, how do you calculate your BMI to find out if you are in the ideal weight category?
BMI formula:
For example, suppose you currently weigh 50 kilograms and are 1.6 meters (160 centimeters) tall. First, multiply your height squared: 1.6 x 1.6 = 2.56. Next, divide your weight by the square of your height. 50/2.56 = 19.5. This tells you that you are at your ideal weight.
BMI is just one tool for understanding body size. BMI calculations don't take into account differences in body shape, such as:
- Waist or hip size
- Proportion or distribution of fat
- Muscle mass proportion
These factors can impact health. For example, high-performance athletes tend to have a lot of muscle and little body fat. These athletes may have a high BMI because they have more muscle mass. However, this does not necessarily mean they are overweight or prone to obesity.
Another limitation of BMI is that it doesn't differentiate between people from different racial or ethnic groups. This inaccuracy can lead to misdiagnosis or inaccurate assessment of risk factors in individuals.
BMI can only provide a rough indication of whether someone is overweight or not, and it is useful for measuring weight trends in population studies. However, BMI calculations should not be the sole measure of ideal body weight.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio
Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) is a calculation that compares waist measurement to hip measurement. A high WHR is associated with higher levels of abdominal fat, or visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat found in the abdominal cavity surrounding several major organs.
Because WHR calculations take abdominal fat into account, WHR can be a useful tool in understanding potential health risks, when combined with weight measurement and other health screenings.
A 2018 meta-analysis showed that having a high WHR calculation can put a person at higher risk of having a heart attack.
WHR can be obtained by measuring your waist circumference, which is measured at the waist (above your navel) just after exhaling, not while inhaling. Next, you should also measure your hip circumference, which can be measured at the widest part of your hips or buttocks.
After getting the results of your waist circumference and hip circumference (in centimeters), you can calculate your WHR using the following formula:
WHR = Waist Circumference/Hip Circumference
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the obesity categories according to WHR calculations are:
- In men: WHR more than 0.9
- In women: WHR more than 0.85
However, like BMI, WHR also has limitations. For example, this measurement doesn't accurately account for a person's total body fat percentage or muscle-to-fat ratio.
Waist-to-Height Ratio (WtHR)
Waist-to-Height Ratio is another method of calculating your ideal body weight that you can try. This measurement compares a person's waist circumference to their height.
According to a 2015 study, higher WtHR counts were associated with poor cholesterol and blood pressure conditions, even in someone with a healthy BMI.
For this reason, WtHR can be helpful when assessing health risks, when used in conjunction with other measuring tools or methods for calculating ideal body weight.
To calculate your WtHR, divide your waist measurement by your height. If the result is 0.5 or less, your WtHR is within normal limits.
A 2014 study concluded that a WtHR of 0.52 or higher was associated with a significantly shorter lifespan. This was more prevalent in men. However, this study did not account for ethnic differences among individuals.
Also read: The Difference Between Bulking and Cutting to Shape Your Ideal Body
Body Fat Percentage
In general, normal body fat percentages can vary from person to person, depending on gender, age, and frequency of physical activity. However, according to the American Council on Exercise, normal body fat percentages can generally be categorized as follows:
Normal body fat percentage in men:
- Athletes: 6–13%
- Ordinary people with a fit body and who exercise regularly: 14–17%
- Acceptable body fat percentage: 18–24%
Normal body fat percentage in women:
- Athletes: 14–20%
- Ordinary people with a fit body and who exercise regularly: 21–24%
- Acceptable body fat percentage: 25–31%
Meanwhile, if the body fat percentage in men is above 25% and in women above 32%, then this can be categorized as obesity.
Obesity is commonly associated with a high proportion of body fat. Being overweight or obese can increase the risk of conditions such as:
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- stroke
For additional information, the ideal body fat percentage for women is relatively higher than for men. This is because estrogen can trigger the accumulation of subcutaneous fat. On the other hand, men have the hormone testosterone, which is beneficial for increasing muscle mass, resulting in a relatively lower body fat percentage.
Ideal body weight can vary greatly from person to person. BMI, WHR, WtHR, and body fat percentage are four methods you can use to calculate ideal body weight. Combining the results of each of these calculations can provide the best and most accurate results to gauge whether your weight is within the ideal range.
For those of you who haven't yet reached your ideal weight, there are many ways to achieve a healthy weight. Besides a nutritious diet, you can also engage in various types of exercise.
SVRG offers a wide variety of exercise equipment, including dumbbells , kettlebells , and even stationary bikes , to help you achieve your ideal weight. Find your favorite exercise equipment only at SVRG.
