by Averil Bernard
Everyone has ‘magic numbers’ that can aid them in the quest to be healthier. Individually these numbers are important health measures but when two or more are combined they are great predictors of performance and survival, as they reflect both health and nutritional status.
These ‘magic numbers’ are called Anthropometric Measurements and are used to assess the size, shape and composition of the human body.
Your magic numbers include your Weight, Height, Percent Weight Change, Skinfold Measurements, Body Mass Index (BMI), Body Adiposity Index (BAI), Waist Circumference, Waist to Hip Ratio and Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
Most people don’t have the time to keep up with all of their Anthropometric Measurements, but focusing on a few can be sufficient to keep an eye on your health.
Weight
While the scale doesn’t tell us how much of your body is muscle and how much is fat or fluid, studies have shown that maintaining a healthy weight is very important to your health. Dropping excess pounds can reduce the risk of angina, lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol, lower the risk of diabetes and certain cancers and can ease lower back and joint pain.
Percent Weight Change
Keeping a focus on your weight can help you track and identify unintentional weight loss or gain. Cancers, bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, thyroid problems, gastrointestinal diseases and diabetes are some of the health conditions associated with unplanned weight loss or gain.
How to calculate your Percent Weight Change:
% weight change = [[usual weight – actual weight] ÷ usual weight] x 100
Body Mass Index
Knowing your weight and height is necessary to determine your BMI.
The World Health Organization has established the following classification for BMI:
BMI Classification
< 18.5 underweight
18.5-24.9 normal weight
25.0-29.9 overweight
30.0-34.9 class I obesity
35.0-39.9 class II obesity
> 40.0 class III obesity
How to calculate your Body Mass Index?
Click here for a link to a BMI Calculator or calculate it by hand.
Standard Calculation: BMI = weight in pounds / [height in inches x height in inches] x 703.
Metric Calculation: BMI = your weight in kilograms (kg)/the square of your height in m (m2)
Waist Circumference
Your waist circumference helps to identify if you ‘carry’ your fat in your waist. How would you describe your shape: pear, apple, hourglass or banana (rectangle)?
People with pear and hourglass shapes tend to have smaller waist circumferences than those with banana and apple shapes. Apples usually have large waist circumferences as they ‘carry’ their fat around their waists.
The health risks associated with waist fat include: cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancers, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and dementia.
This is how the CDC says you should correctly measure your waist circumference:
1. Stand and place a tape measure around your middle, just above your hip bones.
2. Make sure tape is horizontal around the waist.
3. Keep the tape snug around the waist, but not compressing the skin.
4. Measure your waist just after you breathe out.
For women, a waist circumference greater than 35 inches is considered obese, between 32 and 35 inches is overweight and 24 inches to 32 inches is normal.
For men a waist circumference greater than 40 inches is considered obese, while 37 inches to 40 inches is overweight and between 31 inches and 37 inches is normal.
Waist to Hip Ratio
Your waist to hip ratio like your waist circumference is a measure of your central adiposity. It’s the ratio of your waist circumference to your hip circumference or simply put your waist in cm or inches divided by your hips in cm or inches.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that abdominal obesity is defined as a waist–hip ratio above 0.95 for males and above 0.86 for females. A good waist to hip ratio for males is 0.85 – 0.89 and for females 0.75-0.79.
For informational purposes only. Not intended as medical advice.