What's Your Healthy Weight?

It’s that time of year again. The sudden appearance of overly warm spring days herald it’s time to take stock of the winter weight damage and shape up for summer. Before you start packing lettuce for lunch, dusting off the running shoes, and aiming for fashionably unrealistic slimness, pause for a moment and think about it. Rather than making yourself miserable to achieve a body shape that is unattainable, just how much weight should you lose to look good? How do you determine a healthy weight for you?

Well, certainly not by trying to develop the 'perfect' female shape we see in the movies and on TV! The truth is these images do not depict the typical female (or male) form. Most of us have natural curves and trying to achieve a body shape of a waif can lead to more heartache than good health.

The simplest way to check your weight is to measure your waist circumference, using a tape measure. This gives you an idea of whether you have a lot of fat stored around your middle.

These BMI values only apply to adults aged 18 years and over and are based on studies of Caucasian populations. Therefore, they are not applicable to children and adolescents and they may not be appropriate for people of other cultural backgrounds. The BMI does not take into account the ratio of body fat to muscle. Very fit, muscular people may register with a higher BMI but not need to lose weight.

A more reliable system to estimate how overweight you are and which takes into account your muscle mass is the amount of body fat as a percentage of total body weight.