Fitness & BMI

Is BMI (Body Mass Index) Still Relevant?

BMI is considered to be a useful tool for measuring overall health. While there are more factors involved in someone’s physical health than bodyweight, such as diet and activity level, it’s a piece of the puzzle.

Some people believe BMI doesn’t matter since it doesn’t measure all the factors contributing to someone’s health. For example, someone could have a lot of muscle and measure in the “overweight” category when in reality they have just bulked up.

BMI assumes that you have a regular frame size so people who are smaller framed or larger framed may have a different weight range that is healthier for them.

With that being said, BMI is usually a good indicator of body fat percentage fitness level, and disease risk. A healthy BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 24.9.

Your Waist Measurement Is More Important Than BMI

While having a healthy BMI can measure someone’s health, waist size is considered to be a more accurate measurement at determining this. Some people can be in their healthy weight range yet store a lot of belly fat. Why? This could be caused by the fact they are small-framed and are carrying more weight than is healthy for them.

Diet also plays a role in belly fat storage — eating too much sugar can contribute to more fat around the midsection. Stress is an overlooked factor as well. Not enough cardio exercise can also contribute to a widening midsection.

Waist Measurement & BMI

It has been studied that a trim waist lowers disease risk and contributes to overall health. For men, a waist size below 37 inches means a low risk of disease and for women a waist size below 31.5 inches is considered to be low risk.

While we shouldn’t obsess over measurements, medical research shows that having a smaller waist is beneficial to your health and isn’t just an arbitrary beauty standard. This is because your vital organs are stored in your midsection, so excess fat can have an impact on your health.

For fertility, women with a BMI of 19.5 have been found to have a slightly higher fertility rate than any other BMI. There’s a sweet spot when it comes to body fat % — you don’t want to be too high or too low when you’re trying to conceive. Similarly, men with a BMI that is on the lower end have better sperm quality than men with a higher body fat %.

This debunks some people’s notions that thin women are less fertile than women with a higher fat %. In fact, having too high of a fat % can cause health issues that decrease fertility. Being underweight also causes health and fertility problems, so having a healthy BMI assures you have the best chance of living a healthy life.

If you don’t want kids or already had kids and don’t want more then focusing on maintaining a healthy BMI in the above ranges is more than good enough.

Waist-To-Hip Ratio Is Another Indicator Of Health

Women who have a waist-to-hip ratio between 0.7 and 0.8 are said to be healthier and are often considered to be more attractive. For men the waist to hip ratio ideal is around 0.9. Regardless of weight, people with these ratios are considered to look healthier.

Reducing overall body fat can help eliminate belly fat and attain a healthier waist to hip ratio. Cardio exercise, limiting stress, and reducing sugar intake do wonders for this.

There’s no magical solution to uncover — just eat healthy and invest some time in cardio and you will see results! You will notice your waist to hip ratio will be closer to the ideal when you are at your personal ideal weight.

Health & Aesthetics

Obviously, many people get into fitness to look good. It’s not purely for health reasons.

For aesthetics and overall health, most men strive for a 12% to 19% body fat range and women like to stay in the 21–28% range. These %s allow for muscle tone and definition while maintaining a healthy level of body fat. Every human needs a minimum amount of fat to be healthy and thrive. As you probably know, women need more body fat than men so the ranges are different between the sexes. The above fat %’s translate to a BMI of 18.5–22.

Using myself as an example, I am 5"9" so if I wanted to have a BMI of 19.5, I would need to weigh 133 pounds. It sounds insane to aim for such a specific number, so most people choose a range that feels good for them. Right now my BMI is 21 since I weigh 145 pounds. My goal is to get down to 140 pounds, give or take a couple of pounds.

Think In Ranges Rather Than Aiming For One Number

When thinking of our ideal weight it’s important to observe how you feel doing your current routine. Everyone has their “sweet spot” weight where they feel their best.

I’ve weighed anywhere from 119 to 155 pounds. I can honestly say I feel my best when I’m around 140 pounds. If I start getting into the 150’s it’s because I’m emotionally eating and not exercising as intensely. If I go below 130 pounds it’s because I’m probably broke and unintentionally losing weight. Therefore, anywhere between 135 to 145 is my favourite range to be in — people’s weight can fluctuate depending on your lifestyle and what you may be going through at any given moment.

I pay attention to when I feel the best, have the most energy, see the most muscle tone, etc. 140 seems to be my personal best weight, but someone else with the same height could have totally different goals than me.

The aim with fitness isn’t to punish yourself by never eating treats. In contrast, a healthy balanced diet allows for some unhealthy meals and sugary snacks. You work hard to stick to a healthy routine and stay fit so you can feel free to indulge in a craving sometimes. As long as you don’t do it everyday you’ll stay on track with your goals.

Where I’m At With Fitness Right Now

On my current fitness journey I’ve been increasing the intensity of my workouts. I have always walked a lot but during the pandemic I started going with shorter workouts which led to a little weight gain (No big deal. 150 is still a healthy weight for my height, but I felt the difference from where I was before).

I’ve been feeling a lot better mentally and physically now that I am doing more cardio and focusing on weights a couple of days per week. I am on the right track for spring!

While we shouldn’t focus solely on specific numbers to achieve, it’s a good idea to know the general range to be in for your height and gender so you can make a more informed decision to reach your health and fitness goals.

BMI isn’t a hard science, but it helps a lot of people determine where they are and where they want to be. From there, personal experience can show you which routine works best for you and which weight you feel your best at.

Thanks so much for reading today.