Perfect weight
Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the main reasons for maintaining a healthy body and avoiding diseases, People always ask about their ideal weight, or how much a person is supposed to weigh, and the answer is not that easy, as the ideal weight depends on a group of factors, Among them are the following:
- height; With increasing height, the ideal weight increases.
- sex; Women tend to store more fat.
- The level of muscle and fat in the body.
- Bone size, or the size of the skeleton, is called frame size.
- Age group; With age, muscle mass is likely to decrease, and fat mass increases.
Is it required to reach the ideal weight?
It is not necessary to reach the ideal weight in order to have a healthy body, Even a slight loss of (5-10)% of the original body weight brings many health benefits, Instead of focusing heavily on the scale number and feeling frustrated, do not It is necessary to start with the steps that help lose weight in a healthy way. Such as increasing physical activity, and eating healthy food full of nutrients.
It must be noted that reaching a healthy or ideal weight for a person’s height does not mean that the body shape is similar to the shape of another person with the same weight and height, as there are a number of factors that affect the external body shape even if the weights are the same.
How to know the ideal body weight
Ideal weight equations: There are many equations through which the ideal body weight can be calculated, one of which is the Hamwi equation for the ideal weight (in English: IBW-hamwi), and in what follows an explanation of this:
- For males: ((height cm – 152.4 cm) * 1.1 kg) + 48 kg
- For females: ((height cm – 152.4 cm) * 0.9 kg) + 45 kg
10% of the resulting weight is added if the size of the bones is large, and 10% is subtracted if the size of the bones is small.
Body mass index: The body mass index (in English: Body mass index), is one of the tools that are commonly used to determine whether a person has a healthy weight or not, and it is the result of dividing the weight by the square of the height in metres.
Depending on the body mass index, weight is classified as follows:
- Thinness: a body mass index of 18.5 or less.
- Normal weight: BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.
- Overweight: a BMI of 25 to 29.9.
- Obesity: BMI = 30 or greater.
It is worth noting that there are some groups that cannot use the BMI; such as pregnant mothers, bodybuilders, the elderly, children under the age of 18, and others.
BMI calculator
Waist circumference measurements: A person may have a healthy weight and a normal body mass index, but a waist circumference that is greater than the healthy average, so measuring waist circumference is an important way to know whether a person is carrying excess weight around the abdomen or not; This is because the accumulation of fat in this area increases the risk of many diseases. such as heart disease and diabetes.
The risk of disease increases when the waist circumference is equal to:
- For women: more than 80 cm, and the risk increases dramatically when it equals 88 cm.
- For men: more than 94 centimeters, and the risk increases significantly when it equals 102 centimeters.
The ideal weight for children and teens
It is not easy to determine the ideal weight for height, or the healthy weight, for both children and adolescents, so that the BMI formula differs from the formula approved for adults, and their weight depends on a number of different factors, and it is often preferable to refer to a doctor or dietician to determine the appropriate weight. for the child.
The importance of staying at a healthy weight
Achieving a healthy weight and not an ideal condition, as we mentioned earlier, is one of the basic means to maintain the health of the body, and reduce the risk of various diseases, such as:
- heart disease.
- Type 2 diabetes.
- Hypertension.
- gallstones
- breathing problems.
- different cancers.
These diseases may not appear immediately with weight gain, but over time, and the accumulation of more and more fat, eventually leads to them.