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Is your ideal weight realistic? Part 1
When it comes to losing weight, one of the first things you might do is set yourself a size or weight target.But in a world where the 'ideal' body is vastly different from what's biologically feasible for most people, how can you know if your target is physically possible for you to achieve?
Get a ballpark estimate of your ideal weight and size
Body mass index
One way to get a broad estimate of your ideal healthy weight is to calculate your body mass index (BMI). BMI is simply weight in kilograms divided by height in meters, squared (kg/m2).
The easiest way I've found to calculate BMI is to punch your weight in kilos into a calculator and divide it by your height in meters. Press the equals button, and then divide the answer by your height in meters again.
So for instance, if you weigh 92 kilos and you're 1.65 meters tall, your BMI is 33.79 kg/m2.
(92 divided by 1.65 = 55.76, 55.76 divided by 1.65 = 33.79 kg/m2)
According to The World Heath Organization's current definitions for Caucasians, if your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, you're in the 'normal' weight range for your height. If your BMI is 30 or more, you're in the 'obese' weight range for your height.
You can use the following formulae to estimate your normal weight range.
- Estimated minimum normal weight = your height in meters x your height in meters x 18.5
- Estimated maximum normal weight = your height in meters x your height in meters x 24.9
Every time I punch these numbers into my calculator, I'm acutely aware of the fact that at my usual weight of 65 kilos I'm 1.3 kilos overweight according to the World Health Organization!
It's well recognized, however, that BMI estimates are not the best way to determine your ideal healthy weight, particularly if you're naturally very lean or very muscular, if you're not Caucasian, or if you're over the age of 65.
Waist circumference
When it comes to being healthy, it's not so much how much you weigh but how much fat you have on your body and where you store it that counts.
Carrying too much fat around the midriff, especially in the space around organs such as the intestines, liver and pancreas, is linked with a significantly higher risk of preventable lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers
The easiest scientifically validated way to estimate whether you have too much belly fat is to simply measure your waist circumference, the distance around your waist.
To measure your waist circumference precisely and accurately, take a tape measure and run it around the narrowest part of your torso between the top of your hipbone and the bottom of your rib cage. If there's no obvious narrowing between these two landmarks, measure your waist circumference at the mid-point between landmarks. Make sure the tape measure is flat against your skin, but don't pull the tape so tightly that it digs into your skin. Relax your abdomen - neither sucking it in nor letting it all hang out - exhale, and take your measurement. Take several measurements until you consistently hit the same number each time you take a reading.
Research shows that most women with a waist circumference over 80 cm and most men with a waist circumference over 94 cm are at significantly greater risk of developing preventable lifestyle diseases, regardless of how tall they may be.
Waist hip ratio
Earlier this year I went for a coffee with my friend Barbara from work. Barbara brought along a young colleague, Zena, who'd just started work at our institute that week.
Upon hearing that I was doing research into weight loss, Zena asked me what she could do to lose weight.
From what I could see of Zena as we stood in the coffee queue, I couldn't imagine why she would want to lose weight. She was dressed in a long black skirt and a bright green tank top that showed off her slim physique, willowy arms and perfect muscle tone.
"Why do you ask?" I enquired.
"I know I don't look fat", Zena said. "I'm even a bit skinny in my upper body. It's just that my bum and hips are way too big for me".
Over coffee, I talked with Zena about new research suggesting that having a 'big bum' is actually a plus for your health; not something that healthy-weight women should be trying to get rid of.
When Dr Samantha Hocking and her colleagues at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research took fat from the inguinal (i.e. the 'hip and thigh') region from donor mice and transplanted it into the intra-abdominal (i.e. the belly) region of recipient mice, the recipient mice were protected against fat gain and the development of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance, both hallmark features of type 2 diabetes. Something about fat from the lower regions of the body seemed to have protective effects against weight gain and disease.
In a review I co-authored for the international journal Obesity Reviews last year, several epidemiological studies suggest that having a high waist to hip ratio (i.e. your waist circumference divided by your hip circumference) is a better predictor of death from cardiovascular disease than having a large waist, regardless of your waist circumference or how much belly fat you have.
In brief, if you're a sufficiently pear-shaped, your risk of dying from metabolic disorders such as cardiovascular disease is less than that of people who are more apple-shaped, even if you're larger overall.
So, are you an apple or a pear? To calculate your waist hip ratio, divide your waist circumference as determined above by your hip circumference. When measuring your hip circumference, look at yourself side-on in the mirror and measure your hip circumference at the point where your bum sticks out the most.
Waist hip ratio is not widely used in public health initiatives because it's more fiddly to measure than waist circumference and because more research is required to determine what the cut points should be (i.e. the value of waist hip ratio above which your risk of metabolic diseases is markedly increased).
Over the years, however, a waist hip ratio of around 0.7 for women has been considered ideal in terms of attractiveness. For instance, Maralyn Munroe, Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, Sophia Loren and even the Venus de Milo had a waist hip ratio close to 0.7, even though they were all very different in terms of overall size.
In terms of metabolic health, research suggests that if your waist hip ratio is less than 0.8 for women and less than 0.9 for men, you're doing well.
With my own waist hip ratio of 0.733 (74 cm divided by 101 cm), I'm feeling pretty good about my prospects for long-term metabolic health, even though I'm more Venus de Milo than Audrey Hepburn.
Over to you
Here's something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.
As a first step towards determining your ideal healthy size and weight, it's helpful to take stock of how you measure up against research into metabolic health.
If your waist circumference is over 80 cm for women or over 94 cm for men, then stripping weight until your waist falls under these cut points is one of the best things you can do for your long term health and longevity. Every kilo you lose will result in an approximately 1 cm loss from your waist.
Next, take a peek at your BMI. If it's much over 25, then aiming for a BMI of 24.9 or less is a prudent move.
If your waist circumference and BMI are in the normal healthy range, and if you've got a waist hip ratio below 0.8 for women or below 0.9 for men, you're doing well. In fact, if you're lean and the only part of your body you want to strip fat from is your hips and thighs, like Zena, then doing so probably won't do your health any good, and it may even increases your chances of developing metabolic diseases later in life.
If it feels like you're a long way from your ideal healthy size and weight, you may find it helpful to focus on how much weight you've lost and how long it's been since you were at your highest ever weight.
Losing 10, 20, 50 or 80 kilos can feel like an insurmountable task. But when you focus on how far you've come rather than how far you've still got to go, it can give you the encouragement and confidence you need to keep going.
These simple measurements of weight, height and waist and hip circumference can give you ballpark figures to aim for as you lose weight. However, your actual best weight may wind up being a good few kilos above or below these cut points of 'normal' values.
Next month I'm going to show you how to fine-tune your size and weight targets and teach you the acid test that will show you what weight you're biologically meant to be.
Have a wonderful month, and I look forward to meeting you in Perth this month if you'd like to take advantage of my Perth workshops or face-to-face coaching opportunities.
Sincerely yours,
Amanda
Dr Amanda
Connect with your body
www.DrAmandaOnline.com
What our readers say...
"Dear Dr Amanda, Thank you for liberating me from the guilt trip I've been on every time I eat and giving me the tools I needed to begin losing weight i.e. your satiety rules combined with knowledge of our body's famine reaction and fat brake. I bought your book earlier this year out of desperation, after seeing an add on facebook. I'm so glad I did, since then my husband has read it and I've bought a copy for a friend (I've never previously recommended any weight loss theory that I've read to anyone! as for yours, I can't stop talking about it to everyone I know). Although I did not begin to use it straight away, it did make me change the way I approach food and think about it. It wasn't until about 5 weeks ago that I put it into action and the weight is still coming off very easily. What I didn't have when I began the book was the right motivation to lose the weight for 'me'. After two years of trying to get pregnant with out second child and weighing in at 130 kilograms I knew after numerous tests came back negative, that my weight was the likely culprit. 5wks later I am 7 kilos lighter, and although this may not seem like much for someone who has more than 50 kilos to lose, for me it is huge. I've never lost so much weight so quickly and easily and all while eating 4 decent meals a day. Now that I've begun to eat mostly 'real' foods and cut most of the crap from my diet, I find that my body does not require such large portions so often (because it is not starving due to malnutrition!). I've gotten to the point where I no longer have to pay such close attention to my levels of hunger or satiety, my body self regulates it and I eat accordingly. I always used to watch 'skinny' people eat and wonder how can you eat so little and be full. I know find that I'm doing the same. I'm not skinny yet but my body has learnt to appreciate 'real' wholesome food. Thank you for opening my eyes. God bless you. "
- Josephine Okon, Victoria