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March 18, 2017

BMI VS Body Fat Percentage - Concerned About Your BMI Being High? Read This Article To Find Out Why Perhaps You Shouldn't Be

Weight loss, Body Fat, Body Mass Index

78487858-1BMI, body fat percentage or total weight are all things that can be measured to assess a person's physical shape.

However, they all measure totally different things.

Many clients that come to the DVCC are concerned that their doctor has told them their BMI is high. While I can understand why being told such a thing would worry a person, high BMI doesn't actually tell the whole story.

BMI stands for body mass index and is calculated by dividing your weight in kilos by your height in metres and then dividing that result again by your height. 

The problem with this calculation and way of analysing a person's physical shape is that it doesn't take into account what the majority of a person's weight is made up of.

Usain-BoltA sprinter, for example, would likely have a high BMI.

The reason for this would be that sprinters usually have a high amount of muscle, which is required for the explosive short distances they run for. 

BMI is used by all types of health organisations across the world including the NHS. It tells very little about a person's health or health risks.

Unfortunately, although it is not an accurate way to measure health, it is used because it is cheap.

A simple mathematical calculation which costs almost nothing, whereas bringing in a proper piece of equipment which will show more detail, would be more costly.

Body fat percentage on the other hand shows a lot more about a person's health and potential health risks. Having a high amount of body fat has been linked with many diseases. 

body-fat-typesBody fat percentage essentially shows what percentage of your body make up is fat. There are 2 different types of fat - subcutaneous (fat on the surface below the skin) and visceral (deeper fat, stored around your organs), although these are usually shown as one complete figure and not broken down individually.

If you are trying to become more healthy and lose weight, you want to be aiming to bring down the amount of body fat which you carry. It is possible to add muscle and also lose body fat which overall would put you in a more healthy position if measured with a body fat analysis machine.

However, if you were to get the same result of losing fat and building muscle of around the same proportion, your BMI would be unaffected, which could leave you feeling less likely to continue your journey to better health. 

At the DVCC we don't pay attention to total weight or BMI. The reason for this is because they don't show an increase in health. We pay close attention to the divide of muscle to body fat and how that changes from week to week during the regular progress trackers we have with clients.

I have had clients lose 5 lbs of fat and gain 5 lbs of muscle within 2-3 weeks; despite their BMI or total weight not changing, they always feel different, clothes become looser, they feel slimmer and more healthy.

I hope this has given you a quick overview of why BMI is not something that should concern you as opposed to your body fat percentage.

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