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Friday, 22 November 2013

How Important is it to Maintain a Healthy Weight?

What exactly is a healthy weight? Medical professionals often use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine whether you're overweight or not, although this is a flawed system, since your weight is set against your height. The taller you are, the heavier you can be without being classed as overweight. However, this does not take into account muscle mass, so that if you're extremely athletic and muscular, you could be considered overweight or obese despite being very fit and perfectly healthy.

Waist measurement is another way to determine whether you could stand to lose a few pounds, so that if you're a woman with a waist measurement over 35 inches or a man with one over 40 inches you could be at greater risk of developing health problems. Once again, though, no allowances are made for your activity levels. Just because you're carrying extra weight doesn't necessarily mean you lead an inactive lifestyle and exercise is an excellent way to stay fit and improve your health prospects. How big you are doesn't necessarily reflect this.

However, most people are well aware that they're overweight in whatever way it is measured and that they do not have the kind of lifestyle which makes it easy to maintain a healthy weight. If you work long, irregular hours it is obviously going to be a challenge to fit exercise into your schedule and to take the time needed to prepare nutritious and balanced meals. You may simply eat food on the go, so that you mainly eat convenience meals and fast food. After all, when you come home from work all you want to do is sit back and relax or play with your kids. How much you weigh may not enter your mind until you have to buy clothes or you take a trip to the doctor.

It is only when you're told that your weight could lead to serious health problems that will ultimately shorten your life that you have to face up to the fact that your weight can no longer be ignored. Losing weight is difficult and so it is convenient to tell yourself that you're just big-boned or that you're curvy rather than overweight, but weight is not merely a superficial issue. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what dress size you wear; what matters is that you are happy and healthy. If you are carrying so much weight that your quality of life is beginning to suffer you can't continue to bury your head in the sand.

Consequently, although there may be room for manoeuvre in what constitutes a healthy weight – since everyone is different – you know when your weight is becoming a problem. If you're too skinny or too heavy to live the kind of life you want, then it is obviously time to address the issue of your weight. For most people it is carrying too much weight that is the problem, but being underweight can also be detrimental to your health, as extremely skinny individuals will already know. It is therefore reasonably important to maintain a healthy weight for the sake of your physical and mental well-being.

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