What’s Wrong With Weight ChartsGoing for the 3 Increases: Increase in Health, Increase in

Happiness & Increase in Energy

Strategies for Success in Weight ManagementBy: James J. Messina, Ph.D.

Calculating Lean Body Mass

The best weight for you is your lean body mass (everything but fat) plus just the amount of fat necessary for good health:

10 percent to 18 percent of total body weight for men

18 percent to 25 percent of total body weight for women

A health professional can estimate percentage by measuring body fat with skinfold caliper

Body Mass Index

Most people do not have their lean body mass measured

A more common, but less accurate, way to determine your ideal weight is to use standard weight charts based on a person's height and frame

BMI: Measures weight (in kilograms) divided by height, squared

Body Mass Index Ranges

18 or less underweight (increased health risk)

19 to 24 ideal weight

25 to 29 overweight (increased health risk)

30 or higher excessively overweight (significant health risk)

Ideal Calculated Weight

For Men: 106 lbs. plus six lbs. for each inch in height over five feet

For Women: 100 lbs. plus five lbs. for each inch in height over five feet

Using NIH guidelines, roughly 100 pounds greater than the ideal Calculated Weight constitutes clinically severe obesity

How the charts got started

1942, Louis Dublin, a statistician at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, grouped four million of MetLife insured Put categories based on height, body frame (small, medium or large) & weight

Discovered who lived longest were ones who maintained their body weight at the level for average 25-year-olds

How the charts got started

Metropolitan Life tables widely used for determining recommended body weights

1942 tables gave "ideal body weights“1959 revised as"desirable body weights“1983 revised as "height and weight tables" Weights given in the 1983 tables are heavier

than the 1942 tables because, in general, heavier people live longer today

Critique of MetLife Charts

1. Insured people tend to be healthier than uninsured people

2. Frame size was never consistently measured3. People included were predominantly white &

middle-classed4. Some persons were actually weighed, some

were not5. Some wore shoes and/or clothing, some did not6. Tables do not consider percentage of body fat or

distribution known as factors in longevity

Use of the Charts

Many experts say 1942 tables are more accurate because they indicate lower "ideal weights"

Many experts support the use of the 1983 tables, citing that these are the latest statistical sampling of such matters

The American Heart Association recommends using 1959 tables rather than the newer tables that suggest somewhat higher weights

Charts make it obvious

US Army, US National Center for Health Statistics, North American Association for Study of Obesity & USDA

There is no consensus of "ideal body weight" It is different for every individualDepends on health, body fat content &

distribution, musculature, age, activity, metabolism, & other factors not simple to measure accurately

What we learn from looking at charts

You & your physician or dietitian must decide what your ideal weight should be

You probably have an idea what that weight is

Start conservatively If you reach your target weight & still feel

you need to trim off additional weight, you always have option to set a new target goal.

Online Weight Chart resources

http://www.metlife.com/Lifeadvice/Tools/Heightnweight/index.html

http://www.imchubby.com/fwchartm.shtml http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/primry/life15.ht

m

http://www.bcbsga.com/services/quizzes/heart/wellsource_heart/weight.htm