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KEEP
YOUR BELLY FLAT
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“Your calculations of the body mass index (BMI) are too complicated.
I have read of easier ways to calculate the ideal weight. Do you
know any of these formulas?
Jessica Lavista
Naples, Italy.
...............
The easiest approach is to use waist measurement. It is as easy as
using a measuring tape to find the perimeter of your belly around
your umbilicus. Then measure the perimeter of your pelvis around the
hip. The peri-umbilicus measurement should be lower than the
measurement taken around the hips. The larger your abdomen, compared
to your hip contour, the more likely you are to develop all kinds of
chronic debilitating diseases, from arthritis to stroke.
Worse news, the Quebec Family Study, the results of which are
published in the latest issue of the American Journal of Nutrition
(Sep 2001), found that abdominal girth was INDEPENDENTLY
associated
with a higher rate of heart diseases. That means no matter
how
healthy you are or look, the larger your belly the more likely you
are to be plagued at an early age with heart troubles.
The study is consistent with the deduction that a narrow waist and a
large hip protect against cardiovascular diseases. It leads to
believe that Jennifer Lopez will never die. Conclusion: keep your
belly flat is an unbending priority.
If you want to know what your ideal weight should be, relative to
your height, you may use this simple formula: For women, 100 pounds
for the first 5 feet, and 5 pounds for each additional inch. For men,
106 pounds for the first 5 feet, and 6 pounds for each additional
inch. No need to pull your Palm Pilot for this one.
A 5’7” woman will shoot for an ideal weight of (100) + (7x5) = 135
lbs. A man, like myself, 6’6” (5’18” for the sake of the
formula)
must have a lean weight around (106) + 18x6 = 214 lbs. This plainer
method seems to yield higher target than others. That should make
you closer to your goal.
Some tables come handy. You cross-reference your height in the left
column with your ideal weight on the right. Even better, some
Internet tables will let you plug in your actual height and weight,
then tell you what your body mass index (BMI) is, and what it should
be. It makes all the calculations for you.
One of these electronic tables is at this link:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/idealw.htm.
Try it.
Nota bene: If you are 20% over your ideal weight you are overweight.
If you are 50% over your ideal weight you obese.
(OdlerRobert Jeanlouie, Friday, September 1, 2001)
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