This is a question that I get asked a lot as a Perth personal trainer. And it’s obvious many people are confused as to what is the ideal weight they should be in. So I thought I write a post on this so you can get a good idea. Common sense tell us that your idea weight would very much depends on your height. As a starting point, it is good to use BMI also known as Body Mass Index to gauge what your idea range of weight should be at the given height you are in.

BMI Does Not Measure Body Fat

Before I show you how to find out what’s your target weight is, let me explain to you what BMI is. Some people thought that it measures body fat percentage. It DOES NOT I must tell you and knowing your body fat percentage is very important as it indicates how much muscle tone you have.  I will cover the body fat part in later post. BMI is a common clinical screening tool used to measure weight relative to height. BMI gives you an indication the range of healthy weight you should be in.

Although BMI is very much criticised for its use in its recommendation for body weight, it is still a very useful screening method for normal population in terms of assessing the health risk according to research. Unless you’re a bodybuilder, BMI is still very much useful to you. Besides, it’s a cheap, fast and convenient way to know what your weight should be around. BTW, just so you know our boot camps do not train ladies to become bodybuilders. We don’t think our ladies want to look like one —————————–>>

How To Get Your BMI?

The good thing about BMI is super simple! All you need is the following:

• Calculator
• Your Height
• Weighing Scale

Once you got your height and your weight, input them into the following formula:

BMI = Your Body Weight/(your height x your height)

For example, you weigh in at 70kg (Your Body Weight) and you’re 1.6m tall (your height) and the BMI equation will end up like the following:

BMI = 70kg/(1.6m x 1.6m) = 27.3

Very simple huh! Ok now that we got your BMI, let’s look at the established figured from a textbook titled “Essentials of Exercise Phyisology”.

BMI Classification of Obesity & Associated Risk of Illness

Classification	BMI	Risk of Associated Illnesses
Underweight	less than 18.5	Low
Normal range	18.5-24.9	Average
Overweight	equal or more than 25	N.A.
Pre-Obese	25-29.9	Increased
Obese Class I	30.0-34.9	Moderate
Obese Class II	35-39.9	Severe
Obese Class III	equal or more than 40.0	Very Severe

Based on BMI of 27.3, the person would be classified as “Pre-Obese” according to the table above. And obviously the immediate thing to do is get back into the “normal range”  which is between 18.5-24.9. If you hit “Obese Class III”, I tell ya it is not going to be very fun because your quality of life will be suffering. Read the associated health risk near the end of this blog post and you know what I mean.

What’s Your Target Weight?

Easy! Use the BMI equation again. But this time said you aim for BMI of 24.9, you would input this BMI number and height without the bodyweight into the equation below.

Your Target weight = BMI x (your height x your height)

Your Target Weight = 24.9 x (1.6 x 1.6) = 63.7kg

So How Much Weight to Lose?

Simply current body weight minus your target weight which is 70kg – 63.7kg = 6.3kg

So what Are the Health Risk Associated with Excess Body Weight?

They are as followed:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Degenerative joint desease
• Cancers
• Fertility issues

I know it’s boring stuff to know all the diseases associated with excess weight but thought you might want to know that losing excess weight not only make you look good it also prevent host of undesirable diseases.

Thanks again for reading this blog and let me know if you have questions or feedback by leaving a comment in the comment section below.

Have a Great Australia Day!

TC

P.S.  I’ll be back later with another post about how much body fat you should be in and how you can measure it. Stay updated with the latest blog post by subscribing to this blog with you email below:

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Tagged as: BMI, body fat, bodyweight, diseases, fat loss, fitness, Perth, Perth personal trainer, risk, weight loss