What is BMI?
Also called Quetelet Index (QI) and invented by Adoplhe Quetelet (1796-1874).
Originally developed to categorize a population of people and to define the characteristics of a ‘normal man’. Quetelet looked at population models and never intended to develop this index for the use it serves today.
Why BMI is not a parameter for your health
The QI was developed using data from white, European, and middle to highly educated males only and did not take into account body size and diversity in other populations and ethnicities. This is how he developed ideas about the “average person”.
Furthermore, studies have already shown that:
- People with an ‘obese’ BMI have the same risk of death as people with a ‘normal’ BMI
- People with an ‘underweight’ BMI have the highest mortality rate , especially if they have conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease.
- ⅓ of the ‘obese’ people, but with healthy blood values are healthier than ‘normal’ people with unhealthy values.
Why the scale is not a parameter for your health
Your weight may be the same as 5 years ago, but you still feel fitter now?
Today you weigh 75 kilograms and you have a nice proportion of muscles, but 3 years ago you weighed 72 kilograms, but you had virtually no muscles.
This all has to do with your body composition and are therefore factors that that number on the scale does not take into account.
Your weight will also fluctuate . One day 500 grams more, the next day 300 less.
Your average weight will remain the same, but you still panicked by seeing those 500 grams more.
Maybe you don’t feel strong and fit at all?
Maybe you realize that you actually feel stronger, fitter, more beautiful and more confident with 2 kilograms more?
Don’t set goals based on a number on the scale.
Use other parameters like:
- Less energy dips in the afternoon
- Less intestinal complaints
- Less fatigued
- Better endurance during sports
- Can you carry the groceries with one hand?
So do you really want to weigh 70 kilograms or do you just want to feel better about yourself?
Also remember that the scale does not take your body composition into account. Fat mass, muscle or fluid. The scale measures your total weight.
If you have lost 5 kilograms on the scale through a week of detoxing, it may still be that you now actually have a less healthy body composition than before .
If, on the other hand, you suddenly weigh 3 kilograms more because you do strength training, this can only be positive for your health. Even if that number on the scale seems to want to tell you something else. Your fat mass has decreased and your muscle mass has increased, but you are still not happy.
Your mental scale
What about your mental health?
Do you experience a lot of stress, do you suffer from worrying behavior or are you actually unhappy at work?
All factors that also contribute to your health plummeting because stress reactions in your body cause inflammation.
Although this parameter may be one of the most important before you can move on to the rest, it is also the most difficult. Because how do you ‘turn off’ your stress?
Start with the following:
- Stop looking for your miracle diet
- Find a coach who can help you with some time management, relaxation techniques, or things that will boost your mental health
- Find activities you really enjoy doing – whether that be sports, music, socializing or playing with the kids
Your exercise scale
You don’t have to immediately run 10 km 3 times a week and don’t go to the gym right away to get started with the bench press. Here too, it is important to set achievable and fun goals.
Start with sitting breaks. Break your sitting time every hour and raise your heart rate for 1 to 2 minutes. This seems like a good first step, especially in a society with many sedentary jobs.
When you sit, you put your body in ‘breakdown mode’. You lose muscle mass.
Loss of muscle mass means: loss of energy because it is literally your energy factories – the mitochondria – that you are breaking down.
Hello spiermassa, hello sitting breaks!
- Are you going to the copier? Do some jumping jacks (star jumps) while copying
- toilet visit? Go to the toilet – let your colleagues think it was urgent – and do some squats before or after your toilet visit
- Doing a wall sitting competition with colleagues?!
Also read this blog post about optimal combustion .
Your general diet
In sports nutrition we sometimes see the phenomenon that supplements are started, taking creatine, but not yet eating one piece of fruit a day.
Don’t make resolutions such as never drinking alcohol again, cutting all sugar out of your life or never pizza again. Or does that seem feasible to you?
Start by putting your general diet under the scanner and see if these things are right:
- Do you drink enough water?
- Do you eat fruits and vegetables every day?
- Do you eat whole grain products?
- Eat enough protein and healthy fats
- Do you eat sugars in a limited way?
In summary
Good parameters to map your health are:
- Your mental health
- Your exercise scale
- Your general diet
And not:
- Your BMI
- Your scale
So throw that scale out now.
