Body Mass Index (BMI) is one way to know your ideal weight range and predict how much your health disorder is at risk. This method is used to determine a healthy weight based on weight and height.
Body mass index (BMI) numbers are used to indicate a person’s weight category whether or not they are proportional. Through BMI, one will know if their weight belongs to the normal or ideal category, excess, or even underweight. BMI examination can also determine the nutritional status of the child and assess whether the childhood obesity or not.
Body mass index is obtained by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in square meters. For some, body mass index values are likely inaccurate. Those who were pregnant, bodybuilders, or athletes with high levels of activity were a group with BMI values that did not reflect health at the time. That is, even if their BMI value is above normal, it does not mean they have excessive fat.
Body Mass Index Components
Components of the Body Mass Index consist of height and weight. Height is measured by standing perpendicularly, without the use of footwear, both hands are close to the body, the back is attached to the wall and the view is directed forward. The arm hangs relaxed on the side of the body and the movable gauge is aligned with the top of the head (vertex) and should be strengthened on thick head hair, while the weight is measured by standing on the weight scales.
Body Mass Index Factors
Body Mass Index (BMI) in each person varies, factors that affect body mass index (BMI) include:
Age
Age affects body mass index (BMI) because increasingly human age tends to rarely do exercises. When a person rarely exercises, then his weight tends to increase, so it affects the Body Mass Index (BMI).
Diet
Diet is a repetition of the food regulation that occurs during eating. The diet deals with the type, proportion and combination of foods eaten by an individual, society or group of populations. Fast food contributes to an increase in a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI), this occurs due to the high fat and sugar content in fast food.
In addition to fast food, increased portion and frequency of eating affects the increase in Body Mass Index (BMI). People who consumed high-fat foods increased their weight faster than people who consumed foods high in carbohydrates with the same calories.
Gender
BMI with overweight category is more common in men. However, higher obesity rates were found in women compared to men. Body fat distribution also differs between female and male fats, men are more likely to suffer from visceral obesity than women.
Read:
How to calculate your ideal body weight according to height and BMI
Genetic factors
INSIG2
Research conducted by boston University Medical School found that a gene called INSIG2 is responsible for obesity. The INSIG2 gene is responsible for inhibiting the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol. Some protein products from the INSIG2 gene variant have low inhibition power so people with this gene variant will tend to accumulate more fat in their body. About 1 in ten people (10%) suspected of carrying this gene variant
FTO
Another gene responsible for obesity is the FTO gene. FTO is the name of a gene located on human chromosome 16. Based on the results of the study, people who had certain variants of the FTO and had a pair of homozygous alleles of the variant in their genome (16.4% of the study subjects) weighed 3 kg heavier than ordinary people and had a 1.5 times greater risk of developing obesity than ordinary people
Thermal regulation
- Humans are basically warm-blooded creatures that consume energy to maintain their body temperature. In addition to requiring energy to maintain its body temperature (average 37 oC), a certain amount of energy is also needed to maintain the activity of vital organs such as the heart and lungs. This necessary energy comes from food consumed by a person.
- Generally, in a state of sleep, a human needs a power of 1 Watt for each kg of body weight (a human with a body weighing 65 kg will consume about 65 Watts of power, or roughly equivalent to the power needed to turn on two light bulbs). With a body weight of 65 kg, the energy consumption needed by the person every day is about 5,500 kilojoules or 1,400 kilocalories (kcal). The energy needed by humans to simply live (in a resting condition), without doing any activity was called the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR).
- Each person’s thermoregulatory mechanism varies and the energy consumption determines how much nutrients the body must burn to produce that energy. Thus, the higher a person’s BMR, the higher their energy consumption and the person need more food to maintain his body’s activity. Differences in gender, race, and height affect BMR values. Psychological conditions and air temperature are also influential.
- Because the total calorie requirement for each individual varies depending on gender, age, even ethnicity. Nutritionists generally use the Harris Benedict Formula to produce more accurate estimates of a person’s BMR value. Instead of counting itself, when there are many internet sites that have provided a simple program to calculate BMR for example a program called BMR Calculator.
Metabolism
Metabolism, briefly, is the process of processing (formation and decomposition) of substances required by the body to carry out its functions. Fat metabolism is one of the determining factors in the diet. A person can increase fat burning by increasing muscle mass in the body. When muscle mass increases, the metabolism of food will increase. Also make sure you drink plenty of water to boost your metabolism. This process will increase BMR value and calorie requirement.
Physical activity
To perform physical activity, humans need a certain amount of energy. If the energy provided by food is not enough, then energy is obtained from the breakdown of fat in the body. The following is an example of physical activity along with the calories burned per hour (in kcal/hour) required for each activity
| Activity | 50 kg (kcal/hour) | 70 kg (kcal/hour) |
| Cycling 10 km/hour | 165 | 240 |
| Cycling 20 km/hour | 270 | 410 |
| Run 9 km/hour | 440 | 660 |
| Run 16 km/hour | 850 | 1.280 |
| Swimming 23 m/minute | 185 | 275 |
| Walk 3 km/hour | 160 | 240 |
Source;
- Image: LaurensvanLieshout, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Video: Healthfirst NY
