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..Empowering People with Challenges |
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ADULT BMI Calculator*Do you have an ideal weight??
The National Institutes of Health now recommends that everyone should have his or her waist measured because being big around the middle puts people at greater risk for heart disease and stroke. A man's waist should measure no more than 40 inches around, and a woman's no more than 35 inches. Those with larger waists are at high risk for complications for obesity. But is a lb.. a lb.. ??? For people living with HIV/AIDS, experts are finding out that it is not only your total body weight that is important, but also you Lean Body Mass index -- LBM -- (i.e. your muscle to fat ratio) that is important. Some people, for example, may start to have wasting syndrome but their total body weight remains the same. This is due the fact that lean muscle tissue is being lost, but their is an increase in body fat. For others, especially those that work out and lift weights, BMI can be misleading. Lean Body Mass (LBM) can only be measured with diagnostic instruments by a qualified health professional. If you have HIV/AIDS ask your doctor about LBM, the BIA test, and/or DEXA scans for lipodystrophy.
*According to the CDC these are the ranges for Adults, for information about teens, please see the BMI page at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/bmi/index.htm This page will explain in more detail what a BMI is, and how it is calculated.
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© 2004 The Guardian Health Association, Inc |
