Am I FAT?

I get a lot of people asking me "what should I weigh?", OR "I am 5'4, where should I be?" For the record, I don't know. I am not a "Mind-Reader."

The question you should really ask yourself is where do you want to be OR feel good at?

There are many ways to get a "baseline" idea of where you stand and where you SHOULD BE. Today, I want to go over just one of the most common and yet flawed forms of measuring "YOUR FAT" and potential weight gain.

BMI--- Body Mass Index.

The BMI stands for body mass index. This is what doctors normally use to say whether or not you are overweight... the BMI measures the relationship between your height and weight. It's simple and really easy to do.

How to measure: Take your body weight (BW) divided by your height

Ex) Here are my numbers

17o(lbs)/5.7= 29.8

* Yikes Im Fat!!! Not really though.

The BMI measures you based on height and weight BUT not on activity level. What I mean is, if you are a "NON-active" and have an office-job... then the BMI test will be a fairly accurate reading. But if you "ARE active" and exercise 3-4 days a week consistently and religiously, then the you can throw the BMI out the window... because it will not apply.

WHY?

The BMI does not take muscle mass into consideration. Hence that is why "MY" BMI of 30, reads thats I am OBESE! Obviously, I am not.

It is important to know the reasoning and how the BMI works. Too often doctors and un-skilled trainees use the BMI as there ONLY means of weight measurement.

Remember... if you have a pure workout regime, doing both strength training and endurance work, and are getting quite a bit of RESULTS, then DO NOT use the BMI--- However if you are averaging less then 4 workouts a month, then the BMI is a perfect measure for YOU.

It's that simple!

Stay tuned... still to come, how to read and analyze your Body Fat!

P.S I almost forgot... Use the BMI chart below to see where you fall in the overweight ranks...

Normal--- 18-25

Overweight--- 25-30 "YOU should hire me as your Personal Trainer"

Obese--- 30> "You MUST hire me as your Personal Trainer.