Your Healthcare Provider Can Help You Understand BMI and Recommendations
February 13, 2024
You may have heard the term BMI. But what does it mean, and how does it help your healthcare provider make recommendations for your best health?
“The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure that uses height and weight to determine an individual’s ideal weight, mostly trying to determine how much of our weight is fat,” says Ryan Jones, MD, of Lakewood Ranch Medical Group Primary Care. “Having an understanding of a patient’s BMI can be a helpful predictor of future serious health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, sleep apnea, certain types of cancer and other conditions linked to excess weight,” he says. “Likewise, being underweight places individuals at risk for a different set of health issues, including hair loss, anemia, vitamin deficiency, irregular menstrual periods and bone loss, to name a few.”
Assessing BMI
To arrive at your BMI measurement, you’ll probably need a calculator. The formula involves dividing your weight (in pounds) by height (in inches) squared and multiplying that result by a conversion factor of 703. For most adults, an ideal BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Assessing an individual’s BMI can be helpful information for both doctor and patient, but it’s important to use the measure carefully,” says Dr. Jones. “For example, since muscle weighs more than fat, BMI is not always a helpful assessment for athletes who have a high muscle mass.”
Additionally, women may have more body fat than men, as may certain ethnic groups and older individuals, according to the CDC. It’s important to talk to your healthcare provider about the appropriate health assessments for you.
Personalized screenings
In addition to BMI, health screening assessments, individualized for each patient, help to guide recommendations by the primary care physicians at Lakewood Ranch Medical Group. These include tests for fasting blood glucose levels to identify patients who might be prediabetic or diabetic and yearly screenings for elevated cholesterol. Having high blood pressure and snoring can also be symptoms of a patient having a weight that is out of range, according to Dr. Jones.
Diet and exercise
“First and foremost, weight loss is often achieved by controlling our diet,” says Dr. Jones. “The DASH diet [Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension] can be helpful. This entails limiting sugar-sweetened beverages, foods high in saturated fat and full-fat dairy products. The diet focuses on nutrition goals more than specific foods, so it can be tailored to most people. I also recommend the Keto diet, where appropriate, which includes eating mostly meat and vegetables, specifically lean meats, such as turkey, chicken and fish.
For exercise, I recommend starting small. Drastic changes usually do not last,” says Dr. Jones. “Anything that increases the heart rate and can be practiced consistently is advisable. For some, it may be walking a mile every day with their pet. For others, who have arthritis, water aerobics can be a great fit. More ideas include yoga, biking and jogging, which can be practiced at a slower pace. Finding an exercise routine that you really enjoy can often help the most with making it stick.” *
*Consult your healthcare provider before beginning any diet or exercise program.