{"id":68038,"date":"2017-12-05T23:25:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-06T04:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emilyfield.flywheelsites.com\/say-goodbye-to-bmi\/"},"modified":"2021-06-03T08:36:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T13:36:41","slug":"say-goodbye-to-bmi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/blog\/say-goodbye-to-bmi\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Goodbye to BMI"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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You\u2019ve heard of it, I\u2019m sure. Whether that be from a news story, healthcare provider, or on the morning radio show on the way into work, you\u2019re likely acutely aware if your BMI is in the \u201cnormal\u201d range or if it\u2019s not.<\/p>

BMI stands for “Body Mass Index”\u00a0and I believe it\u2019s among the lamest<\/em>\u00a0tools for measuring someone\u2019s individual health risk for chronic conditions.<\/p>

For most people, having more weight on your frame means you have a higher percentage of body fat. The idea is – the higher the percentage of body fat, the more risk you have for chronic disease. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to assess body fat, so BMI is used in population based settings (think employer-based screenings, public health settings, and schools). But here’s the thing: a higher percent body fat does not always <\/em>mean<\/em> an increased risk for chronic disease.<\/p>

While the BMI measure might have a place in public assessment settings, providing a snapshot of the overall body size of a group of people (and that\u2019s pretty much it) it does little to tell us about the health of that population. And, for that reason, I believe \u201cBMI\u201d and \u201chealth\u201d should remain exclusive and unrelated to each other.<\/p>

In this post, I ‘ll share 3 better ways to measure your health as it relates to body size, body fat, or body composition.<\/p>

Keep in mind, however, that these are only THREE out of hundreds of ways you could measure health. A person\u2019s body shape, size and composition might give some insight to how their eating, moving and taking time to care for themselves, but it’s only part of the picture. But for my clients, looking at these measures indicates that they are eating nourishing foods, participating in movement that makes them happy, and actively working to manage their stress and sleep habits.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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body measurements<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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They\u2019ll ebb and flow, obviously, but when you\u2019re focusing on eating enough of the RIGHT stuff, in balance for your lifestyle, you\u2019ll likely gain inches where could gain, and lose inches where you could lose.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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the way your clothes fit<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When your clothes fit better not only will you carry yourself differently, but that confidence spills into many other areas of your life, including nurturing other health habits. I would argue that if your clothes are fitting better it\u2019s because your stress hormone, cortisol is lower, leading to less midsection bloat. Or that you\u2019re eating enough of the right stuff to pinch inches in specific areas. Or that you\u2019re putting in some time to build your larger muscle groups, which make you more lean, toned and fit.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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lean muscle gain<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Building muscle on your frame is a direct reflection of eating enough of the right stuff (i.e. carbohydrates and protein) to support your strength-based workouts. More lean muscle means a higher metabolism and a higher metabolism often means lower body fat. Lower body fat can also mean lower risk for chronic conditions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Here\u2019s the deal, we can measure health in a number of ways depending on the lens we use. And, in this case, when we use the lens that relates health to body size and composition, my clients are changing specific habits related to their eating pattern, physical activity and stress management to see change here.<\/p>

Don\u2019t sweat which category your BMI sits today.<\/em><\/p>

Take steps to change your body shape only if you want to, whether that\u2019s because you’re motivated to bring down biometrics like blood pressure and blood sugar. Or, take steps to change your body shape for aesthetics because you\u2019d be more comfortable and confident with less body fat and more lean muscle on your frame. Chances are, while working toward your goals to take better care of yourself emotionally, physically, or mentally, you\u2019ll be adopting changes to your routine that will pay off – or show off – in other areas.<\/p>

You\u2019re not either healthy or unhealthy. Healthy living is a spectrum on which you can take steps to eat better, move more, stress less – among so many other habits. You might value something completely different than me in terms of health and that\u2019s ok, too!<\/p>

My role in my clients’ journey is to help them better their health through improving the quality of their nutrition, supporting sustainable eating habits, and improving mindset around food. If that sounds like something you crave, consider applying for coaching – we have group and individual programs available!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Interested in group or individual coaching?<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tapply here<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMI stands for “Body Mass Index” and I believe it\u2019s among the lamest tools for measuring someone\u2019s individual health risk for chronic conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-myth-busting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68038"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74831,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68038\/revisions\/74831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilyfieldrd.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}