Surely you have ever come across the BMI, which stands for the Body Mass Index . In a medical check-up or simply when weighing yourself and measuring yourself in a pharmacy, you will have found a number that places you in a health range according to your measurement and weight. Well, today we explain how it is obtained and to what extent it is important to take it into account.
Let's not forget the fat percentage
Before going to explain the Body Mass Index, it is relevant to also recognize the percentage of fat as another of the fundamental values to classify our physical state. You will easily recognize it under the abbreviation % GC .
In this case, the title says it all. It will be an index to measure the lipid level of our body . Why this? Well basically because a body will have weight for the excess fat, as well as for the weight of the bone and muscular system . In this way, this measure will take only the percentage of fat, saving our system itself.
Unlike the body mass index that is obtained with a simple mathematical operation, we must recognize that the calculation of the percentage of body fat is somewhat more complicated to obtain , remaining practically in the hands of heavy hospital machinery . Although there are more than complex equations to obtain percentages of fat, you will end up resorting to machines such as bioimpedance scales or lipocalibres (the typical clamp that takes the michelín) to make an approximate calculation.
Broadly speaking, bioimpedance will be a technique in which the amounts of water and lean mass (fat) in our bodies will be measured through the electric current. Intermingled with age, height and even sex, a definitive data is obtained. This is a good example of how complex it is to obtain the data. We definitely recommend going to an expert before doing your home accounts.
How is the Body Mass Index obtained?
The BMI does present a simple and comfortable calculation to be performed by anyone. It can be defined as the relationship given between the weight and height of a person, key to detect overweight. The account will be weight in kilograms divided by the measurement in square meters. The resulting number will place you on a scale between underweight, normal weight, and up to two degrees of overweight and four degrees of obesity, concluding with extreme obesity.
This time it will not matter the age of the person or sex , although we must bear in mind that we are in an adult age . As a general rule, a child will still have to grow and the relationship between height and weight becomes unreliable. Regarding official data, the World Health Organization will consider that a BMI greater than 25 is overweight, and greater than 30 obesity .
Is there a relationship between both magnitudes?
Once we know the two fundamental measures, we must think about whether there is a true relationship between them, to which answer is yes, although with nuances . Curiously, we will have to leave athletes out of this relationship , but as a general rule, a high degree of fat percentage will be equivalent to a high Muscle Mass Index.
Let's think that a bone and muscular system (the latter with nuances) of a standard person over another of the same complexion will weigh the same, and therefore their BMI will be similar. The fat in the body will be what unbalances the balance, but in general terms one number will correlate with the other.
Athletes, no case
Finally, it is curious to note how both the Body Mass Index and the percentage of fat are magnificent scales for all types of people except for athletes . What is this about? To the muscular composition .
Every athlete is a world, and perhaps a marathoner will not have excessive muscle tone or seek it, but as a general rule, an elite athlete will have defined muscles, and with it a greater body weight that is not associated with fat .
Despite this, BMI does not differentiate weight between muscle weight and lipid weight, and something similar will happen with the percentage of fat when taking the total weight. Similarly, an athlete defined as hardly fat-free will find it extremely difficult to perform the calculation.
Therefore, for wheeled athletes, these two data should not weigh excessively, and in fact they will not be representative of their physical performance or complexion. For the rest of the people, they are very accessible and valuable to take into account and control nutrition and exercise according to them.
