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How to measure your body shape

There are many ways to calculate your size and weight. Weight is easy with a scale but the way to measure your size is usually done using the Body Mass Index, a measurement I have never been a big fan of. Here is that and more. This info is from Health Canada but even if you are not a Canadian I think it is still relelvent.

Body Mass Index
The body mass index (BMI) assesses body weight relative to height. You can calculate your BMI by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing

it by your height in metres squared (BMI = kg/m2) or your weight in pounds divided by the square of your height in inches and multiplying that number by 704.5 (BMI = Ib/in2 x 704.5). But you don’t need to do the math yourself. You can check your BMI on a standard BMI table found in many pharmacies and medical offices. If you have access to the Internet, there are many interactive BMI calculators that will do the math for you after you enter your height and weight.

How to measure your body shape

Once you know your BMI, you can use it to help determine how healthy your weight is in relation to your height.

  • BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight.
  • BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered the normal, healthy range.
  • BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered over­weight.
  • BMI over 30 is considered obese.

The BMI is only one indicator of a healthy weight. It has limitations and does not apply to children, pregnant women, or people with very muscular bodies. If your BMI falls outside what is generally considered healthy, ask your doctor what would be a healthy range for you.

Hip-to-Waist Ratio

Fat stored around the abdomen (the “apple­shaped” body) raises the risk of cardiovascular disease more than fat stored in the hip area (the”pear-shaped” body), so the hip-to-waist ratio (HWR) can be a useful tool in determining your risk of weight-related health problems.

To calculate your HWR, measure your waist at the smallest part-generally a few centimetres above your navel-then measure your hips at the widest point, including your buttocks. Now divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement to determine your hip-to-waist ratio.

Women with an HWR greater than 0.8 and men with an HWR greater than 1 .0 have a higher risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes and should try to reduce their abdominal body fat.

Waist Circumference

Another easy tool for determining if your weight is in the healthy range is the waist circumference (WC). A WC of 88 cm (35 in.) or more in women or 102 cm (40 in.) or more in men carries a higher risk for health problems.

Achieving a Healthy Weight

To encourage healthy eating, Health Canada has developed Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating, which outlines the four main food groups and explains which foods fall into which group and how many servings we should choose from each group every day. A copy of this guide is available at www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide­alimenVindex_e.html. Recently, the Food Guide was expanded to include a variety of multicultural variations. They are available in a number of languages at www.nutritionrc.ca/guide.html.

One of the keys to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is portion control. A number of studies have shown that many people under­estimate the number of calories they consume daily, primarily because they don’t understand how much is in “a portion.” Here is a practical way of estimating the size of a portion of some common foods.

  • Vegetables fruit: about the size of your fist
  • Pasta or rice: about the size of one scoop of ice cream
  • Meat, fish, or poultry: about the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm (without the fingers)
  • Cheese: about the size of a pair of dice or the size of your thumb from the tip to the base

Physical Activity

Although dieting alone can help you lose weight, adding exercise into your daily schedule can speed up the process. The goal of exercise in a weight loss program is to help burn more calories. Exercise itself, apart from its role in weight loss, has many health benefits-even for people whose weight is in the healthy range. But before you start any exercise program, check with your doctor to make sure that the activity you are planning is appropriate in terms of your age, overall health, and state of physical fitness.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Does Aspirin Really Lower Heart Attack Risk?

aspirinWe have all believed that aspirin use will lower the risk of heart attack, mostly because it thins the blood. The problem I have always foudn though is that too much aspirin will stop the blood from clotting quickly and this in itself almost led to a quick trip to the hospital for my wife last year.

This new study below though seems to show that it is not so obvious as to weather Aspirin really helps to prevent heart attacks but in itself it is a good read with lots of findings

Long-term, low-dose aspirin provides no clear net value for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in apparently healthy adults, according to a meta-analysis of patient-level data.

In people not known to have cardiovascular disease, aspirin reduced composite MI, stroke, and vascular death rates to 0.51% per year compared with 0.57% among controls for a relative 12% reduction, according to Colin Baigent, B.M.B.Ch., of the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues in the Antithrombotic Trialists’ Collaboration.

But the major gastrointestinal and extracranial bleeding rate rose from 0.07% per year among controls to 0.10% among those receiving aspirin for primary prevention (, the researchers reported in the May 30 issue of The Lancet.

Aspirin Bleeding Risks

Importantly, the bleeding risk rose right along with cardiovascular risk level, the cooperative group said.

Guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Heart Association largely ignore any differences in bleeding risk, and recommend wide use of aspirin for primary prevention in patients at moderately elevated heart disease risk, the researchers noted.

However, there was no threshold cardiovascular risk level that appeared to have a sufficient benefit-to-bleeding risk ratio among the 95,000 participants in the six long-term primary prevention trials included in the meta-analysis, Dr. Baigent said.

“Current guidelines may need to be reviewed,” he said.

Lowering Heart Attack Risk Factors

For primary prevention, “the main strategies ought to be really stopping smoking — if people smoke — then if further measures are needed, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol,” Dr. Baigent said. “The benefits of adding aspirin to all that does not clearly outweigh the hazards.”

In the meta-analysis, the benefit for major coronary event risk reduction was driven by a 23% proportional reduction in nonfatal MI (0.18% with aspirin versus 0.23% for controls per year.

The number needed to treat for one year to prevent one non-fatal heart attack was 2,000, Dr. Baigent said.

No clear reduction in mortality from coronary heart disease (0.11% versus 0.12% per year) or overall mortality emerged with use of long-term, low-dose aspirin.

The relative risk reduction appeared similar for men and women  and for those at each level of cardiovascular risk  with predicted 5-year risk of coronary heart disease rising from less than 2.5% to 10% or more).

Older age, male sex, diabetes, and high blood pressure were associated with significantly elevated absolute ischemic stroke and major coronary event risk, but also with significantly increased risk of major extracranial bleeding and at least a trend for hemorrhagic stroke as well.

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Does Aspirin Really Lower Heart Attack Risk?

aspirinWe have all believed that aspirin use will lower the risk of heart attack, mostly because it thins the blood. The problem I have always foudn though is that too much aspirin will stop the blood from clotting quickly and this in itself almost led to a quick trip to the hospital for my wife last year.

This new study below though seems to show that it is not so obvious as to weather Aspirin really helps to prevent heart attacks but in itself it is a good read with lots of findings

Long-term, low-dose aspirin provides no clear net value for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in apparently healthy adults, according to a meta-analysis of patient-level data.

In people not known to have cardiovascular disease, aspirin reduced composite MI, stroke, and vascular death rates to 0.51% per year compared with 0.57% among controls for a relative 12% reduction, according to Colin Baigent, B.M.B.Ch., of the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues in the Antithrombotic Trialists’ Collaboration.

But the major gastrointestinal and extracranial bleeding rate rose from 0.07% per year among controls to 0.10% among those receiving aspirin for primary prevention (, the researchers reported in the May 30 issue of The Lancet.

Aspirin Bleeding Risks

Importantly, the bleeding risk rose right along with cardiovascular risk level, the cooperative group said.

Guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American Heart Association largely ignore any differences in bleeding risk, and recommend wide use of aspirin for primary prevention in patients at moderately elevated heart disease risk, the researchers noted.

However, there was no threshold cardiovascular risk level that appeared to have a sufficient benefit-to-bleeding risk ratio among the 95,000 participants in the six long-term primary prevention trials included in the meta-analysis, Dr. Baigent said.

“Current guidelines may need to be reviewed,” he said.

Lowering Heart Attack Risk Factors

For primary prevention, “the main strategies ought to be really stopping smoking — if people smoke — then if further measures are needed, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol,” Dr. Baigent said. “The benefits of adding aspirin to all that does not clearly outweigh the hazards.”

In the meta-analysis, the benefit for major coronary event risk reduction was driven by a 23% proportional reduction in nonfatal MI (0.18% with aspirin versus 0.23% for controls per year.

The number needed to treat for one year to prevent one non-fatal heart attack was 2,000, Dr. Baigent said.

No clear reduction in mortality from coronary heart disease (0.11% versus 0.12% per year) or overall mortality emerged with use of long-term, low-dose aspirin.

The relative risk reduction appeared similar for men and women  and for those at each level of cardiovascular risk  with predicted 5-year risk of coronary heart disease rising from less than 2.5% to 10% or more).

Older age, male sex, diabetes, and high blood pressure were associated with significantly elevated absolute ischemic stroke and major coronary event risk, but also with significantly increased risk of major extracranial bleeding and at least a trend for hemorrhagic stroke as well.

Recent Tags: лук archery oz характеристика

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  • Related Blogs on Fitness