BMI – Separating Facts From Fiction

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From time to time I read comments or articles that are critical of judging a person’s weight by using the Body Mass Index (BMI). I have heard that there is a recent film that calls its usefulness into question. Being a physician, I thought I should clarify some of the more common misconceptions surrounding it. In my next few posts I’ll discuss some of the more common myths about the BMI and point out some facts to help you understand how it should be used and why it’s important:

Myth 1 – BMI Doesn’t Really Measure Obesity

This one is partially true. The BMI uses a person’s weight & their height to calculate a measure that best approximates a person’s bulk. Clearly weight alone is not helpful since it varies according to height. Including height tends to make BMI measures more comparable. The one big flaw is that it cannot distinguish the body composition of an individual – how much of their weight is due to fat versus muscle or bone. Consequently, a muscular weight lifter who has a low amount of body fat may have a BMI that suggests he is overweight or obese. All health care professionals are aware of this limitation and would not draw any conclusions about a person’s health based on their BMI alone. But you just have to look around to realize that most of our fellow Americans are not body builders and the odds are that an elevated BMI in an American is due to an excess amount of fat.

Bottom Line: While BMI alone isn’t a perfect measure of a person’s body fat, it gives a good approximation.Health care professionals will consider it and other measurements in assessing the proper weight range for an individual.

In my next post I’ll discuss another myth I’ve heard that the BMI really is not useful.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Don’t Let Snacks Weigh You Down!

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For many of us, unhealthy snacking can quickly sabotage our weight loss plans.  While writing this post, my mind kept wandering to the kitchen thinking what I could eat.  We often reach for a bag of chips or cookies when watching television or surfing the web.  Many experts view this as a byproduct of our more sedentary lifestyle.  Not only do we not exercise and burn calories, but we add to the problem by consuming more.

If you need help with your snacking, schedule some Health-e Texts on www.InsightsForHealth.com to help you resist the temptations.  You can schedule them to remind you to stick to your healthy meal plan just when you’ll need the help.

How Do You Schedule Them?

That’s very simple:

  1. You need to go to www.InsightsForHealth.com and Register to become a member. That is absolutely free at this time. Make sure that you correctly enter your cell phone number, select your cell phone carrier and click OK to give us permission to send you text messages. Remember, applicable text message charges from your cell phone carrier will apply.
  2. Once registered, Log In to the Members Only section.
  3. Then select Health-e Texts from the menu on top. You’ll be taken to a page that describes the service and has a list of the various kinds of Health-e Texts you can send yourself on the left.
  4. Choose one of the Snack options from the list on the left & just select the start & stop dates, the time you want to receive your daily text and your time zone. Click Save & you’re done. You’ll start getting your snacking Health-e Texts on the day you chose.

View Your Health-e Text Schedule or Change Your Mind

You’ll also notice two selections at the bottom of the menu bar at the left, one will let you view your schedule of Health-e Texts and the other will allow you to delete any you choose. You’re in control.

I hope you try these out and I’ll be looking for your feedback!

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

A Poll On Weekend Snacking

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One of the most common pitfalls of most weight loss plans is snacking.  I was just curious as to what times of day on the weekend people are most likely to snack.  If you have a moment, please take this brief poll to help me gather some information.

Thanks – Dr. Bob

Healthy Reminders For Breakfast

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The Health-e Thoughts Text Messages available for free on my website, www.InsightsForHealth.com, focus on 11 aspects of your daily life where your habits need to change in order to achieve healthy weight loss.  I gave you an overview of them in my previous post, Introducing Health-e Thoughts Text Messages – To Help You Change!  Today I want to talk a little bit about the At Home Breakfast Health-e Text Messages.  These are designed to let you schedule text message reminders to help you stay on track to eat healthy breakfasts.  You will get one daily text message at the time you schedule them for as long as you like.  They remind you of some of the tips for eating a healthy breakfast right when you need them!

How Do You Schedule Them?

That’s very simple:

  1. You need to go to www.InsightsForHealth.com and Register to become a member.  That is absolutely free at this time.  Make sure that you correctly enter your cell phone number, select your cell phone carrier and click OK to give us permission to send you text messages.  Remember, applicable text message charges from your cell phone carrier will apply.
  2. Once registered, Log In to the Members Only section.
  3. Then select Health-e Texts from the menu on top.  You’ll be taken to a page that describes the service and has a list of the various kinds of Health-e Texts you can send yourself on the left.
  4. Choose At Home Breakfast from the list on the left & just select the start & stop dates, the time you want to receive your daily text and your time zone.  Click Save & you’re done.  You’ll start getting your breakfast Health-e Texts on the day you chose.

View Your Health-e Text Schedule or Change Your Mind

You’ll also notice two selections at the bottom of the menu bar at the left, one will let you view your schedule of Health-e Texts and the other will allow you to delete any you choose.  You’re in control.

I hope you try these out and I’ll be looking for your feedback!

For Your Health – Dr. Bob

Introducing Health-e Thoughts Text Messages – To Help You Change!

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Even before you start your weight loss plan it quickly becomes clear that things will have to change for you to become successful.  You need to change your habits surrounding buying, preparing and eating foods as well as make changes to increase your activity to burn more calories.  So changing habits or behaviors is fundamental to any weight loss program.  Perhaps a more accurate way of putting this is that you need to substitute healthier behaviors that bring about weight loss for your usual unhealthy ones.  You don’t just stop a habit or behavior, you replace it.  Until these new behaviors become automatic you will need to consciously remind yourself to substitute them for your old habits.  You will need to use tricks to help you remember.  With time it will become easier, but when you first start you will need all the help you can get. 

With that in mind, I developed a web site to help support anyone in their journey to reach a healthier weight.  It is www.InsightsForHealth.com and all its tools are free.  It has many features to help you in your quest, and I’ll describe them in more detail in future posts.  But perhaps the one most useful to use when you are trying to remember to substitute your new healthier habits is Health-e Thoughts Text Messages.  These are text message reminders that you schedule yourself to help you change some common unhealthy habits.  They cover:

  •          At Home Breakfast
  •          At Home Lunch
  •          At Home Dinner
  •          Exercising At Home
  •          Healthy Eating When Out Of Town
  •          Exercising When Out Of Town
  •          Eating Out
  •          Grocery Shopping
  •          Morning Snacks
  •          Afternoon Snacks
  •          Evening Snacks

For example, if you find one of your greatest weaknesses involves eating unhealthy evening snacks, you could set up text reminders to occur at certain times in the evening for as many days as you want.  Then around the time when you are ready to open that bag of chips you would get a text to help you resist that habit and substitute a healthier one. 

Click here to read more details.  If you want to try Health-e Thought Text Messages, just follow the steps to register and in a few minutes you’ll be able to schedule these helpful text reminders to help you make those healthy behavior changes. 

Remember, while we don’t charge a fee for this service, any applicable text message charges from your cell phone carrier will apply.

For Your Health – Dr. Bob