Are you carrying a few extra pounds around?
In this most recent study it is clearer that the “spare tire,” the weight carried around the waistline, is the most dangerous.
By MICK SEVERIN
The Trucker News Services
12/3/2008
Do you keep telling yourself that someday you are going to have to reduce that “spare tire” you refer to as a “waistline?”
I know we have talked about this before but a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has put more emphasis on the increased health risks of being overweight particularly if you carry that weight around the waistline.
The body mass index (BMI) to calculate a person’s “mean” bodyweight uses height, weight and can include waist circumference and waist to hip ratio to calculate a “score.”
The “score” enters you into categories of normal, overweight, obese or “morbidly” obese.
In the BMI scoring you are considered to be at a normal bodyweight if you are under 25. A score of 25 to just below 30 you are considered overweight. A score of 30 to about 35 you are obese and a score number over 35 is considered “morbidly” obese. Each increase in your BMI score increases your chances of chronic illness, diseases and earlier demise.
There has always been medical evidence that not only does carrying extra bodyweight lead to increased health problems but where you carry those extra pounds can have a “multiplying” effect on your risks.
In this most recent study it is clearer that the “spare tire,” the weight carried around the waistline, is the most dangerous. Even if you are close to a calculated “normal” bodyweight and have a “spare tire” you have increased your chances of real health problems.
In this study men of “normal weight,” that is a healthy BMI, but with waistlines measuring 40 inches or more were two times more likely to die than men with waists of 34 or less. Women with “normal” BMI’s but with waistlines of 35 inches or more were at extremely added risk of early death than women with waistlines of 28 inches or less.
Interestingly the study showed that an increase of two inches or more, no matter your BMI score, increased the risk of an early death by 17% for men and 13% for women.
All research over these past years has also shown that increased waistline size is a sign of increased “visceral” fat. This fat builds up around organs such as the heart, liver and other organs. This build up of visceral fat can help to secrete increased hormone levels that can lead to various diseases.
It is pretty clear that your waistline tells the tale. The more inches you carry around that middle of yours means less years you are going to be around in this world of ours.
You will have less time to watch your kids, contribute to your family, have few laughs, play some sports or watch a little football. Less time to walk in the park, watch a sunset,
realize a “dream” or to “give” less time to the people who need you most.
You certainly know what it takes to have a smaller waistline, don’t you?
The problem with you and most of us are the “excuse gremlins” or the “blame game.”
No one is going to make you healthy but you! No doctors, no lawyers, no “weegie board” just you making a conscious, determined effort to do it!
We can help by providing encouragement, tools and education but you have to provide the desire, the determination and the work.
You may be able to relate to a statement one of my clients made to me just a few weeks ago. She has lost over 160 pounds in about three years. We were talking about all the reasons she had been overweight. I said, “You know Carrie, you didn’t eat the right foods, you didn’t exercise…” she stopped me mid-sentence and said very emphatically,
“I was fat because I was LAZY!”
Carrie Giovanni is now part of the Fitness Road Crew. You will be hearing more about her and many new interesting things we have planned this coming new year.
If you need us call (888) FIT-ROAD or visit here.
God bless you and yours,
Mick