How Much Weight Can a 2 by 4 Hold

There'south no such thing as an platonic weight, but there are plenty of methods to assist you make up one's mind if your weight is healthy.

Epitome Credit: kate_sept2004/E+/GettyImages

In This Article

• Body Mass Alphabetize (BMI)
• Weight and Height Chart Based on BMI
• Waist Circumference
• Waist-to-Hip Ratio
• Waist-to-Acme Ratio
• Torso Fat Pct
• Weight and Health Risks

If you lot're wondering how much yous should weigh, there's no unproblematic respond. A person's weight is influenced past a diverseness of factors, including your genes, how you eat, your activity level and the environment where yous alive. Some of these things are nether your control, while others are non.

You'll sometimes hear about an "ideal" weight past elevation, but at that place's really no such affair. That'southward a notion that originated with insurance companies, says Mir Ali, Doc, bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.

"When patients adult sure conditions, they'd record their superlative and weight. Information technology came out like a bell-shaped bend, and then well-nigh people were in the middle," Dr. Ali says. This, he says, was a poor strategy that led to unrealistic weight expectations.

Still, it's important to aim for a good for you weight — weighing likewise little or also much is linked with increased risk of many serious wellness weather. To that end, it'southward helpful to know what weight range is reasonable for you, because your height, frame, background, age and other factors that make y'all who you are.

Many techniques are available to summate whether your weight falls in a healthy zone. Each ane offers potentially useful insights, but each also has its flaws.

Accept a wait at some of the options available for determining if your weight is considered good for you or non, forth with details about why weight can be an important consideration when it comes to your overall health.

Key Takeaways

• There are several methods used to assess a person's weight, including BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-summit ratio and body fat pct.
• Each of these techniques comes with pros and cons. To get the all-time picture of your healthy weight, you may desire to use several options together. And of course, a doctor can help you evaluate your weight.
• At that place are serious, life-threatening health conditions associated with having underweight, overweight or obesity.

How to Use the Trunk Mass Alphabetize

Trunk mass index (BMI) is one of the well-nigh well-known methods to assess weight.

"Information technology's a simple calculation. Y'all put in your height and weight and you get a BMI number," Dr. Ali says.

BMI offers a sense of your total trunk fat, which is more revealing than the number on the calibration. With higher amounts of body fat, a person's risk of certain diseases — such as heart disease, high blood force per unit area and type 2 diabetes — increases, co-ordinate to Winchester Infirmary.

"There are a lot of adept studies that show that if a person maintains their weight in that BMI range, so they're less likely to develop health problems because of their weight, and more probable to achieve the typical normal lifespan for this country," Dr. Ali says.

How to Calculate Your BMI

1. Take your weight (in pounds) and multiply information technology by 703.
2. Divide that answer by your acme (in inches).
3. Divide that issue by your tiptop in inches once once again.

For instance, for someone who is 5'four" (aka 64 inches) and weighs 170 pounds, the three-pace adding goes as follows:

• ​Step ane:​ 170 [weight in pounds] ten 703 = 119,510
• ​Step 2: ​119,510/64 [height in inches] = one,867.34
• ​Step iii:​ 1,867.34/64 [height in inches] = 29.17

If nosotros circular to the nearest decimal betoken, this person's BMI is 29.2.

There are plenty of online calculators bachelor to spare you from doing this math, such equally LIVESTRONG.com'due south BMI Calculator. The Centers for Illness Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a calculator that does not ask for your historic period or sex. You can likewise apply a chart (run across below) to decide your BMI.

Once yous have your BMI, you can meet which category information technology falls into. The categories, according to the NLM, include the following:

BMI	Category	Disease Take a chance
​Below eighteen.5​	Underweight	Low to increased
​18.5 - 24.9​	Healthy	Low
​25 - 29.9​	Overweight	Increased
​thirty - 39.ix​	Obesity	Loftier to very high
​Over 40​	Severe or loftier-risk obesity	Extremely loftier

Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine. (2021). "Body Mass Alphabetize" and WHO. (2008). "Waist Circumference and Waist-Hip Ratio"

Use this table based on data from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute (NHBLI) to find the intersection of your superlative and weight and decide your BMI:

Weight and Height Chart Based on BMI

Peak	Weight (in lbs)
	​Underweight​	​Salubrious​	​Overweight​	​Obesity​	​Severe Obesity​
​iv'ten"​ (58")	88 and beneath	89 to 119	120 to 143	144 to 191	192 and upward
​4'11"​ (59")	91 and below	92 to 123	124 to 148	149 to 197	198 and up
​v'​ (60")	94 and beneath	95 to 127	128 to 153	154 to 204	205 and up
​five'one"​ (61")	97 and below	98 to 132	133 to 158	159 to 211	212 and upwardly
​5'two"​ (62")	100 and below	101 to 136	137 to 163	164 to 218	219 and up
​5'3"​ (63")	104 and beneath	105 to 140	141 to 169	170 to 225	226 and up
​5'iv"​ (64")	107 and below	108 to 145	146 to 174	175 to 232	233 and up
​5'v"​ (65")	110 and below	111 to 149	150 to 179	180 to 240	241 and upwardly
​five'half-dozen"​ (66")	114 and beneath	115 to 154	155 to 185	186 to 247	248 and upwards
​5'7"​ (67")	117 and beneath	118 to 159	160 to 191	192 to 255	256 and upward
​5'eight"​ (68")	121 and beneath	122 to 164	165 to 196	197 to 262	263 and up
​v'9"​ (69")	124 and below	125 to 168	169 to 202	203 to 270	271 and up
​five'10"​ (70")	128 and below	129 to 173	174 to 208	209 to 278	279 and upwards
​v'11"​ (71")	132 and beneath	133 to 178	179 to 214	215 to 286	287 and upwardly
​6'​ (72")	136 and below	137 to 183	184 to 220	221 to 294	295 and up
​6'1"​ (73")	139 and below	140 to 189	190 to 227	228 to 302	303 and upwards
​6'2"​ (74")	143 and beneath	144 to 194	195 to 233	234 to 311	312 and up
​6'iii"​ (75")	147 and beneath	148 to 199	200 to 239	240 to 319	320 and up
​vi'4"​ (76")	151 and below	152 to 204	205 to 246	247 to 328	329 and up

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Claret Institute. "Summate Your Trunk Mass Alphabetize"

Average Heights and Weights in the U.S.

In the U.Due south., the average meridian for people assigned male at nativity (AMAB) is 5'9", according to the CDC, and the average weight is 197.9 pounds. Here's the breakup on weight for someone AMAB who is 5'9" (69 inches), according to BMI:

• ​Healthy weight:​ 126 to 169 pounds
• ​Overweight (higher risk for wellness bug):​ 170 to 203
• ​Obesity (highest take a chance for health issues):​ 204 pounds or more

The boilerplate height for people assigned female person at birth (AFAB) in the U.South. is 5'4", per the CDC, and the boilerplate weight is 170 pounds. Based on BMI, someone AFAB who is v'iv" (64 inches) would fall into these weight categories:

• ​Good for you weight:​ 108 to 145 pounds
• ​Overweight (higher chance for health problems):​ 146 to 174 pounds
• ​Obesity (highest adventure for health issues):​ 175 pounds or more

BMI Advantages

Doctors and other health experts accept been relying on BMI since 1972, according to a June 2022 paper in the ​International Journal of Epidemiology​, when information technology replaced the insurance charts mentioned earlier. (The scientist who established BMI based it on work done past a Belgian mathematician in the 1800s.)

There are a few big advantages to assessing weight with BMI:

1. ​Information technology's piece of cake and cheap.​ Many free online calculators and charts are bachelor to do the math for you.
2. ​BMI helps predict a person's hazard of disease.​ Compared to other methods (more on those later), BMI is an like shooting fish in a barrel, accessible way to go a sense of a person's full trunk fatty. As noted, that's important because in that location is a stiff link between high trunk fat and obesity-related diseases. That's why BMI tin can be useful for predicting disease risk, per the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Wellness.
3. ​Many health organizations utilize BMI.​ It'south "accepted past essentially all major national and international health organizations," according to a July-August 2022 feature in ​ACSM'south Wellness & Fettle Periodical​. That means doctors rely on it, and the metric is incredibly common in health-related studies.

BMI Disadvantages

The metric is not without its flaws:

1. ​It may overestimate trunk fatty for athletes or muscular people.​ "The problem with BMI is information technology doesn't really accept into business relationship trunk composition," Dr. Ali says. Because muscle weighs more than than fat, athletes or other muscular folks may fall into the overweight or obesity categories of the BMI nautical chart, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
2. ​BMI underestimates body fat for older adults.​ BMI is too known to be inaccurate for older adults, according to the NHLBI. With age, a person's trunk composition shifts — to a higher weight with less musculus mass. If an older and younger person both take the aforementioned BMI, the older person (on boilerplate) will have more body fat, per the CDC.
3. ​BMI doesn't take into business relationship ethnic backgrounds.​ Part of the strength of BMI is that only ii metrics — height and weight — are required. But treating anybody the same, regardless of beginnings, is a weakness, too. People of Asian descent, for instance, may have a depression BMI, but high trunk fat per centum, per the Mayo Clinic. That means for this population, the tool isn't accurately predicting risk. (The Globe Health Organization recommends different BMI cutoffs for people of Asian descent.) There are differences in other populations, too — compare a Black and white person with the aforementioned BMI, and the Blackness person will tend to take less body fat, according to the CDC.
4. ​BMI also doesn't take a person's sexual practice into account.​ The classic BMI reckoner will only look at ii calculations: weight and height. But sex matters when it comes to BMI, because people AFAB tend to have more torso fat than people AMAB, even if their BMI is the same, per the CDC. To accommodate for this problem, some calculators — including LIVESTRONG.com's — also ask people to plug in their historic period and sexual practice.
5. ​If y'all're cocky-reporting, you can make errors.​ If your pinnacle and weight are taken at the medico's office, you tin probably count on accurate measurements. At dwelling house, though, many of united states will circular up our superlative while underreporting weight, according to an August 2013 review in ​Current Enquiry in Nutrition and Food Scientific discipline​.
6. ​BMI tin requite a false sense of expert wellness.​ In medical terms, some people are classified equally having metabolic obesity, normal weight (MONW) — or, more casually (and controversially), "skinny fatty." Basically, this means that a person's BMI indicates a healthy weight, merely their percentage of torso fat is high — which is linked to all the same increases in health risks every bit obesity, per the Mayo Dispensary.

Tip

BMI for children is a scrap more complicated than for adults. Doctors volition incorporate a kid'southward age and sexual practice likewise equally their height and weight, according to the Nemours Foundation. Practise not use the chart above to appraise a child or teenager'due south BMI.

How to Use the Waist Circumference Technique

Sometimes medical professionals will encourage people to measure their waist, either as a solo way of assessing whether their weight is good for you or in conjunction with calculating their BMI.

That's because when it comes to fat, location matters. Measuring your waist helps reveal your corporeality of belly fat — this consists of both subcutaneous fat, which is soft and lies below the pare, and the visceral fat that's found between your internal organs, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Of these two types of fat, it's visceral fat that's more than concerning: Having it is linked to an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high claret pressure, along with other health problems, per the Mayo Clinic.

How to Calculate Waist Circumference

1. Take off your shoes. Remove your peak, or vesture 1 that reveals your abdomen.
2. Stand with your feet together.
3. Later an exhale, mensurate your waist across the omphalos. Use a soft, cloth measuring tape (non a retractable metal measuring tool), and wrap it around your waist, parallel to the ground.

The number on the measuring tape is your waist circumference.

Harvard Wellness Publishing groups people'south waist sizes into the following risk levels for chronic conditions such equally centre illness and type 2 diabetes:

	Assigned Male at Birth	Assigned Female at Birth
​Low take chances​	37 inches and below	31.5 inches and beneath
​Intermediate hazard ​	37.one-39.nine inches	31.half dozen-34.9 inches
​Loftier risk​	xl inches and in a higher place	35 inches and to a higher place

Source: Harvard Health Publishing. (2017). "Abdominal Obesity and Your Health"

Co-ordinate to the CDC, the average person in the U.Southward. has a waist circumference that puts them in the "loftier risk" category:

Boilerplate Waist Circumference

• ​People assigned male at birth:​ xl.2 inches
• ​People assigned female at birth:​ 38.seven inches

Waist Circumference Advantages

Some of the benefits of using this method are:

1. ​Information technology's cheap and uncomplicated.​ As with BMI, few tools are required for the chore. And then long as you have a flexible record measure, you can have this measurement.
2. ​Waist circumference is a good way to predict fundamental health risks.​ Your risk for developing heart disease and blazon ii diabetes increases if fat sits at your waist instead of hips, per the NHLBI.

Waist Circumference Disadvantages

Some of the flaws of this metric include:

1. ​It's easy to get information technology wrong.​ Determining where precisely to measure (at your navel? Just above?) and ensuring the record measure isn't tangled can be surprisingly challenging, particularly if you're doing the measurement yourself. Compared to BMI, this method is more likely to be inaccurate, per Harvard Health Publishing.
2. ​Information technology's not attainable for everyone.​ For people with a very large waist or mobility issues, taking this measurement may be more challenging, and it may non exist equally accurate, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

How to Use the Waist-to-Hip Ratio Technique

While BMI compares a person's weight to their top to get a sense of body fatty, the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) compares a person'southward waist size to their hip size, with the goal of determining how much fatty is stored in this key area.

WHR offers a estimate for your health, Dr. Ali says. "It doesn't really tell you what weight yous should be at," he notes. But your WHR tin bring context to your weight, giving y'all a clearer picture of your overall health and letting yous know if yous're carrying too much belly fat, which, equally noted earlier, is linked to serious health risks.

A bigger WHR measure means a person is at higher risk — that is, it's healthier for a person's waist to exist smaller than their hips.

Computing WHR

Hither'south how to practice it, co-ordinate to Dr. Ali:

1. Measure your waist circumference using a soft, fabric measuring tape across your bellybutton afterwards an exhale.
2. Measure your hip circumference at their widest point.
3. Carve up the waist measurement by the hip measurement.

For example, a person with a 35-inch waist and 45-inch hips would have a 0.78 waist-to-hip ratio.

"If your waist is much larger than your hips, then y'all're at a college hazard for cardiovascular disease or diabetes," Dr. Ali says, noting that people AMAB tend to carry weight around the abdomen, while those AFAB usually carry more weight in their hips.

Healthy WHR Numbers

According to the World Health Arrangement (WHO), a salubrious WHR number depends on your sex:

• ​People assigned female at birth:​ Less than 0.8
• ​People assigned male at birth:​ Less than 0.9

WHR Advantages

There are a few benefits to assessing whether you're at a healthy weight based on your WHR:

1. ​WHR is simple and cheap.​ This is an easy calculation — it only requires two measurements and some division.
2. ​It's a good predictor of disease​, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan Schoolhouse of Public Wellness. In fact, it may be a better predictive tool than BMI: A waist-to-hip ratio was a better predictor for heart attacks than BMI, particularly for people AFAB, according to a January 2022 study in the ​Journal of the American Heart Association​. And information technology's likewise a preferable predictor for prostate cancer, compared to BMI, according to a March 2022 report in ​Scientific Reports​, which looked at more than than 1,000 Chinese people who had prostate biopsies.

WHR Disadvantages

There are some limitations to this method, such as:

1. ​Information technology's easy to brand mistakes with measurements.​ Measuring your ain body can lead to errors. In this case, two measurements demand to be taken, so the opportunity to mess up hither is doubled. Because studies betoken to the waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference beingness equally effective at predicting disease adventure, it may be preferable to stick to measuring but the waist, per the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
2. ​There may be differences across ethnicities that aren't reflected.​ Per the WHO, cutoffs for WHR are frequently determined through studies of people with European ancestry, only it'southward possible that in people from different ethnicities, thresholds at a unlike bespeak might be more effective at predicting health outcomes.

How to Use the Waist-to-Pinnacle Ratio Technique

As you can likely assemble from its name, the waist-to-peak ratio (WtHR) looks at the human relationship between a person'south waist size and superlative. The goal: "Keep your waist to less than one-half your summit," per a November 2022 opinion piece in ​BMC Medicine​.

Again, this can't tell you lot whether your weight is boilerplate or "ideal," but it can serve as a manner to put your weight and BMI into context. If you lot have a loftier BMI because you're very muscular, for example, your WtHR could potentially indicate whether you lot're at a good for you weight for your torso limerick.

How to Calculate the Waist-to-Height Ratio

1. Measure out your waist size (in inches) using a soft, textile measuring tape across your bellybutton afterward an exhale.
2. Measure your peak (in inches).
3. Divide your waist size by your tiptop.

If the number you get is more than two, your waist-to-pinnacle ratio is considered healthy. If it is 2 or less, your risk for health issues is higher, and the risk increases as the number decreases.

For case, a person who is 5'4" (aka 64 inches) with a waist circumference of 30 inches would have a WtHR of 2.1 (64/xxx = 2.1), which is considered good for you. If that aforementioned person had a waist circumference of 38.7, as the average person AFAB does, their WtHR would be 1.65, which is considered unhealthy.

WtHR Advantages

Some of the benefits of using WtHR are:

1. ​Information technology reveals risk for serious diseases.​ WtHR "may be a simpler and more predictive indicator" than BMI or waist circumference, per a March 2022 study in ​BMJ Open up​ that looked at 4 years' worth of data from the U.k. National Diet and Diet Survey. A Feb 2022 report in ​Nature​ that looked at more than than 25,000 middle-anile Chinese people who identified as men found that WtHR was meliorate correlated to heart wellness than waist circumference.
2. ​It's easy and cheap.​ Taking these two measurements and performing the calculation is a relatively simple task, and only requires a record mensurate. Plus, no charts are required to know what the ratio indicates.
3. ​WtHR works for all ethnic groups.​ For non-white people, BMI isn't always an constructive method. In dissimilarity, WtHR (and the philosophy of keeping waist size less than one-half of height) is "suitable for all ethnic groups," according to the ​BMC Medicine​ stance piece.

WtHR Disadvantages

The drawbacks of this method mirror those of other methods that require measurements of waist and peak: Where you measure matters. If you measure the wrong spot on your waist, it could make the end ratio inaccurate.

How to Calculate Body Fatty Percentage

Health intendance providers are eager to know a person's body fat percentage because information technology's closely linked with many serious (and often chronic) illnesses. The measures above serve equally a stand up-in for body fat; that is, a high BMI typically (but not e'er) indicates a high body fat pct.

Here are a few of the common ways to measure body fat direct, co-ordinate to the University of Michigan Wellness:

• ​Skinfold thickness:​ After pinching the peel, calipers (call up: clamps) are used to measure the skinfold thickness (SFT) in several key areas, including the thigh, back of the arm and waist. Dissimilar areas are measured depending on a person's sexual practice. This method is fairly authentic, co-ordinate to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). The accurateness probable decreases if y'all attempt to measure on yourself, rather than having a professional apply the calipers.
• ​Underwater weighing:​ After beingness weighed normally, a person is then lowered into water and weighed at that place, according to the Mayo Dispensary. The divergence between these two measurements reveals body density, per the University of Michigan Health. Another version of this — ​air displacement plethysmography​ — compares the air pressure of a sealed sleeping room when y'all're in it to when yous're non to place body density, according to the University of Michigan Wellness.
• ​DXA:​ Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry — a special type of X-ray — reveals the amount and location of fat tissue.

Body Fat Percentage Calculator

In general, measuring torso fat requires a professional person — either to accept the measurements or to supply the tools and engineering. While there are commercially available body fatty analyzers, such as body fat scales, these tools are hands affected by several factors, including how hydrated you are, according to the Mayo Clinic.

To get a general idea of your body fat percentage, plug your measurements into LIVESTRONG.com's Body Fat Figurer.

Once you've assessed your trunk fat, you'll want to know what your number means. The Cleveland Clinic recommends post-obit guidelines laid out in September 2000 in ​The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition​ (although proceed in heed that at that place isn't total agreement in the wellness community about these numbers):

Age	People Assigned Female at Birth	People Assigned Male person at Birth
twenty-40 years old	21-33%	viii-nineteen%
41-lx years old	23-35%	xi-22%

Source: Cleveland Dispensary. (2019). "Body Mass Alphabetize and Trunk Fatty"

Every bit a more general guideline, the ACE offers the post-obit percentages for anybody, regardless of age:

Category	People Assigned Female at Nascency	People Assigned Male at Birth
Essential Fat	10-thirteen%	2-5%
Athletes	xiv-20%	6-thirteen%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Adequate	25-31%	eighteen-24%
Obesity	32%	25%

Source: American Quango on Practice. "Percent Body Fat Calculator"

Body Fat Percentage Calculation Advantages

1. ​It has a strong link to increased risk of serious diseases.​ Most of the other measures medical professionals utilize — like the ones detailed on this list, including BMI, WTH, waist circumference and WtHR — are aimed at trying to go a sense of a person's body fat. For instance, one observational study of more 50,000 older adults in Canada measured both their BMI and body fat percentage. A low BMI and loftier body fatty per centum were associated with increased bloodshed, per the April 2022 research in ​Register of Internal Medicine​. This reveals the limitations of BMI — a person with a small-scale frame tin yet be unhealthy, and BMI isn't always the most accurate of measurements.
2. ​It'due south a more helpful measure out than BMI when it comes to diabetes.​ Having abnormal claret saccharide (an indicator of diabetes or prediabetes) is more than mutual in people with a normal BMI and loftier body fat percentage than among those who have overweight with a low body fat percentage, according to an April 2022 study in ​BMJ Open up​ that drew on information from adults over age 40 from the National Wellness and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Body Fatty Percentage Adding Disadvantages

While agreement your body fat percentage may assist reveal more about your disease risk than BMI or other measures, it's not without its flaws.

1. ​It's not easy to measure.​ Many body fat analyzers available for yous to buy aren't very authentic, according to the Mayo Clinic. And the more accurate measures — such every bit getting weighed underwater — are complex and also typically crave professionals forth with their equipment.
2. ​At that place isn't a consensus on healthy body fat​ ​percentage,​ according to the University of Michigan Health — that is, unlike other methods with straightforward categories and rules, there isn't always a clear sense of what is (and isn't) a healthy percentage of body fat.

Weight and Health Risks

Health professionals, as well as wellness organizations around the world, focus a lot of attending on weight. That'southward not simply because it's readily visible: Weight is a key indicator of a person'due south health.

Since 1975, the charge per unit of obesity effectually the world has tripled, according to the WHO — as of 2022 (the well-nigh contempo yr with bachelor WHO data) in that location are more than 1.9 billion adults who accept overweight and 650 one thousand thousand who have obesity.

At that place's typically less attention given to people who have underweight, but that condition is also associated with sure diseases and conditions.

What Does It Mean to Have a Loftier Adventure of a Health Condition?

As you review the risks associated with different weight categories, keep in mind that a take chances factor is non a certainty.

"I see this in my practice equally a weight-loss surgeon all the time — I see patients with very loftier BMIs, only they don't accept loftier blood pressure, they don't accept diabetes, they're not on any medication," Dr. Ali notes.

That is, being a certain weight may exist associated with a higher chance of having certain diseases and conditions — but it doesn't hateful y'all ​volition​ have them.

In nearly cases, working to change your weight (whether past gaining or losing) changes your risk profile.

Health Risks Linked to Overweight or Obesity

"Obesity affects every organ, but diabetes and cardiovascular illness are the ones most likely to cause health issues," Dr. Ali says.

Co-ordinate to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the wellness risks of having obesity or conveying too much weight include:

• Cancer
• Blazon two diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Center disease
• Stroke
• Sleep apnea
• Metabolic syndrome
• Fatty liver affliction
• Osteoarthritis disease
• Gallbladder disease
• Kidney disease
• Mental health problems, such as depression
• Pregnancy risks

Having slight overweight puts someone at chance for these health problems, per the WHO — and with more than weight, the chance increases.

Reassuringly, the reverse tin also be true: For instance, for people at chance of type 2 diabetes, losing nigh v pct of your body weight tin can help prevent the disease, according to the NIDDK.

And, while it'south challenging to know if losing weight will reduce a person'southward cancer hazard, it'southward possible there'due south a relationship there — for case, people who have bariatric surgery may have a lower risk of obesity-related cancers than people with obesity who exercise not take this surgery, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

The major diseases — cancer, diabetes and and then on — get a lot of attending when information technology comes to weight. Only it's not just these conditions. Having overweight or obesity tin reduce the quality of someone's life, per the CDC. It tin make everyday things similar traveling on an plane stressful and expensive. It can pb to hurting, problem sleeping, changes to mood and energy levels and difficulty moving, according to Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego.

With more weight, people may have shortness of breath or decrease their activity, Dr. Ali says, which tin in turn lead to other concerns.

Health Risks Linked to Underweight

There's less attention paid to people who take underweight compared to those who have obesity. Makes sense, when you consider the prevalence of the two: But an estimated i.5 percent of U.S. adults have underweight, according to the CDC. In comparison, 42 percent of adults in the U.Due south. have obesity, per the CDC.

But falling in the underweight category is not good for your health (despite many cultural cues, which tend to glorify leanness). It's associated with an increased risk of death compared to people who have normal weight, co-ordinate to an April 2022 written report in ​BMJ Open​, which looked at more than than 30,000 people over several decades.

And, in an observational study of near half a 1000000 people, people who had underweight had a greater adventure of heart disease than those with normal weight, according to research in the December 2022 issue of ​Medicine​. It's worth noting that the increased risk of people with underweight having heart disease was lower than that of people with overweight or obesity.

Using data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) from the CDC, researchers looked at the effects of having underweight for the May 2022 effect of the ​Periodical of Diabetes and Obesity​ and concluded there were "similar negative health effects" for having underweight or obesity.

People who have underweight might not be getting the nutrients they demand. Being malnourished can lead to many health issues, co-ordinate to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), including:

• Fragile bones and osteoporosis
• A weakened allowed system
• Anemia
• Fertility problems
• Hair loss

Some causes of underweight mirror the reasons for overweight: Genetics and medications, for example, can be contributing factors. Other factors include being very active and psychological problems, such every bit depression or eating disorders. Having underweight can as well be an early on indicator of an illness, such every bit thyroid problems, diabetes or cancer, per the AAFP.

When to Encounter a Md

If you are concerned nigh your weight, speaking with a health care professional person is the best manner to assess your weight and potential wellness risks. As you can see, many methods are available to aid you get a sense of whether your weight is healthy, merely each method also comes with its own limitations and disadvantages. There is also no such matter every bit an "platonic weight" based solely on a person's height or age or sex, so try to avoid holding yourself to a specific weight goal without the input of a trained medical professional person who knows you and your individual health circumstances.

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Source: https://www.livestrong.com/article/328220-the-average-height-and-weight-by-age/

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