Dakota Beacon

Weight gain is more than a seasonal issue. That said, autumn speaks of football, parties and the Holiday Season. The common denominator is eating.

What follows is the first of two columns dealing with diet and exercise.

Health considerations typically gain attention. Everyone is aware that excess weight increases the risk of serious health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure, various forms of cancer, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea and arthritis to name a few. Excess weight doesn’t guarantee these problems, of course. Other elements such as lack of physical activity and family history also contribute to the health risk calculus. Still, at the end of the day, how much excess body fat is carried will greatly influence physical health and mental well-being.

A physician can properly evaluate unique obesity components and outline a tailored weight management program. Seek the counsel of a doctor when contemplating weight loss even for the loss of only a few pounds.

A glance in the mirror can be very convincing. It may be all that some people need to acknowledge they must do something about excess weight. Snug fitting clothes is a good indicator that action is necessary. Hopping on a bathroom scale certainly confirms what already may be suspected -- that unwanted pounds have come home to roost. This is not the end of the world nor is it always a bad thing. Current medical thinking balances fat with fitness.

Starting a strength training program may increase body bulk. Your clothes may feel tight and you may weigh a little more, but this is due to muscle, not fat. Muscle weighs more than fat, plus exercise tends to redistribute mass. But, I’m being kind. Most weight gain results almost exclusively from poor eating habits. Taking in more calories than are burned becomes the culprit.

There are other ways to assess health risks relative to accumulated weight. One trick is to “pinch an inch.” While standing, use your thumb and forefinger to loosely pinch the skin on the side of your waist level with your navel. Be sure you take hold of skin only and not a chunk of underlying flesh. If the pinch of skin is over an inch thick, you might consider shedding a few pounds.

If you want a second opinion, again consult a mirror. In private, strip down and stand in front of a mirror. Gently jog up and down in one spot. If the stuff around your waist and thighs jiggles or if that stuff moves at different speeds, you really should do something about it.

There are more accurate ways to assess a healthy body weight. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a solid indicator now used by many health professionals. Calculate your BMI as follows. Multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Divide this number by your height in inches squared (i.e., height x height). Strive for a BMI of 25 or less.

Better still, the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is one of the best ways to establish a personal healthy weight. Calculate your WHR as follows. Measure your waist by wrapping a tape around your bare abdomen about an inch below the lowest rib. Don’t suck in your gut, but do exhale before measuring. Men have cause for concern when the waist is greater than 40 inches. For women the upper limit is 35 inches.

Then measure the hips at the widest part. Calculate the WHR by dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement. For men a healthy ratio is 0.9 or less; for women it is 0.8 or less.

Two large studies of abdominal obesity were published in 2008. Both indicated strikingly similar findings. The first study was conducted by AARP of 250,000 men and women in mid-life. The other study was a Nurses’ Health Study which examined data collected from 44,000 women over a period of 16 years. Findings from both studies confirmed that folks with a larger waist were much more likely to die prematurely than folks with a more slender waist regardless of BMI. As might be expected, a solid correlation also exists between a large WHR and premature death. In either case, exceeding the benchmarks of BMI or WHR should be cause for a review of diet and exercise habits, the subject of the next column.

All of this is not to say that the bathroom scale isn‘t useful. Those who have reached their desired BMI or WHR satisfactorily may wish to weigh regularly. A weight gain of three pounds or greater should create incentive to recover a healthy weight. For many people, taking note of creeping corpulence is a great motivation to renew a healthy eating and exercise regimen.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).