Heart disease, diabetes, cancer – obesity, according to the BMI, has long been associated with various health risks. It is clear that obesity is considered a widespread disease, but if the BMI calculator spits out a slightly too high value, this is not a cause for concern in many cases.
In fact, in addition to genetic predisposition, lifestyle contributes significantly to health risk. Therefore, if your BMI is too high, you should not ignore factors such as diet, exercise, or sleeping habits.
But what does obesity actually mean according to BMI? And what does the value actually say about your health? We took a closer look at this:
The history of BMI
To understand what BMI actually means, let's take a quick look at the history of BMI :
The formula was developed as early as 1832 by the Belgian mathematician Adolphe Quetelet, but the calculation was not first published under the name Body Mass Index until 1972 .
The value should actually only be used to compare populations , i.e. population groups, and was not intended to assess the weight of individuals. Strictly speaking, this approach is not correct in science.
Very soon, however, US life insurance companies began to use BMI for calculating premiums. With the help of the formula, the aim was to map and include the additional health risk posed by obesity.
Since the early 1980s, the World Health Organization (WHO) has also used BMI as a guide to assess health risks from obesity .
However, since this calculation is considered very questionable, BMI and its use are repeatedly strongly criticized . Do you want to calculate your BMI? With the Verival BMI calculator, you can easily and quickly determine your BMI value.
According to the BMI, when do you start talking about being overweight?
The BMI correlates your body weight with your height . The resulting value should provide information on whether you are considered to have normal weight or fall into the category of overweight or underweight.
In adults, one speaks of "normal weight" when the BMI is between 18.5 and 25 .
With a value above this range, one is considered overweight. However, this leads to further gradations, because being overweight is not the same as being obese.
The BMI is considered too low if the value is below 18.5 . In this case, one speaks of underweight .
Pre-obesity – slightly overweight
Pre-obesity is when the value is between 25 and 29.9 . However, this is not yet a cause for concern in most cases. Various studies show that slightly overweight people have few health disadvantages compared to their normal weight counterparts.
It is also often the case that people with a higher percentage of muscle fall within this value range. For example, athletes, according to this formula, are quickly considered to be overweight .
Since body shapes and predispositions are very diverse and individual, you should always clarify your overweight according to BMI with your doctor in case of doubt.
Obesity – increased health risk
Anyone who achieves a BMI value above 30 is considered obese . A distinction is made between three different degrees of severity:
| BMI value | Risk of sequelae | |
| Grade I obesity | 30 to 34.9 | increased risk |
| Grade II obesity | 35 to 39.9 | high risk |
| Grade III obesity | from 40 | very high risk |
If your BMI is in the obese range, you should definitely see a doctor to determine your health status and your risk for secondary diseases.
Obesity is mainly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease or metabolic diseases such as diabetes .
According to a study by the University of Manchester, the risk of developing certain types of cancer is also higher.
The BMI as the measure of all things?
As we learned on our trip into the history of BMI, the formula was never intended to rate individuals based on their health status.
For example, if you research the risk of disease due to obesity with a sample of hundreds of people, muscular athletes with a higher BMI are not as important. This shows that BMI can be used to investigate the frequencies and distributions of diseases in the population .
However, it is wrong to believe that one can infer the personal risk of illness from the value of the BMI . You should definitely clarify this risk with your doctor – regardless of whether you are considered to be more at risk according to BMI or not.
You can usually discuss this with your doctor at a regular check-up . However, if your BMI is extremely high or extremely low, we strongly recommend that you seek medical advice outside of routine examinations.
Healthy despite being overweight according to BMI
So we see: Although the BMI calculates the ratio between your weight and your height, your BMI alone does not reveal much about your health.
Your lifestyle is far more important for this . In addition to sufficient sleep and regular exercise , this includes, above all, a healthy and balanced diet .
It means starting the day with a nutritious breakfast in the morning. You can do this particularly well, for example, with fresh organic porridge, a well-known classic among breakfast dishes. In addition to long-chain carbohydrates and a lot of fiber , you also fill up on numerous vitamins and minerals .
Do you know your daily calorie requirement? Use our free calorie calculator .
Basic recipe: oatmeal
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk or a plant-based alternative for vegans (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk,...)
- 50 g oatmeal (grams of oatmeal)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tsp agave syrup optional
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon of your choice
Preparation
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Boil the oatmeal with the pinch of salt and the sweetener of your choice in the milk or plant drink (preferably with constant stirring). Cooking the cereal flakes only with hot water is also a possible variant.
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Let the porridge steep for 3 minutes.
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Empty the porridge into a bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon.
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Enjoy!
Nutritional values
Refine your porridge to your liking with fresh or dried fruits, nuts, seeds, and delicious spices.
