What is Body Mass Index? Why is BMI used to measure if a person is overweight or obese?
Survey Says 63% Techies Are Obese        Autoplay Autoplay 1 of 5 Watch Your Waistline NEW DELHI: A report on 'fitness levels of Corporate India by HealthifyMe health and fitness app on Tuesday revealed that 63 per cent of executives are overweight with a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 23. The report has been compiled by reviewing the diet and activity levels of close to 60,000 working professionals across 20 plus companies over a period of 12 months. What Did You Eat Last These professionals range from factory workers, sales professionals, IT professionals, bankers and others in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and remote locations like Jhagadiya, Khandala and Vapi. The professionals were in the 21 to 60 age group. Take A Step Towards Fitness When it comes to the number of steps taken in a day, an important indicator of activity levels, consumer goods sector has taken the pole position with a count of 5,988 when it comes to average steps taken in a day. The least active are executives from the financial sector who have an average count of just 4,969 steps. While, executives from other sectors like retail, manufacturing, marketing and IT take upwards of 5,000 steps. Peddle Your Way To Work According to the data, running is the most popular activity for both males and females. Other activities that are popular amongst male executives are bicycling, gym workouts and swimming. Women prefer more of indoor activities that can be done at home, for e.g. Yoga and other home workouts. Lazy Weekends The data also shows that weekends are the least active days of the week for workouts. The calorie burn rate drops down to an average of 250 on weekends compared to 300 on weekdays. Every time you visit a hospital for a routine check-up, you are made to step on a weighing scale as a nurse or doctor jots down your weight . It will be used to check your Body Mass Index BMI ).For over 100 years, medical professionals have used BMI to determine a person's weight category. It uses a mathematical formula by combining the weight and height of an individual to find out if s/he is underweight or overweight BMI = weight (kg) / heightBMI is calculated by dividing weight (in kilograms ) by the square of height (in meters).Also known as an obesity indicator, BMI helps health experts and professionals determine if a patient is overweight or underweight.Dr Sneha Kothari, Consultant - Endocrinology at Global Hospitals Mumbai, said that the BMI cut-offs are different for Indians.While people with BMI between 23 and 24.9 are considered overweight, those with BMI more than 25.0 come under the obese category. People with BMI between 18.5 and 23 are believed to have a healthy weight, she informed.However, the tool has attracted some criticism for causing confusion and failing to measure the abdominal/waist fat while determining obesity.Many doctors and health experts say the system isn't conclusive as it doesn't accurately measure a persons health. Hence, it cannot be assumed that a person with normal BMI is healthy, or an individual who has high BMI is unhealthy.Limited or lack of physical activity, poor eating habits and lack of sleep have resulted in more people getting lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity, among others.People with such comorbidities are most vulnerable to Covid-19. BMI can be used to generally follow fitness goals, but should not be the only parameter.