5. How old are you? Although you’ll still want to stay within healthy weight and BMI ranges as you get older, you may experience a little creep—and that’s OK within reason, experts say. In the healthy-weight table used by the Weight Watchers organization, for instance, 134 is the maximum recommended weight for a woman up to age 25 who is 5 feet 4 inches tall. For ages 25 to 45, it’s 140. When women hit 45-plus, they need to be extravigilant because they start to gain fat and lose muscle due to hormonal changes. If you hit 145 pounds or higher, you’ll start edging into overweight BMI category, and you don’t want to go there.
Healthy-weight bonus: If you’re 40-plus and at a healthy weight, you’re much less likely to get heart disease as you get older. Pack on the pounds, though, and even if your blood pressure’s healthy, your heart disease odds go up.
Waist-size calculator: To measure your waist circumference, place a tape measure around your belly an inch above your hip bones. Keep the tape snug and parallel to the floor.
Waist size:
32 inches or below—Healthy
33 to 34 inches—Worry zone
35 inches and above—Danger zone
6. Is your lifestyle healthy? Even if you still eat Twinkies, exercise will lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, and risks for several cancers. It helps clear blood clots and sets a healthy interval between heartbeats. Plus, it increases muscle contractions, which help regulate blood sugar levels, keeping diabetes at bay.
You’ll also be healthier—and probably thinner—if you eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. It’s as simple as that. “People get too hung up on sticking to the exact details of a diet or finding the right diet,” says Deirdre Leigh Barrett, PhD, assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School and author of Waistland: A (R)evolutionary View of Our Weight and Fitness Crisis. “It becomes an excuse for delay. If you’re not losing weight, it’s usually because you’re not following the diet, not because it’s the wrong diet.”
Yunsheng Ma, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who studied eight conventional diets, found Ornish, Weight Watchers, and the New Glucose Revolution plans among the healthiest: “The winners emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low levels of trans and saturated fats. But you don’t really have to follow a plan, just that outline.” And you do need to get moving.
More Feel Great Weigh
Last Updated: February 12, 2009
Free Lose Weight Now Email Newsletter
A must for every dieter: slimming recipes, weight loss science and successes, and proven get-thin tips.
Advertisement
