BMI Challenge

[Darren Dirt]

you can get a lot of water from food.

and you SHOULD -- unless your diet is full of processed bagged crap and bread. Even cheese and milk contain at least some water that your body can utilize... though being salty and high in protein they tend to make you extra thirsty too...

"rely on your senses" good simple advice, "know [/be honest with] thyself" helps in healing of all kinds, not just the physical kind.

If you are thirsty, drink. If you are tired, sleep. If you are hungry, eat. If you are no longer hungry, STOP EATING. If you are feeling anxious your answer you are about to provide to a woman's question about her clothing and the size of her butt...

[Mr. Analog]

Yeah, I'm sure I get some from my regular breakfast and lunches, when I remember to eat them

Just sayin I'm almost always thirsty

Oddly enough eating regular meals helps balance dehydration. Worst thing you can do it miss important meals like breakfast and lunch, if anything make dinner the optional meal.

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, I'm sure I get some from my regular breakfast and lunches, when I remember to eat them

Just sayin I'm almost always thirsty

Oddly enough eating regular meals helps balance dehydration. Worst thing you can do it miss important meals like breakfast and lunch, if anything make dinner the optional meal.

Even more oddly enough is that a lot of folks in the fitness world are saying that THAT is myth, i.e. 3 "big" meals with a gap between > 5 or 6 "small" meals, because with so many meals your body is pretty much digesting stuff nonstop which changes the chemistry/phyisology or something so you aren't gonna hit your peak potential (athlete worry, obv. us sedentary folks = meh; snack all day? HELL YEAH!)


imo just keep drinking lotsa water throughout the day, and make sure meals have some kind of protein (preferably "lean protein"), you'll feel full and then you won't need to worry about eating at the "right" time or the "right" portion size, just eat until you know you're probably close to full and you've got your nutrients for a good chunk of the day...



But if you wanna check out the Debate:
http://www.google.com/search?q=6+Small+Meals+vs.+3+Regular+Meals

[Mr. Analog]

All you do if you eat many small meals a day is increase your body metabolism, I recently had a physical and they made it a point to reiterate the importance of regular meals (in a traditional pattern or not). Skipping meals is REALLY not good for you.

[Lazybones]

The problem is that BMI does not take into account build, muscle and also does not scale well below 5 foot or above 6 feet tall.

If you take my height of 6 foot 4, I should be about 200 lbs, however I tend to float around 210 to 215. Some BMI calculators go as far as rating me obese at 215, so I don't take much stock in them..

I suspect healthy for me is actually more between 205 and 210, as I think the last time I was down around 200 I could see my ribs.

[Darren Dirt]

The problem is that BMI does not take into account build, muscle and also does not scale well below 5 foot or above 6 feet tall.

If you take my height of 6 foot 4, I should be about 200 lbs, however I tend to float around 210 to 215. Some BMI calculators go as far as rating me obese at 215, so I don't take much stock in them..

Yeah, if BMI says you are 24.x (i.e. normal weight) but your Fat% is like 35% (even on an inexpensive sale with the 2 electrodes you stand on) then you have work to do. And if your BMI says you are 26.x (i.e. overweight) but your Fat% is 15%-20% then you'll certainly know you are in good health.

It's just part of a collection of stats, but it's one that is super easy to figure out and track over time, and can encourage folks to at least make changes that they can virtually immediately measure/see the results/success of, and to compare themselves to "the average" as well as their own previous #. for MOST folks anyway, no luck to you or Stephen Merchant.

All you do if you eat many small meals a day is increase your body metabolism, I recently had a physical and they made it a point to reiterate the importance of regular meals (in a traditional pattern or not). Skipping meals is REALLY not good for you.

DING DING WINNAR!

Yes, if you don't eat and get busy and then find yourself NOTICING your hunger, and especially if your stomach acid gets all ouchie, that means you've messed up for today, you've been ignoring what your body senses have been trying to tell your noggin. Pay better attention and respond quicker next time, lesson learned. <-- self-reminder for ME

[Mr. Analog]

It can be a lot more subtle, people who find themselves having a hard time keeping normal body rhythms (sleep/activity cycles) don't connect skipping meals. It's something that has a greater effect as you age (as I'm sure many of us are finding out )

[Thorin]

Well, but, if you overeat at each meal because you're used to eating larger portions because you only eat once or twice a day, then switching to three, four, five, or six meals a day you do have to pay attention to your portion sizes.

And the increase in one's metabolism from more frequent meals, while measurable, is not significant, as far as the studies have shown.  Sure, the basal metabolic rate has been shown to raise by 1% to 2%, but that's 25 to 50 calories a day.  Or in other words, you can burn off 1/8 to 1/4 of a Mars bar per day by doing the more frequent meals.  This in and of itself will not make a significant impact on anyone's weight, especially if they think they're burning more so can afford to eat more.

Yes, putting food in your stomach kickstarts the metabolism so that more calories are burned off, since the body no longer thinks it needs to conserve energy (well, for the next few hours).  And that's why regular meals are important, rather than one big one a day a la lions (none of us are the Lion King!).  But tracking just how many calories are going in and how many are being used up is very important, too.  Otherwise you get, "I eat six meals a day so my metabolism is higher, I can have this Dilly bar that I used to never allow myself to eat [..two months later..] How did I gain three pounds?!"

The problem is that BMI does not take into account build, muscle and also does not scale well below 5 foot or above 6 feet tall.

If you take my height of 6 foot 4, I should be about 200 lbs, however I tend to float around 210 to 215. Some BMI calculators go as far as rating me obese at 215, so I don't take much stock in them..

I suspect healthy for me is actually more between 205 and 210, as I think the last time I was down around 200 I could see my ribs.

Well, that raises the question of what is healthy?  Fine specimens of the human race in tip top shape frequently are able to show their ribs.  Just look at the many athletes we saw at the Olympics this year.

Body fat percentage is a good measurement to determine if you have a decent ratio of fat vs muscle and bone, but that hides decidedly unhealthy factors like high blood pressure or plaque-hardened arteries.

[Tom]

I can't really eat large meals regularly anymore. Things happen so slowly that it causes issues. I basically have to keep it to three small meals and some snacks.

For a while I was trying 5 smaller meals. That was cool, but I really don't have enough choice in my diet anymore to really do that without getting sick and tired of everything. So basically I try and mix things up for dinner, and breakfast/lunch tend to be the same things. Depends. For a long time I was doing a really awesome egg/baccon-or-sausage/hashbrowns for breakfast, but I've been lazy for a long time now and fell back to cereal (gluten free) and yogurt. Lunch is typically cottage cheese and fruit cocktail (I really can't think of other things to have to eat for lunch).

[Mr. Analog]

Right now there are only statistical factors that relate obesity to heart disease