Why is BMI no longer enough? Comparing height and weight was never enough. It was only a rough guide, but it couldn’t take into account the ratio of fat to muscle, or where the fat was found on the body. All of this plays a role in judging our health.
Why calculate BRI instead of BMI?
Feeling bad about your BMI? Comparing height and weight makes sense, but you’ve probably noticed that people of the same height and weight definitely don’t all look the same. It’s definitely not just about physical attraction. Let’s talk mainly about health. If we want to judge it also on the basis of measurement, weighing and appearance, it is also necessary to attach importance to the size of the waist.
That’s why BRI is here, and this post from the NBC News YouTube channel introduces it.
Source: Youtube
BRI: Waist inches matter!
You have probably already come across the claim that waist size is directly related to the risk of developing various, but most often, cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. As far as human health is concerned, the distribution of fats also makes a difference. It is a fact and one of the other indicators that doctors also monitor.
The ratio of height and weight, or the well-known BMI, is also not quite suitable for another reason. It is a well-known fact that equal amounts of muscle and fat do not weigh the same. It is given by the density. For muscles, the density is approximately 1.06 g/cm3 and for fat, 0.9 g/cm3. Thanks to this, two people with seemingly the same figure may not weigh the same. A muscular body will weigh more.
That’s why you can’t just look at the kilos and it also depends on where the fat is stored. The waist area and internal visceral fat are particularly problematic. The general recommendation is less than 80 cm for women and 94 cm for men.
These values are considered normal. 88 cm in women and 102 in men are considered to be at risk. It is also believed that waist measurement is a better predictor of obesity risk than BMI, i.e. body mass index. And now it is clearer why there was a need to measure other than BMI.
Do you have a flat stomach? BRI will take this into account in the calculation
If you visit one of the BRI calculators on the Internet, you will have to fill in the information about your gender and age, height, weight, waist circumference and possibly hip circumference in the individual boxes. Don’t forget to switch your calculator from imperial to metric if there is an option. For example, you can try this BRI calculator, which is in Czech.
The calculator calculates the coefficient and tells you whether, according to the tables, you fall into the BRI category of very slim figure, slim to average figure, average figure, above-average body roundness, and finally the category with the highest BRI, i.e. high body roundness. The R stands for roundness.
If you have an average figure, but with a natural hourglass shape, and at the same time relatively well-muscled, it can also easily happen that your BRI will be in the lowest category, i.e. a very slim figure, while according to BMI you will already be overweight.
Sources: abcnews.go.com,webefit.com
