Men's Health Obesity Standards

A BMI between 18.5 and 23.9 is considered normal weight, ≥24 is considered overweight, and ≥28 is considered obese.； Male waist circumference does not exceed 85cm (approximately 2 feet 5) ； The body fat rate is maintained within the normal range of 10%-20%. If any of the three indicators meets the standard, it will not count.

Last week I met a 27-year-old programmer at a fitness studio. He was 178cm and 72kg. His calculated BMI was exactly 22.7. He patted his chest and said that he was completely within the weight limit. The results showed that the body fat rate was 23%. The soft meat next to the belly button could be pinched to 3cm thick. The coach reminded him to check the visceral fat. Sure enough, he had reached the threshold of mild fatty liver. Don’t think this is an exception. Too many men nowadays stare at the number on the scale and think that if they have not gained weight, they are not fat. In fact, the “beer belly” and “office butt” accumulated from sitting in the office every day have long since secretly stepped on the red line of obesity.

Speaking of which, BMI has been used for almost 200 years, and it is still the first choice for physical examinations and public health screenings in institutions. Many scholars in the traditional nutrition field also consider it to be "the most cost-effective screening standard" - after all, you can calculate it by dividing your weight (kilograms) by the square of your height (meters) without using an instrument. It is suitable for preliminary screening of large groups of people, and the error is within a controllable range. However, the sports medicine community has long had objections to this standard. Take the coaches who have been working out in our studio all year round. The heaviest one is 183cm and 98kg, and his BMI is almost 29. According to common standards, he is already on the verge of obesity. However, his body fat rate is only 12%. His body is full of solid muscles and all metabolic indicators are excellent. You can't say that this kind of figure is unhealthy obesity, right?

If the error of BMI can be screened out by exercise habits, the waist circumference indicator is specially used to identify those "invisible fat people" who do not look fat. Uncle Zhang, who lives downstairs in my house, is 52 years old. He is 170cm and only 65kg, with a BMI of only 22.5. He looks very thin. Last year’s physical examination revealed high blood lipids and moderate fatty liver disease. The doctor measured his waist circumference to be almost 92cm. This is typical abdominal obesity - to put it bluntly, fat is piled up around the internal organs in the belly. Waist circumference, this kind of obesity is much more dangerous than gaining weight evenly over the whole body, and is more closely related to high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases than high BMI. Therefore, in the official guidelines of the National Health Commission, men’s waist circumference ≤85cm is listed as an independent obesity criterion, just to prevent everyone from being deceived by weight figures. By the way, when measuring your waist circumference, don't deliberately tuck in your belly. Just stand naturally and make a horizontal circle around 2 cm above the navel. The measured number will be accurate. Many people deliberately suck in their belly to measure 83cm. When they go back to wear pants, they still have to tuck in the waistband of size 32 pants. Isn't that deceiving themselves?

As for the indicator of body fat rate, don't be too superstitious about the number of home body fat scales. I tried it a while ago. If I drank half a bottle of mineral water and then stood on it, the body fat rate could be directly different by 2%. Just give it a rough reference. If you really want to be accurate, you should either go to the hospital for a dual-energy X-ray test, or use professional sebaceous pliers to pinch the sebum thickness in several parts of the scale to calculate the more reliable number. Don't think that the lower the body fat rate, the better. Many people follow the trend and pursue "abs with less than 10% body fat." In fact, male body fat lower than 8% will affect testosterone secretion and reduce immunity. Those bodybuilders who reduce their body fat to about 5% during the preparation period are two to three times more likely to catch colds than usual. For ordinary people, maintaining between 12% and 18% is actually the most comfortable state. They don't look bloated in clothes, can climb five or six floors without panting, and have enough energy.

Many scholars in the field of public health are now calling for the obesity standards for men of different ages to be appropriately adjusted. For example, for those over 60 years old, muscle mass is naturally lost. Slightly relaxing the BMI to around 25 will result in lower all-cause mortality. There is no need to stick to the 23.9 line. I did the same thing for my brother a while ago. He is 180cm, 80kg, and has a BMI of 24.7, which is right on the overweight line. However, he plays three games a week, has a body fat of 16%, and a waist circumference of only 82cm. All indicators in the physical examination are normal. After reading it, the doctor smiled and said there is no need to lose weight, just maintain the current exercise habit.

In fact, to be honest, these standards are just for reference. Don’t worry about getting a certain number every day, and don’t take weight loss pills blindly when you see that your BMI is a little too high. The core thing is to look at your own physical condition: you usually don’t breathe when you climb stairs, and you can recover the next day after staying up late. During the physical examination, your blood lipids, blood sugar, and uric acid are all normal, even if you are a little overweight. ； If you feel groggy and lack of energy every day, your back hurts after sitting for a long time, and you drink a lot of alcohol for three days, even if your weight is within the standard range, you should quickly adjust your diet and rest, and go out and move more.