Frustrated with your BMI? Here's why...

BMI (Body Mass Indicator) has for decades been used to determine if someone is in a healthy range for their body.  But how many of us have been labeled as Overweight, Obese, and Extremely Obese, and not known what to do.  Or maybe you are in the "healthy range" but don't feel that way.

The bad news is that you or someone you know may have been put into one of these categories.  Even healthy individuals who may have more muscle are labeled as overweight and obese.  The good news is that there is hope! 

The problem with the BMI chart is that it does not really tell you what you need to do do overcome it and live a healthy life.  It simply puts a number on a chart.

Heading down the Wrong Road

To reduce our BMI and try to get in the healthy range, we are told to lose weight.  And weight loss clinics, fad diets, fat burning supplements, lead you the road of losing weight.   There are a number of diets on the market to help you lose weight, such as Ketosis diets, starvation diets, diet pills, shake diets, supplements...the list goes on.  These diets do not give you the nourishment you need, and instead restrict calories that cause you to lose critical lean muscle, which you need to burn the calories on a regular basis.  When you stop the diet and return to "normal eating", without the lean mass, you end up putting the weight right back on.  And you feel guilty as if you are doing something wrong.  And so the search continues for the next way to take off the weight, and the yo-yo cycle continues with frustration, disappointment, and despair. 

Meanwhile, cardio and exercise fads such as boot camps and cross fit focus on extreme workouts that are not personalized and cannot achieve the needed stimulus to make the fundamental shift to get you on the right track.  They may work for a while, but they often only burn calories when you work out, and although they work for some, it puts you, your joints, and your body at a much higher risk for current or future damage.

Is there a better way?

Lean mass has been documented to be the true key indicator for how healthy a person is.   In addition to burning calories, the long term benefit of healthy lean muscle has been well documented for improved cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, improvement on blood markers for type II diabetics. 

A new review paper published in Annals of Medicine confirms the critical role muscle mass plays in health with studies demonstrating that people with less muscle had more surgical and post-operative complications, longer hospital stays, lower physical function, poorer quality of life and overall lower survival.  If it can help in all these cases, why would it not help in all other areas of our life?

So, you are telling me that I need lean mass and it burns calories and keeps me healthy.  If lean mass is what burns those calories, wouldn't it be better to focus on improving our lean mass?   You got it! 

The Road to Success

The Road to Success begins by first getting on the right road.  Picture Little Red Riding hood taking the back roads and meeting a wolf (weight loss) and getting lost on her way to grandmother's house.  In this story, though, after getting stopped by the wolf, little Red Riding Hood goes back home to get on the right highway (strengthening lean muscle) to get to grandmother's house first, saving the day.

The key to know you are on the right road starts with understanding that if lean muscle is an important vital sign, you need to do activities that take care, build, or maintain that lean muscle. 

How do I go about creating or maintaining healthy lean muscle?  Well, the process is quite simple, focusing on doing the right type of exercise is fundamental.  But it is much more than that.  You first want to:

•  Avoid exercises that can get you injured and excessive cardio that does not make healthier lean muscle.  Instead focus on doing the right kind of strength training is critical for safe and time efficient results, optimizing your metabolism.
• Understanding that our bodies are unique, you need effective personalized instruction to get safe and time efficient results. 

Other essential ingredients needed to get up to speed on the highway, and improve your self esteem and get your body back to where you want to be are:

• Having the right environment is critical to getting time efficient results from your workout.
• Find a coach who helps you stay on track and follows up when you aren’t
• There are no shortcuts, but you can get safe and time efficient results by making sure your program is comprehensive and properly covers lifestyle tailored nutrition, scientifically based strength training, and mobility exercises.

If you are on the back roads, seek out these 5 important shifts to help you avoid the Big Bad Wolf.