Your BMI (Body Mass Indicator) is an objective scientific measure, that uses your height and weight to determine approximate body fat.

The Fitness Calculator includes the following health & fitness calculations:

• Blood Pressure
• Body Mass Index
• Heart rate Zones
• Ideal Weight
• Measure Heart rate
• Percent Body Fat (Circumference)
• Percent Body Fat (YMCA)
• Risk of Chronic Disease

BMI

The BMI is used to basically categorize populations for statistical reasons. It's accuracy is easily distorted by factors like muscle mass, fitness level, bone structure, ethnicity, and gender. People who are mesomorphic tend to have higher BMI numbers than people who are known as endomorphic, because they possess greater muscle mass and greater bone mass, than do endomorphic people.

An ectomorphic person could receive an abnormally low reading, when in fact their body type makes them naturally thin no matter what they consume.

People with short stature tend to have lower BMI. Therefore they should use a lower cut-off value for obesity diagnosis. The same applies to older people, whose reduced muscle mass can hide additional body fat without increasing BMI.

How to measure BODY FAT: Your Fat Calculator
When it all comes down to losing or gaining weight, most people turn to the scales to determine how much they should lose or gain to have the weight or the shape that they desire.

However, health experts said weight alone is not a clear indicator of good health because it does not distinguish between pounds that come from body fat and those that come from lean body mass or muscle.

Being over fat and overweight is not the same. Overweight simply means an excess of total body weight based on population averages for heights and body frame sizes. On the other hand, obesity is defined as an excess of body fat regardless of weight.

What we have to consider, experts said, in order to determine our fitness, is to know our body fat. Remember that body fat is a percentage of your total weight, so even slender people can have dangerously high levels of body fat. (See

Here are three ways of measuring your body fat:

1. Home Body Fat Scales-- Body fat scales claim to measure body fat quickly and conveniently. These body fat scales use the Bioelectrical Impedance method to measure your body fat percentage. A low-level electrical current is passed through your body and the "impedance", or opposition to the flow of current, is measured.

2. Skin fold Calipers-- Calipers are a tool that looks somewhat like a giant tweezers. These are used to grasp your skin folds at different points on your body and measure the thickness. These measurements are then compared to standard values for persons of your age and gender to give you your estimated body fat.
3. Hydrostatic Weighing—This is just a fancy term for underwater weighing. You sit on a scale inside a tank of water and blow out as much air as you can. You are dunked underwater, where you blow out even more air. Since fat is lighter than water, the more fat you have, the more you will float. The scale measures underwater weight to figure out body density. The margin of error is around 2-3%, but the accuracy depends on the amount of air you expel. You have to blow it ALL out or it will not be as accurate. This is a difficult way to measure body fat since it can be uncomfortable and even scary to be dunked underwater with no air in the old lungs.

Choose one of the nine calculators from the drop-down list:

Metabolism is essentially the speed at which our body's motor is running. The speed at which our body burns calories is called the metabolic rate. It's how fast your "motor" is running when you're still in a reclined position or sleeping. About 60-75% of energy is expended by the body at rest in such activities.

The metabolism is based on the number of calories we burn throughout the day. Our body constantly burns calories to keep us going whether we are eating, sleeping, cleaning etc. People with a lower percentage of body fat (i.e. muscular) have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular because muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. Some people have a slower metabolic rate and have a harder time staying slim. Younger persons have higher (faster) metabolism because of the increased activity of cells. A slow metabolism actually causes to store fat. The slower the metabolic rate, the greater the weight gains. How to build muscles to improve metabolism? What type of exercise is ideal that speed up metabolism so that you burn calories even at rest or sleep? There are simple exercises that speed up the metabolism.

Causes for Low Metabolism

• Fasting
• A low calorie diet
• Snacking throughout the day on high sugared foods (candy, colas, cakes, gum).
• Eating or drinking too much sugar containing foods.
• Lack of physical activity.
• Underactive thyroid.

Metabolism Boosters

There are some natural metabolism boosters (natural foods) that improves your metabolism. Do not take over the counter pills containing animal thyroid extract that claim to boost up metabolism. These products may have side effects as diarrhea, increased heart rate, excessive sweating, nervousness, tremors, bulging eyes, etc.

How to Improve (Speed up) Metabolism

• Do not skip any meals
• Exercise daily
• Build your muscles
• Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fastings
• Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.
• Eat foods with high nutrition values

Obesity is caused by unhealthy eating combined with sustained lack of activity. If food gives you more calories than you burn, your body turns on the storage program and puts on fat. This is the basic idea behind obesity.

Disorderly eating habits are the top reason why people becaome obese. With neither the time, nor the inclination to control one’s meals, it’s no wonder people get fat all over the world. Couple that with a sedentary lifestyle where most trips are taken by car and you got a health situation out of control.

Genetics: Obesity can also be inherited from family members who suffered from it. If your family has a history of obesity, then you would do well to watch your weight.

Junk food: We are all busy, but this does not mean that we have to eat everything fast food restaurants put before you. Burgers may look good, but they are fat too highly powered got your health. Thing is, a single burger is worth a whole meal, but your body does not judge the situation this way. Your stomach will never be filled by a regular burger, so it will keep asking for more, despite the fact that your body does not need more burgers.

Do you feel like giving up?
Many people try diets and manage to lose a few pounds. But returning to the old lifestyle and eating habits almost always means that weight lost turns into weight regained. Moreover, as diet follows diet, the body gets used to these “lean times” and makes it harder for you to lose weight.

To all this you may add that following a diet for a longer period of time is hard, because you will always crave the forbidden foods. The fact that certain delicious foods are forbidden makes them that much more attractive. A successful diet means adjusting your lifestyle to your needs, especially by making time for more exercising.

Typically an adult will consume 40 per cent of their daily calories in the form of fat. With each gram of fat resulting in nine calories compared to four calories for carbohydrates and protein, you can see that by eating more fat you are more likely to put on weight.

Fat binders allow you to reduce your calorie intake from fat by up to 28 per cent, a massive reduction which will make your weight loss attempts a lot easier. It is important to use a fat-binder that is clinically proven and has sound medical backing.

Dr Adam Carey (ITV, Celebrity Fit Club), world famous fitness and nutrition expert suggests that the best fat binder to use is called Proactol™ (available at www.proactol.com): ‘Proactol™ can provide some initial support by binding dierary fat, decreasing food cravings, suppressing appetite and reducing blood cholesterol’.

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Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in both men and women around the world. While many people fret about cancer or Alzheimer, hundreds of thousands of men and women around the world die of heart disease before they get to the age when Alzheimer becomes a problem. Living in today’s world, one cannot help but hear stories of high blood pressure, heart attacks and other such problems related to the cardio-vascular system. However, these stories are so common that we no longer take them as seriously as we should and end up suffering from the diseases that we ignored.

Smoking is bad for you; everybody knows that. Actually, smoking is high on the list of lifestyle choice that you should avoid if you value your health and, ultimately, your life. Among other bad things, smoking is the leading cause for high blood pressure and its consequences: strokes, heart attacks, heart failure, damage to the eyes and kidney failure. If you think that smoking helps ease stress, then try and avoid things that stress you. We all have to make ends meet, but deliberately adding a health risk to your problems is not the answer.

Drinking is yet another way of getting yourself in heart troubles. And I don’t mean the romantic kind of heart troubles, although drinking has done this for some people. I mean the kind of heart troubles that get you a resting place six feet under ahead of the time. The excess consumption of alcohol raises blood pressure and brings the same unpleasant consequences described above. And we’re not talking liver damage yet. A glass of wine once in a while is not a bad idea. A couple of glasses of gin or whiskey each day are a really bad idea. Not recommended.

And the third thing that you can do for yourself in order to stay healthy and avoid a while bunch of trips to the hospital is to follow a healthy diet and to exercise a couple of days every week. A healthy diet does not mean that you have to give up all the foods that you love, but simply to eat in moderation and to replace fast food and snacks with fruit and vegetables. There are healthy alternatives to nearly everything. And exercising doesn’t necessarily mean pumping iron at the gym. Walking or thirty minutes of aerobic exercises every other day can make a huge difference later on.

It really doesn’t take that much to lead a healthy life and get rid of bad lifestyle choices, especially since you’re doing this for your own good. Think again before lighting another cigarette, drinking another glass of alcohol or reaching out for a bag of snacks. We are living in a culture that makes instant gratification very easy, but having to spend years worrying about your blood pressure later on is simply not worth it.

In our quest for a life as healthy as possible we often overlook that moods and attitudes play a very important role in our health. A happy and relaxed person is always healthier than one who goes through a period of depression or who has to put up with a lot of stress. There’s only so much that the body can compensate for before the overall health starts to suffer. These negative moods can destroy you from the inside just as sure as any illness. They leave your body open to various diseases and make you less able to deal with them.

Many people are very skeptical of the suggestion that water can play very effective role in helping them achieve weight loss. Very few people realize that a large proportion of our body is water. Naturally it plays a very important part in our existence. 75% of the lean muscle tissues are water, over 80% of blood is water, body fat and bones account for over 20% of water each. Is it surprising then that water plays a very important role in how our bodies function?

Of course, drinking water alone is not going to help you lose weight. If you desire to lose weight in a gradual but sure way, eating right and drinking right are the two major components of the natural weight loss method.

Remember that “bad” fats are the main culprits causing excess weight – eat “good fats” that provide essential fatty acids; eat Salmon, Mackerel, Herrings, and Sardines. They help regulate blood pressure, prevent blood clotting and lower risk of heart failure.

Good proteins help you in suppressing cravings for food. They are essential in building muscles. Low fat milk products such as skimmed milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and fish are “good“ proteins.

Carbohydrates such as beans, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are consumed by the body slowly and hence they are natural hunger-suppressants; they are also moderate on fats and calories.

Eat adequate fiber food. Good fiber foods do not contribute much of calories and they are filling. They thus help in suppressing hunger. Moreover fiber does not get digested by the body and while passing through the body it attaches to some of the fats and proteins that we eat; thus they are taken out of the system without being digested! Apples, figs, broccoli, strawberries, brown rice, beans, bran and nuts are good fiber foods.

Water plays two important roles in helping you lose weight. Cravings for food are felt when the body dehydrates; if water is consumed in reasonable and adequate measure it suppresses hunger pangs. Liver provides stored fats for energy; water helps metabolism allowing kidneys to flush out waste. Many people will find it surprising that drinking cold water can burn the extra fat in the body; if you drink ice cold water it uses over 60 calories a day from the body – thus the body has to burn over 420 calories a week to raise the temperature of the ice cold water to the body temperature. What a way to beat that excess fat!

As we see here water plays an important role in you lose weight; it is a natural appetite suppressant, it helps in dieting and generally a major component in natural weight loss practice.

One of the important things you can do for your overall health is to eat a healthy diet. Your diet affects your weight and increases your risks of health diseases. Deciding a healthy diet is easier to say than to do because it is tempting to eat less healthy foods. Different people decide different healthy diet because you might eat this kind of diet while others just cannot stand the food you eat and find its alternative. That’s what health experts are here for, to let us know which food are healthier than others.

What are the principles of healthy eating?

Know What Healthy Food Is and How You Should Eat

When pursuing a healthy eating plan, you should remember the following:

1. Try and Eat a Variety of Different Colored Food - You should remember that different foods have different nutritional values. Food can be rich in antioxidants or Vitamin C. So, when you go to do your regular weekly shop, try and see what different colored foods you can pick up.

Down the fruit and vegetable aisle you should see greens, yellows, oranges and reds. You should have as much of a color variety in your trolley as you can. For example, when picking out fruit pick up strawberries, oranges, pineapple, apples, blueberries and bananas and you will notice what a large color selection you actually have. The same goes for vegetables. Basically, more color means that it is better and healthier for you.

2. Eat Foods from All Food Groups - The problem with many diets these days is the fact that they tell you to cut certain foods from certain food groups, out of the diet altogether. This means that you lose important nutrition and don’t eat as healthy as you could be. So, the answer to a healthy diet is to eat a variety of different foods.

Generally, fruit and vegetables should make up the main portion of your diet but you still need carbohydrates such as potatoes, meat or fish and a little bit of fatty foods like flaxseed oil which many experts recommend as part of a good fat diet. Overall, a diverse mixture of all food groups is needed for a healthy diet!

3. When You Need to Eat Snack, Do It on Healthy Foods – It doesn’t mean that just because you want to lose weight, you’ll have to skip your snack. In fact, snacking can actually be quite good for you just as long as you are eating the right foods.

Generally, when we want to eat snack, we reach for a biscuit or a packet of crisps. However, if you want to eat a healthy snack, then you will have to swap those for nuts, seeds or fruit and vegetables. That way you will get energy, you will also be full until your next meal time and it will be completely healthy.

Since you know what foods you like and what you don’t, you really have to decide for your own healthy eating plan. However, the said tips above can help you to choose the best healthy eating plan for you.

If you are switching to a healthy eating plan, then a Proactol™ can help you. Proactol™ is new clinically proven weight loss product that can help you cut down your fat intake by 28% of your dietary fat intake when taken after food. You don’t have to deprive yourself of foods you love to eat healthy. Just eat the food you like in moderation and take Proactol™ to deal with your diet effortlessly.

Practicing a sensible weight loss is not just taking a diet pill - you should live for a long-lasting healthy lifestyle.

When it comes to myths, food and sex are the ones that have the most. I think this is because these are two things that we have to do in life. We have to have sex or we don't reproduce. We have to eat or we will die. There isn't much choice when it comes to food. Here we will discuss more of the food myths. Bookmark this article, because you are bound to learn something new. Our food supply isn't as safe as it used to be. All you need to do is pick up a newspaper and see that for yourself. It seems that somewhere there is always someone getting sick from ecoli or some other food born illness.

Are preservatives bad for you? No, they aren't. If anything they are what keeps you from getting sick. If it weren't for these, many more people would get sick and die from the food they eat.

Can coffee cure a hang over?

No it can't. Caffeine can't cure a hang over. You get hung over because you are lacking water. The alcohol took a big chunk of the water from your system. Caffeine actually makes you urinate. So really it has the opposite effect.

Is it okay to eat fast?

The less that you chew your food, that means the more your stomach will have to work to digest your food. You have teeth with many different uses. Some are for cutting and some are for grinding. You should make the most out of them. This is why it is important that you take good care of your teeth.

Do beans cause gas?

Yes they do. They are high in fiber. A lot of things that are high in fiber actually cause gas. Also, things like corn and peppers also cause gas. Soaking beans before you cook them can take away some of the gas, but it won't take all of it.

Do carrots improve your eye sight?

No, they don't. Do do however, make your eyes healthy. That may sound like it contradicts its self, but it doesn't. They don't improve your eyesight, but they do help you maintain your current ability to see.

Can swallowing gum cause stomach problems?

It can cause gas, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. If you are chewing gum that has sorbitol, that could be causing problems too. Oddly enough, this is also found in semen.
Do cherries relieve pain?
The answer is yes. People who eat at least 20 tart cherries a day have a reduction in pain from arthritis.

Does parsley take away bad breath?

Yes it does. So does other green leafy veggies that contain chlorophyll.

Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?

Yes it does. There are many good things about apples. They help reduce the risk of cancer. They also help lower cholesterol. Who says that old sayings aren't true?
As will all things, take myths with a grain of salt. If you are curious about a myth, do some research on it. You will be surprised at how much information you will learn.