Know Your Risk!


Check Your BMI
Your body mass index, or BMI, is a good indicator of your risk for many diseases because it reports an accurate estimate of your total body fat.

You can check your BMI using the Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center Wellness BMI calculator. To do so now, click here. This tool will log your BMI to your personalized wellness profile, and track changes over time to your BMI. Be sure to re-check your BMI as you gain or lose weight.

Although BMI is a valid indicator of body fat for most men and women, it does have a few limitations that you should keep in mind:

It may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build.

It may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost a good deal of muscle mass.

Appropriate weight gain during pregnancy varies and depends upon one's initial body weight or typical BMI level. Pregnant women need to contact a health professional in order to gauge appropriate weight gain during pregnancy.

Waist Circumference Measurement
Your waist circumference measurement is also important to determine your overall risk of weight-related disorders. If the majority of your fat is around your waist, you are at a much greater chance for developing risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. This risk increases with a waist measurement of greater than 35 inches for women or greater than 40 inches for men.

Are You at Risk?
The tools on this website will be able to help you evaluate your risks and need to lose, gain, or maintain weight. However, talking with your doctor to corroborate this information will ensure that you have accurate information for your body type and medical history.

If you are overweight, do not have a high waist measurement, and have less than two risk factors, it is important that you do not gain any additional weight. If you are overweight, or have a high waist circumference, and have two or more risk factors, or if you are obese, it is very important for you to lose weight. Even a small weight loss (for example, ten percent of your current weight) will help decrease your risk of developing the following diseases:

High blood pressure
High blood cholesterol
Type 2 diabetes
Coronary heart disease
Stroke
Gallbladder disease
Arthritis
Sleep apnea and breathing problems
Endometrial cancer
Breast cancer
Prostate cancer
Colon cancer