Why is controlling my weight so important?
To calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index measured in kg/m²), divide your weight in kilograms by your height squared in metres.
A healthy BMI for an Asian should be below 23 kg/m². A healthy BMI should be below 25 kg/m² for people of African, Black American, Caucasian, Middle Easterner and Latin American descent. A lower BMI of 23 kg/m² is used for people of “Other” ethnicity in which there is no scientifically validated data, and the lower BMI of 23 kg/m² may overestimate the risk of disease. Please see section “Do I have a risk of developing diabetes?”. One study from the American Diabetes Prevention Programme found that losing one kilogram of bodyweight reduced the risk of diabetes by 16%. Losing bodyweight has been shown to reverse prediabetes and return blood glucose levels to normal.
REFERENCES
Hamman, R. F., Wing, R. R., Edelstein, S. L., Lachin, J. M., Bray, G. A., Delahanty, L., Hoskin, M., Kriska, A. M., Mayer-Davis, E. J., Pi-Sunyer, X., Regensteiner, J., Venditti, B., & Wylie-Rosett, J. (2006). Effect of weight loss with lifestyle intervention on risk of diabetes. Diabetes care, 29(9), 2102–2107. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc06-0560
Hsu, W. C., Araneta, M. R., Kanaya, A. M., Chiang, J. L., & Fujimoto, W. (2015). BMI cut points to identify at-risk Asian Americans for type 2 diabetes screening. Diabetes care, 38(1), 150–158. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc14-2391