HEALTHY CHANGES:
4 Steps Towards Overall Health

Step 1:
Understanding Your "Total Health"

Step 3:
Make the Commitment

Assessment & Goals

Physical Checkups
Tools and Forms
Tracking Your Progress

Step 4:
ACTION TOOL RESOURCE CENTER

 

 

 

Step 3: ASSESSMENT AND GOAL-SETTING

Physical Checkups | Tools and Forms | Tracking Your Progress

B. Elements of My Personal Assessment Form
To help you start to answer these questions Holy Healthy UMC provides you a printable Personal Assessment Form that you and can complete with your health care provider to better determine any health issues you may face. If you have not printed a form out, click the link below:

My Personal Assessment Form (PDF)

These are some of the measurement tools used in the Personal Assessment:

a) Body Mass Index
Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of your weight relative to your height and indicates your weight status - under weight, healthy weight, over weight or obese.

BMI/Waist Circumference/Calorie Chart (PDF)

BMI Calculator (from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Open the PDF above or go to the link provided and use the BMI calculator to determine your personal BMI. The BMI score means the following:

BMI:
Underweight: Below 19
Normal: 19 - 24
Overweight: 25 - 29
Obese: 30 and Above

Read More:
www.health.discovery.com/centers/nutritionfitness/fitnessqa/bmi.html
www.health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/bmi/bmi.html

b) Waist Circumference
Determine your waist circumference by placing a measuring tape snugly around your waist. It is a good indicator of your abdominal fat, which is another predictor of your risk for developing risk factors for heart disease and other diseases. This risk increases with a waist measurement of over 40 inches in men and over 35 inches in women. View a Waist Circumference/BMI Table to see the risk of obesity associated diseases by BMI and Waist Circumference.

c) Chronic Disease Risk Factors

• High blood pressure (hypertension)
  
• High LDL ("bad") cholesterol
  
• Low HDL ("good") cholesterol
  
• High triglycerides
  
• High blood glucose (sugar)
  
• Family history of premature heart disease
  
• Cigarette smoking
  
• Age (male: 45 years, female: 55 years)

If you are at an unhealthy weight (obese or overweight):
You should consider losing weight if you are obese (BMI is greater than or equal to 30) are overweight (BMI of 25 to 29) and have two or more risk factors above OR if have a high waist size and two or more risk factors.

d) Exercise Levels
Your physical activity and the foods you eat are directly related. Regular physical activity is important to your overall health. You control your body weight by burning up some of the calories you take in from foods and beverages each day.

• To maintain weight, calories in (food and beverages consumed) should equal calories out (metabolism + routine activity + physical activity).
  
• To lose weight, calories in should be less than calories out.
  
• To gain weight, calories in should be more than calories out.

Determine your calorie needs in relationship to your physical activity. Print the "Daily Calorie Requirements" table to determine your calorie needs based on the physical activity descriptions below.

For children and adolescents, more calories are needed at older ages. For example, a moderately active 13-year-old girl should aim for 2,000 calories, but a moderately active 9-year-old girl should aim for 1,600 calories.

For adults, fewer calories are needed at older ages. For example, an active 31-year-old man should aim for 3,000 calories, but an active 50-year-old man should aim for 2,800 calories.

• Sedentary means a lifestyle that includes only the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
• Moderately active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
• Active means a lifestyle that includes physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, in addition to the light physical activity associated with typical day-to-day life.
Daily Calorie Requirements Table (PDF).

 

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