Ade Rai is Indonesia's most famous bodybuilder and a passionate advocate of good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. As a big man with a lot to say, he enjoys going against stereotypes.
Every second week he will be offering professional advice through this column.
Hi Ade Rai,
I enjoy your column and would like to ask you a question. I am a man, 170 cm tall and weighing 63 kg. According to the ideal bodyweight formula and BMI, I am in the ideal zone. I recently had some blood tests and found that my cholesterol and blood sugar level are unusually high. How can that be? I thought I never had to worry about my health since medical literature says staying in the ideal zone has less risk of such results. I play tennis once a week, eat three square meals and take multivitamins every day. Could you please explain what's happening? Thank you.
Arief
Jakarta
Hi Arief,
First, please allow me to explain some of the terminology in your question as I would like readers of this column who may be in a similar situation to understand what we are discussing here.
The ideal bodyweight formula calls for subtracting 100 or 110 from your height to get your ideal weight, which in your case is 60-70 kg. The BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is a popular weight calculation used widely by the medical community. The formula is weight (in kg) divided by the height (in meters) squared: kg/m2. The ideal bodyweight range is a result of the BMI calculation between 19 and 24. In your case, you are right in the middle of the ideal range with a BMI of 21.79.
The healthy weight range and BMI give you a good indication of ideal weight, but they do not indicate anything further about our exact health. There is another parameter that we can all use to accurately indicate the state of our health: body composition. Body composition refers to a method of measuring two important aspects that contribute to our total weight. The first part is lean body mass and the second part is body fat.
With this parameter, the human body is divided into three categories of fat. The athletic or lean zone is when one has a body-fat level of less than 14 percent (men) or less than 20 percent (women). The normal zone is when one's body-fat level falls between 15 percent and 25 percent (men) or between 20 percent and 30 percent (women). The fat or obese zone is when one has a body fat level of more than 25 percent (men) or more than 30 percent (women).
People who are in the fat or obese zone have a higher tendency to have a high blood sugar level and cholesterol level. They are also at higher risk of suffering degenerative diseases (coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer) some time in their future.
The healthy weight range and BMI do not indicate your body-fat level. Two people can have the same body height and weight, but one can be very athletic with less fat and more lean body mass and the other can be very unfit with more fat and less lean body mass.
My partner, Halim Tsiang, and I at RAI Institute have conducted a series of body-fat surveys since 2006 with a population sample of up to 300 people. We found that more than 50 percent of people whose weights puts them in the healthy range with a normal BMI are actually fat or obese according to the body composition parameters.
I expect that you may be among this group. To properly determine whether you belong to this group or not, you can have your level of body fat checked at any good fitness center. Most will be more than happy to perform a body composition test for you for free. Another option is to buy a body-fat scale (available at fine sporting goods or home gym stores) for your own personal use and monitoring.
I can see that you have apparently embraced a fit lifestyle by exercising weekly and keeping to three square meals every day. The next step is for you to increase the consistency and quality of your healthy habits, and to drop some of the less-than-healthy habits. Here is a list of healthy habits you can start building right this very moment (although it would, of course, be wise to consult your physician before starting any physical or nutritional program).
- Eat more vegetables
Why? They are high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. By eating more of this food group, you will eat less fatty or sugary foods.
- Get plenty of lean protein
Protein is the building block for our body. It is required for tissue (muscles, skin, hair, nails and joints) repair, cell regeneration, building the immune system and various hormone production. A general guide is to have a portion of lean protein about the size of your own palm or a deck of cards with every meal. Try to also snack with protein rather than sugary or floury foods.
- Cut down on fried foods
Fried foods tend to increase the caloric content of food up to 300 percent compared with steamed or roasted foods without increasing the size or portion. These additional calories are generally empty in nutrition and will be stored straight away as fat in our body.
- Increase your exercise to three times a week.
If you find you can only play tennis once a week, join a gym and do the extra two weekly sessions of physical activity there. A good and sensible approach is to combine resistance training with aerobic activities for 30 minutes each.
I wish you all the best in following these recommendations. Please keep me updated with your progress.
Thank you for all the kind words and questions. Please keep them coming at ask_aderai@yahoo.com. I really appreciate you taking the time to write. I would like to wish all of you Happy Fasting! May all of us be blessed with health, success and happiness.
