My Asian genetics brings me here

kf5nd

I am not overweight at BMI 25, but I have fatty liver, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and gout. My blood sugar is normal, but trends a bit high. I'm 50 years old.

There is a little known fact that the World Health Organization debated whether to make the overweight cut-off for Asians lower than for other people. I am of Asian ancestry. The WHO thought about declaring weight > 23 BMI as overweight for Asians, but they thought there would be too much confusion and push-back, so they just said, "OK, it's 25 for everyone".

Well, I think I'm a living example of BMI = 25 is too heavy for an Asian. So I'm out here trying to get down to BMI = 23, which would be 167 lbs. for my height of 71.5 inches. So I have to lose 15 lbs.

I'm blessed that my blood pressure, and cholesterol are medically controlled. But there are no meds for fatty liver. Weight loss is the only "med". My gout is being treated medically, too.

I think what I just said also applies to Native Americans and Hispanics of mestizo background, since your ancestors came from Asia over the Siberian land bridge thousands of years ago.

Anyway... the last 15 lbs is the toughest. And the last 15 is my first 15. So, there it is.

CMmrsfloyd

BMI is not always an accurate measure of health on the individual level, regardless of ethnicity. It is only a relation of weight and height, it does not take bodyfat percentage into account. Bodyfat is a better indicator. A person can be in the healthy BMI range but still have an unhealthy level of bodyfat, and a person can be very muscular and have a low or healthy level of bodyfat and yet the BMI categorizes them as 'overweight' in spite of their health and fitness and regardless of ethnicity. Try getting an estimate of your bodyfat percentage and see how that compares to the general healthy range and use it to make personal goals for yourself in conjunction with scale weight and BMI. :-)

joey200for2

Gout is AWFUL, i feel for you!

fteale

That's very interesting. A BMI of 25 is too heavy for me too, but I am English apparently. Except that my son was born with Mongolian Blue Spot and several other Asian indications, which lead me to research that somewhere way back in my family (in the 18th Century) there are Asian as well as African genes. Everyone always assumes my son is Asian to look at him, even though I am blonde with blue eyes.

fuschiadiamond

I am Asian too and BMI is not the one and only indicator of how fit a person is because it does not take into consideration the muscle mass. Do not fret over those numbers. As for your medical problems, don't you think it is better for you to control it with balance nutrition and exercise rather than relying on pills? You will feel better eventually. As for the fatty liver, that's usually associated with alcohol intake.