46 is a lot, google for it. It's fine if you're a heavyweight Olympic lifter, but then it wouldn't come as a surprise. And conversely if it does come as a surprise, it's really worth considering spending your money on lipid panel and metabolic panel and DEXA scan now, and leaving the OW course for later.
BMI and scuba diving
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46 is a lot, google for it. It's fine if you're a heavyweight Olympic lifter, but then it wouldn't come as a surprise. And conversely if it does come as a surprise, it's really worth considering spending your money on lipid panel and metabolic panel and DEXA scan now, and leaving the OW course for later.
When people talk about measuring waist-to-hip ratio, that's generally as a proxy for the amount of abdominal visceral fat. Excess body fat anywhere is unhealthy for a wide variety of reasons, but visceral fat is far worse than subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat particularly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.
Correlation of visceral body fat with waist–hip ratio, waist circumference and body mass index in healthy adults: A cross sectional study
Visceral Fat (VF) is the underlying culprit for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, etc. VF can be estimated at present only by u…
www.sciencedirect.com
PirateFoxy
Contributor
When people talk about measuring waist-to-hip ratio, that's generally as a proxy for the amount of abdominal visceral fat. Excess body fat anywhere is unhealthy for a wide variety of reasons, but visceral fat is far worse than subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat particularly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.
For general health screening and fitness purposes it's probably a good idea for most people (not just divers) to get a DEXA scan every few years. Those can directly measure not just body fat percentage, but also exactly how much is visceral fat.Correlation of visceral body fat with waist–hip ratio, waist circumference and body mass index in healthy adults: A cross sectional study
Visceral Fat (VF) is the underlying culprit for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, etc. VF can be estimated at present only by u…
Yes, because abdominal visceral fat is much more strongly correlated with health problems than fat in other areas. So if you're trying to gauge someone's health or health risks, it's significantly more useful than BMI, which not only doesn't address WHERE your fat is, it also makes no differentiation between fat and muscle so someone can be really quite fit and still get a higher BMI score even though they don't actually have any meaningful increased risk.
If I remember right waist-to-hip is particularly useful as a measurement for identifying potential health problems in populations that naturally tend to carry more weight places like their hips and thighs, like women in certain regions, since they may have a higher BMI but not actually increased abdominal fat to any significant extent.
When people talk about measuring waist-to-hip ratio, that's generally as a proxy for the amount of abdominal visceral fat. Excess body fat anywhere is unhealthy for a wide variety of reasons, but visceral fat is far worse than subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat particularly increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.
For general health screening and fitness purposes it's probably a good idea for most people (not just divers) to get a DEXA scan every few years. Those can directly measure not just body fat percentage, but also exactly how much is visceral fat.Correlation of visceral body fat with waist–hip ratio, waist circumference and body mass index in healthy adults: A cross sectional study
Visceral Fat (VF) is the underlying culprit for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, etc. VF can be estimated at present only by u…
And do what with the information? Modern medicine has a multitude of tests that can be ran, but to what end? Often times if someone is “heathy” testing cannot make them any healthier.
If you’re in relatively good shape with good resting vital signs, basically good endurance (i can walk a flight of stairs) and have no conditions that limit you from the activities you want to do, the usefulness of a DEXA scan is likely extremely low.
There is an entire subset of medical providers arguing against over treatment and over testing. I find myself agreeing with Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Vinay Prasad far more often than many of the physicians I deal with in my health system.
I think for some people at least a DEXA scan can be a good wakeup call about their actual body composition, and a spur towards making healthier choices. It's easy to fool yourself into believing you're doing fine. Harder to argue with the scan results.
I understand the general concern about doing unnecessary screening tests which then produce a certain number of false positive results leading to additional expensive and potentially harmful tests and procedures. But a DEXA scan doesn't really fall into that category.
A DEXA scan can also provide early warning about osteopenia. I think a lot of people are unaware of how common that condition it is, and how it can increase the risk of devastating fractures as we age. Early detection makes it a lot easier to manage the condition.
#214 - AMA #37: Bone health—everything you need to know - Peter Attia
“The bones are mechanical sensory entities that are going to remodel in proportion to how much mechanical stress they're under…so lifting heavy stuff matters.” —Peter Attia
peterattiamd.com
Most of us, especially divers, should be aiming higher than just having good vital signs and the ability to walk a flight of stairs. If we want to still be able to dive when we're 80 then we need to be on a reasonably high intensity training program to build up skeletal muscle mass and bone mineral density before the inevitable declines set in. A periodic DEXA scan is a good checkpoint to assess whether the plan is working for you or needs a course correction.
Yes, those guys put out excellent information. I am making this recommendation more from a fitness and healthspan perspective than from a medical perspective.
Muscle as the Cornerstone of Longevity | Optimizing Strength for Disease Prevention with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
My guest today is the creator of Muscle Centric Medicine, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. Board certified in family medicine, Dr. Lyon completed a research/clinical fellowship in Nutritional Science and Geriatrics. Dr. Lyon is a woman on a mission, and she wants us to build and keep our skeletal muscle
www.gabriellereece.com
1. I got certified to dive at a BMI around 45 and I was fine if an air hog and needing a lot of weights.
2. Losing weight is very possible, I lost 120 pounds and it has been a wonderful thing. There's even a group on Facebook entitled Scuba Women Who Are Getting Healthier to share inspiration.
3. Don't give up on your dreams of diving, it is worth it!!!
RobPNW
Contributor
I hate the general use of BMI for anything. It's height and weight and doesn't take into account fitness level or general body composition. It's just not an accurate enough data point IMO. When I was on active duty, I was considered overweight for my height, which then required them to take a second metric, specifically percent body fat measurements. Often times, that would come in around 12-15% because a lot of my weight was muscle mass. This may not apply to the OP, just commenting on how BMI can be misleading.
Big Dan K
Contributor
Call your doctor and offer to take a stress test. My BMI was 36 when I resumed diving, and I was a 54 year old with significant hypertension. My doctor just asked about my workout habits. When I told her I do 30 minutes on the elliptical machine thee days a week, she signed my form. If I had not been exercising she would have made me take a stress test. My BMI is still 33, so on the last workout before going to the doctor I take a screen shot of the workout summary. Scuba is great for weight loss, and upcoming trips are my main motivation to keep exercising
This is a case where I would go back and uncheck that box, if Your GP is ok with your readiness go for it.
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