Thread by @Mangan150

How do you know if you're healthy?

Here's my metabolic health scorecard:

1. High blood pressure (without meds)
2. A1C over 5.6% without meds
3. HOMA-IR above 1.4
4. Triglycerides / HDL over 2
5. Overweight or obese BMI
6. High body fat %
7. Waistline > 50% of height

High blood pressure without meds:

While there is a genetic component, the root cause of high blood pressure is related to your weight and especially body fat %.

A1C higher than 5.6% without meds:

This one is easy to explain: once you get to an A1C of 5.7% or higher, you get into the pre-diabetic range.

Which is a big red flag.

HOMA-IR above 1.4:

To calculate your HOMA-IR, you need blood work taken at the same time for:
-Fasting Glucose
-Fasting Insulin

And then you plug in the date in an online calculator.

Triglycerides / HDL ratio over 2:

Using American units (must convert if your labs are in international units), you divide your Triglycerides (let's say 100) by your HDL (let's say 33).

That would be a ratio of 3, which is not good.

Under 2 is good, under 1 is optimal.

Overweight or obese BMI:

A lot of people have strong feelings about BMI, and I agree it's not perfect.

But let's face it: unless you have a bodybuilder physique, being in the overweight or obese BMI range means you are carrying too much body fat.

This is a major health risk.

High body fat %:

This only applies if you have it professionally measured by a DEXA scan. Smart scales are not accurate. Same goes for most tools at most gyms.

Men want to be at or under 15% body fat.

For women the range is wider, as high as 22-24%.

(Yes, this is better than BMI).

Waistline > 50% of height:

Belly fat is the most dangerous kind of excess fat.

Spot reduction is not possible (deciding which fat mass you lose), but if you don't have a relatively flat stomach, it means you are carrying too much body fat.

The largest part of your stomach should be no more than 50% of your weight.

(You can do this using inches, or centimeters for both height and waist).

Need help reclaiming your metabolic health?

Shedding 20-50 pounds of excess fat?

And want to do it 1-on-1 with me, in 50 minutes per week or less?

Use the link in my profile to explore 1-on-1 coaching. No sales call. No pressure.