Austin Baraki

BMI is a useful, inexpensive screening test: a body mass index of 30 or higher reliably signals excess body fat, but a “normal” BMI misses about half of the people who carry dangerous amounts of it. Here is what BMI measures, where it fails, how it compares with other tools, and how to read your own result. Body mass index is one of the most common and most misunderstood numbers in medicine.

Weight regain after a diet is the predictable behavior of a body defending its fat stores, not evidence of weak willpower. Here is what sets your weight, why it fights back, and where your effort actually belongs. In 2009, Danny Cahill walked off of the stage of The Biggest Loser 239 pounds lighter than when the season started, down from 430 to 191, a show record.1 He had done every single thing fitness culture tells you to do.

Half. That is the share of men with an initial low testosterone value who come back normal on a repeat draw without any treatment. The finding comes from a long-running study of more than 1,700 men in Boston who had their blood drawn at multiple visits over years. It is also consistent with what is known about how much testosterone varies day to day. 50%+ More than half of men with an initial low testosterone value had normal values on repeat testing without any treatment.