Body weight is the amount of mass an individual's body has.
Before entering fully into determining the meaning of the term body weight , it is necessary to establish the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape. In this sense, both come from Latin:
– Peso derives from pensum and this, in turn, from the verb pendere , which means “to hang.”
– Corporal is the result of the evolution of the Latin word corporalis , which can be translated as “relating to the body.” It is made up of two clearly differentiated parts: the noun corpus , which is synonymous with "body", and the suffix -al , which is used to indicate "relative to".
What is body weight
The force exerted by the planet Earth to attract bodies and the magnitude of that force are called weight . The concept, on the other hand, can be used to refer to mass (the amount of matter that is present in a body).
Corporeal is the adjective that refers to what is linked to a body. Usually the term refers to the body of a human being .
With this panorama, we can move forward with the definition of body weight . This notion refers to the amount of mass that a person's body houses. From this figure, it is possible to estimate certain characteristics about an individual's health conditions, although body weight is not conclusive data.
If the body weight is not appropriate according to the physical characteristics, the subject may suffer from different health problems.
An example
If we say that a man 's body weight is 100 kilograms and do not add any other data, we cannot draw any conclusions about his condition.
If it is a 12-year-old child who is 1.50 meters tall, said body weight reveals morbid obesity . On the other hand, if the body weight of 100 kilograms corresponds to a 25-year-old man and 2.05 meters tall , it is likely that he is a healthy subject.
Factors that threaten a healthy body weight
It is important that in order to keep body weight at bay, fundamentally for health and aesthetics, several criteria must be taken into account that can alter it in a clear and forceful way:
-Foods with many calories and fats. These should be reduced to a minimum in any diet because they do not provide anything good to the body.
-Lack of physical exercise. Leading a sedentary life is another reason why many people gain a lot of weight. Hence, it is advisable to perform physical activity daily, even if it is walking for half an hour.
-Hormonal-type diseases. It is advisable for anyone to periodically undergo a medical check-up and that is the way to detect any disease, among which are those of a hormonal nature that will cause them to clearly increase their weight. Among these pathologies is, for example, hypothyroidism.
One of the most appropriate data to analyze a person's nutrition is the body mass index , which links body weight (expressed in kilograms) and height. Its formula is: Body Mass Index = Body Weight / Height squared .