Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a measurement taken to determine an individual's weight and health status. BMI is often used as tool by physician's to determine if a person is at an unhealthy weight and at risk for further complications.
What is BMI?
BMI is a calculation used to assess an individual's weight. While BMI does not directly measure the percentage of body fat, it usually correlates fairly well with other direct measurements of fat in the body.
What is BMI Used For?
BMI is used to identify weight problems in both children and adults. Often, a patient's BMI will calculated as part of a screening process. If a patient has a high BMI, it will alert physicians of a health problem. Further assessments can then be taken, such as skin-fold thickness and diet evaluations, to fully evaluate a patient.
How to Calculate BMI
BMI uses height and weight in its calculation. In addition, BMI uses metric measurements. To find your BMI, take your weight in kilograms and divide that number by your weight in meters squared.
To find BMI without converting to metric units, use the same calculation except with pounds and inches. Then multiply that number by 703.
Interpretation of BMI Results
BMI is categorized into different ranges. For adults over the age of 20, BMI ranges are same for both men and women. For adults, a BMI under 18.5 is considered underweight; from 18.5 to 24.9 is normal; and from 25.0 to 29.9 is categorized as overweight. Any number over 30 is considered obese and is a red flag for serious health conditions.
Problems with BMI
BMI generally gives a good indication of weight and health. The higher the BMI, the heavier an individual and the more likely they are to have health problems associated with being overweight. However, BMI can be misleading at times. Take, for example a muscular individual. Muscular definition will cause a healthy person to weigh more. This results in an elevated BMI, even though they are not overweight. For this reason, BMI is usually only used as a screening tool. If a person has a high BMI, then further tests are used to determine if, in fact, they are overweight.
Member Comments