Body Mass Index for Men

As our society has become more weight-conscious than ever, tools have come to the forefront to help us gauge our nutritional progress. One of the most prominent tools to reach public knowledge is the body mass index, or BMI. The BMI attempts to give us an idea of how our weight relates to our ideal weight and also helps us realize what weight we should be striving for.

Body Mass Index Basics

The body mass index is a system that measures your overall health by entering specific information into a BMI calculator. Just enter your height and weight to learn your BMI score. Since body mass index is based on a mathematical formula, your BMI score will be identical on any website's calculator. This score can be checked against a legend, which breaks down BMI scores into four different categories.

BMI Categories

According to the body mass index, the normal range for people of a healthy, normal weight is 18.5 to 24.9. If you fall under this level, you're considered to be underweight. If you fall between 25 and 29.9, you're overweight, and anything over 30 would be considered obese. It's important to note that BMI is just measure of your health and does not give the whole picture of your health situation.

BMI Criteria for Men

BMI is calculated in the same way for men as it is for women. But BMI tends to apply differently to men than it does to women. According to Weight Watchers, women who are overweight or obese based on BMI standards are more likely to suffer from diabetes than men with similar BMIs. Weight Watchers also states that men with higher BMIs tend to look better than women with identical BMI scores.

Obesity in Men

Obesity has become a huge problem in the United States. In 2007 and 2008, 32.2 of men ages 20 or over were obese by BMI standards, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This rampant obesity in males is a disturbing trend that the body mass index has helped to quantify and diagnose. Obesity is a potential precursor to heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, and one way to fight these diseases is to reduce your BMI score.

Criticisms of BMI

The biggest criticism of body mass index is that it's merely a statistical model that incorporates numbers, not common sense. A 2005 study done by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stated 56 percent of National Football League players are obese because they fit the BMI criteria for obesity. However, the National Institute of Health states that these players aren't correctly categorized because they are so muscular. Body mass index must be used with other measurements and factors in order to obtain a complete health profile for an individual.