Having a healthy weight is important for your health. If you are overweight, you have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis. Being underweight can also negatively impact your health. Your body mass index, which is also known as BMI, can be used to estimate your weight. It often correlates well with body fat, but it is not an exact measurement of your body fat percentage .
Body Mass Index Identification
Your body mass index is a measurement of how much you weigh relative to your size. To calculate your body mass index, you need to know your weight in pounds and your height in inches. The formula for your body mass index is [(703 x weight in pounds) / (height in inches)] /(height in inches). This means that if you are 68 inches tall and weigh 270 pounds you have a body mass index of [(703 x 270)/ 68]/68, which equals 41.0
Body Mass Index and Body Fat Percentage
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, body mass index is a fairly good predictor of the percent body fat for most people. One advantage of measuring body mass index is that it is a fairly easy measurement to make; accurately determining your body fat percentage, on the other hand, can be complicated. For example, one technique for measuring body fat involves weighing the subject under water.
Healthy Body Mass Index
For children, a healthy body mass index varies depending on their age and sex because they are still growing. For adults over the age of 20, interpretation of body mass index values is the same for all ages and sexes. If your body mass index is below 18.5, you are underweight. Between 18.5 and 24.9 is normal, and between 25 and 29.9 is overweight. If you have a BMI over 30, you are categorized as obese.
Considerations
Body mass index may not be a good estimate of body fat percentage for athletes or people with a high muscle mass, because the extra muscle mass can cause a high BMI even with a low body fat percentage. Women also tend to have more body fat than men. Your body mass index is only an estimate of your body fat percentage; if you want to accurately know your body fat percentage, you will need to have it directly measured.
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