Children face obesity and weight problems similar to adults. If your child consumes too many calories and fails to engage in appropriate physical activity, then he is in danger of becoming overweight and obese. To help keep your child in the healthy weight range, you should measure his height and weight and see where he rates on the body mass index (BMI).
Body Mass Index
BMI is a calculation that uses height and weight to estimate how much body fat a person has. Doctors use BMI to determine how appropriate a child's weight is for a certain height and age. To find your child's BMI, take his weight in pounds and multiply it by 703. You then take this amount and divide it by your child's height in inches. This answer is then divided a second time by your child's height in inches to get the BMI score. This score is then compared to the BMI-for-age growth chart to see where your child's BMI ranks in the BMI percentile category.
BMI Percentile Range
The BMI percentile categories can tell you if your child's weight is in the healthy range. There are four BMI categories: underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese. To see where your child ranks, you plot the BMI score on the vertical axis of the chart and you find the point where this score intersects with your child's age. There are separate charts for boys and girls. The chart indicates within what percentile your child's BMI falls. If her score is lower than the 5th percentile, she is underweight. If she scores between the 85th to less than the 95th percentile she is overweight, which if she scores in the 95th percentile and above, she is obese. Therefore, the healthy weight range for children is a BMI score between the 5th percentile to less than the 85th percentile on the BMI-for-age growth chart.
Importance Of A Healthy Weight
A healthy weight is important to your child's health, because it decreases the risk of the development of chronic illness later in life. Some conditions that are related to a sedentary lifestyle and a poor body weight include heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and cancer. To score a healthy BMI, you need to ensure that your child eats a healthy balanced diet and participates in daily physical activity such as playing outside or playing sports.
Considerations
The healthy weight range for children varies based on age and gender. The BMI calculation is an easy assessment tool that you can use to see how your child compares to other children in his age group. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention state that the BMI should used to screen for overweight and obesity in children beginning at 2 years old. One way to ensure that your kids maintain a healthy body weight, is to make sure that the entire family is eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising everyday.
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