Your body mass index, or BMI, is a measurement of how much body fat you have in comparison to the other muscle and other components of your body. Some health professionals use BMI as a preferred measurement for weight because it takes body composition into account whereas height and weight comparison systems do not. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, age and gender do not play a factor in adult BMI measurements for women but may be used with girls and teens.
Evaluating BMI
Although BMI is a general recommendation, you should still work with your physician or your child's pediatrician to determine what is a healthy weight or BMI. If you or your child are not within the ideal range, he can suggest ways to lower your weight and thereby reach the recommended BMI.
Percentiles
The BMI of girls, teens and young women ages 2 to 20, are assessed according to percentiles. If your daughter's weight falls under the fifth percentile, her weight is considered underweight. If your daughter's weight falls between the fifth and 85th percentiles, her weight is considered healthy. If your daughter's weight falls between the 85th and 95th percentiles, she may be considered overweight. If your daughter's weight is in the 95th percentile or higher, she is considered obese.
Understanding BMI and Age
There is great variability in BMI due to the percentiles, which means that there is no definitive or singular BMI recommendation for girls or women. For example, a 6-year-old girl could have a BMI between 13.7 and 17 and it is still considered healthy. The same is true for an 18-year-old teen, who could have a BMI between 18.2 and 25.6 and still be healthy.
Adult Women's BMI
Because age does not factor into adult BMI measurements, height and weight are used as the measures of comparison. Organizations such as the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute offer guidelines for BMI. For example, if you are 5 feet tall, or 60 inches, and weigh 138 lbs. your suggested BMI is 27. Yet if you are 5 feet 10 inches tall, or 70 inches, and weigh 146 lbs. your suggested BMI is 21.
These suggestions are compared to obesity levels: a BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal, a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight and a BMI higher than 30 is considered obese.
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