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Body Mass Index (BMI) Tool
What is Body Mass Index (BMI), and how is it useful?
Body Mass Index (or BMI) uses a person's height and weight to assess a person's statistical risk of experiencing health problems. Scientific research shows that BMI is a more accurate indicator of health risk than total body weight. In addition, exactly where the weight has accumulated is important in determining your risk for certain diseases (abdominal body fat is very dangerous to your health). Though it is only one of a number of considerations that health experts use to determine disease risks, BMI is more highly correlated with body fat than any other measurement of height and weight.
How is measuring BMI different from just weighing in on a scale?
As you have probably heard, stepping on the bathroom scale to observe your weight alone is not a very good measure of body fat. In addition, today there are a variety of expensive contraptions and methods of looking at body weight that produce colorful charts but marginal scientific value. BMI however, is highly correlated with body fat, and, subsequently, health risk. One positive characteristic of the BMI is that this measurement communicates a “healthy range” where your risk for developing disease is statistically minimized. So BMI is squarely based on health risk, not on how you look.
What is the healthy and unhealthy BMI range?
As set fourth in scientific literature, BMI ranges are as follows:
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A BMI of less than 18.5 is clearly “underweight”
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A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered “healthy”
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A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered “overweight”
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A BMI of 30 and above is considered “Obese”
CLICK HERE to calculate your BMI.
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