BMI

What is the BMI?

The BMI is one way to establish whether an adult is overweight. BMI analyzes height
and weight; muscle mass is not a part of the equation.

How does someone calculate his or her BMI?

The BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by his or her height in
meters, squared. You can also calculate your BMI by multiplying weight in pounds by
705, then dividing by height in inches twice.

For example: if you weigh 70kg, and you are 1.75m tall, your BMI would be 22.9
(70/1.75 = 40 and 40/1.75 = 22.9).

What Is a Healthy BMI?

• A person with a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered to be at a healthy weight.

• A person with a BMI of 25-29.9 is considered overweight.

• A BMI over 30 is considered obese.

• A BMI of 40 or above indicates that a person is obese.

If you are categorized in the obese category, your risk of death will increase from any
cause by 50%-150%.

What can happen if your BMI is high?

The higher the BMI, the greater you are at risk for developing serious conditions and
illnesses. These conditions and diseases include:

• High blood pressure

• Coronary artery disease

• Stroke

• Osteoarthritis

• Some types of cancers such as breast and colon cancer

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 • Type 2 diabetes

• Emotional problems such as low-self esteem and depression

Figuring out your BMI

Examples of body mass indexes

Height (feet, inches)

Weight
(pounds)
5'0" 5'3" 5'6" 5'9" 6'0" 6'3"

140 27 25 23 21 19 18

150 29 27 24 22 20 19

160 31 28 26 24 22 20

170 33 30 28 25 23 21

180 35 32 29 27 25 23

190 37 34 31 28 26 24

200 39 36 32 30 27 25

210 41 37 34 31 29 26

220 43 39 36 33 30 28

230 45 41 37 34 31 29

240 47 43 39 36 33 30

250 49 44 40 37 34 31

If you need guidance about how to lose weight safely, you should also make an
appointment to see your general practitioner. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding this
system is not going to give you accurate results. You may want to consider calculating
your BMI after your pregnancy or breastfeeding is finished.

Children and BMI

This tool works well for children ages two through nineteen. Be careful if you use this
tool or any height and weight charts to assess your child's growth after he or she

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reaches puberty. This tool looks at your child's weight and height, and then compares
your child's size to that of other boys or girls of the same age. Remember, not all
children are the same. Some are biologically larger and some are biologically smaller.
Your child's size is given two numbers-a BMI value and its percentile. The percentile is
the number that ranks your child's size among other children of the same gender and
age.

What is most important is that your child is at the same percentile over time, so it takes
several measurements to assess your child's growth. You should talk with your doctor if
your child suddenly shifts up or down in percentile. A steady change from one percentile
to another is probably you should become worried over.

Talk with your doctor if you are concerned about your child's weight. Finding that a child
is "overweight" or "underweight" is a medical diagnosis. Your doctor can give you steps
to take to help your child reach and stay at a healthy weight.

Some interesting facts that you should be aware about…

• Researchers are finding that the fat around your waist is more accurate measure of
future health risk than BMI. Having too much fat around your middle is associated with
an increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes.

• A greater risk of high cholesterol levels is related to individuals who have an excess
amount of fat around their waist. This can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

• Fat around the waist greater than 32 inches for women and 37 inches for men increases
the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks, stroke, and diabetes.

• The greatest risk is for women who carry waist measurement of more than 35 inches
and men with a waist measurement of more than 40 inches.

How to measure your waist size

Place a tape measure around your lower ribs and your hips. Make sure to breathe out
and measure the circumference.

The different types of body shapes and what they mean medically

Apples and pears

People whose weight is concentrated around their stomachs (apple shaped) may be at greater
risk of the following illnesses:

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 • heart disease

• diabetes

• cancer

Apple shaped people are more vulnerable to these illnesses than people of the same weight
who are pear-shaped who carry their weight in their hips and buttocks. People who are pear-
shaped store most of their fat around their hips.

Waist-hip ratio

Recently, it researchers have suggested that waist-hip ratio, which measures the
proportion of fat stored on your body around your waist and hips, is the best predictor of
a person's risk of a heart attack, making it a more accurate measure than BMI.

Measure your waist-hip ratio while standing relaxed and naked. Measure your waist at
its narrowest point. This is usually around your navel. Next, measure your hips at their
widest point. Most often, this is around the buttocks. It is important not to pull the tape
tight when doing either of these measurements - let the tape rest on your skin.

Finally, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. The figure you get
from this calculation is your waist-hip ratio. For example, if your waist is 33 inches and
your hips are 39 inches, your waist-hip ratio is 0.85.

If you are a man and your ratio is more than 1.0, or a woman and your waist-hip ratio is
more than 0.8, it means you are an apple shape and at greater risk of health problems.

What is the future of the BMI?

The BMI may not be the best method after all because researches found
out that…
• The patients with the lowest BMI had the highest rates of death from heart
disease and all other causes.

• Patients considered being overweight but not obese had lower risk for death from
any cause than patients whose BMI fell in the normal range.

• The researchers suggested that this does not mean carrying excess weight is
good for heart patients, but it does suggest that better ways of measuring
obesity.

Experts differ in their opinions about what is a healthy percentage of body fat. In
general, 10% to 25% body fat is healthy in an adult man, and 18% to 32% body fat is

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healthy in an adult woman. Above this level is unhealthy. Percentage of body fat will
vary between different population groups. Your age, sex, and activity level will also
affect your percentage of body fat. For example, endurance runners have less body fat
than swimmers. People living near the North or South Pole generally have more body
fat than people living in moderate temperature zones do.