BMI Calculator and Chart

Author: Rod Ferris, CPT (ACE, YMCA), CPAFLA

What is it?

BMI stands for Body Mass Index and is a tool used by health professionals to measure how 'healthy you are' in the most general way without going into much detail.

How do you Calculate BMI?

BMI is Body Mass index and the formula is:

Weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (weight (kg) / [height (m)]²)

Main Use

Body mass index or BMI has many problems but offers a guideline for certain health diseases or conditions. Most health journal studies record their subjects BMI to come to a statistical correlation between variables. In this article we will discuss the benefits, problems, provide a BMI calculator, the BMI Chart and other resources related to BMI.

The Calculator

Benefits of BMI

Since BMI formula is the same for both adults, children as well as with different genders and ethnicity it is the preferred calculator to determine a healthy weight. Also, the BMI is generally known by everyone in the health industry so it's easy to give a general baseline for certain conditions.

BMI Chart
	Obesity Class	BMI (Kg/m2)
Underweight		< 18.5
Normal		18.5 - 24.9
Overweight		25 - 29.9
Obese	I	30 - 34.9
Obese	II	35 - 39.9
Morbid Obesity	III	>40

Problems with the BMI (Body Mass Index)

The BMI doesn't consider many factors such as muscle mass and water retention. Many people fluctuate weight by at least 5-6 pounds daily and depending on many factors can fluctuate by 10 pounds monthly. For an anorexic person this could mean a unhealthy BMI to a healthy one.

BMI conflicts with many health experts and they usually completely disagree with using the BMI alltogether for an indepth review of a patients case.

The Forumla - How is it Calculated?

The BMI forumla considers height and weight and then creates a general number which is considered the Body Mass Index.

Anorexia

According to the DSM-V people with a BMI lower than 17kg/m² is generally considered to have anorexia nervosa(link). People with this low of a BMI should try and focus on trying to eat healthy and not on numbers; however each health professional will have a different angle on trying to help their patients case.