Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the body assessments for determining the level of obesity, as weight and height are used to find out whether the weight is healthy or not.
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| Body Mass Index (BMI) |
What is BMI and How to Calculate It?
What is Body Mass Index (BMI)?
Body mass
index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on mass (weight) and height to work
out if bodyweight is healthy or not.
Body Mass
Index (BMI) is one of the assessments for determining the level of obesity, as
weight and height are used to find out whether the weight is healthy or not.
It should be
noted that this evaluation is often related to total body fat mass. It is more
an indicator than a measure of the total level of fat mass in the body, and its
height most often indicates an increase in the percentage of total body fat.
It is worth
noting that the basis for determining BMI values is the extent of the effect
of excess fat on disease and the risk of death, so its height indicates a
higher risk of developing it.
Among
the health conditions that are related to being overweight or obese: premature
death, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, degenerative arthritis,
diabetes, and some types of cancer.
It is worth
noting that the basis for determining BMI values is the extent of the effect
of excess fat on disease and the risk of death, so its height indicates a
higher risk of developing it.
Among
the health conditions that are related to being overweight or obese: premature
death, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, degenerative arthritis,
diabetes, and some types of cancer.
It is
recommended to use the BMI for children and adolescents as well, as it is
measured for adults, and then the result is compared with the percentile.
Measuring
BMI is one of the methods used by most health care providers.
Although it
is a simple and inexpensive means of detection, it is not approved for
diagnosis, as specialists need further evaluation to assess health
risks. Among these evaluations are body fat percentage, exercise practice,
nutritional history, as well as family health history.
How to Calculate Your BMI?
The formula
for Body mass index (BMI) is body weight in kilograms divided by height in
meters squared.
BMI Calculation
The BMI can
be calculated by dividing the body weight in kilograms by the square of its
height in meters (kg/m2) and the
equation in metric units is as follows:
BMI = weight
(in kilograms) ÷ (height (meters)) ²
For example,
if a person's weight is equal to 70 kilograms, and his height is equal to 1.75
meters, then his body mass index is calculated as follows:
BMI = 70 kg
(1.75 m) ² = 22.9 kg / m²
BMI Results
The result
of the BMI calculation indicates the proportions of the weight to the height;
where this index determines if a person is underweight, or if he has a healthy
weight or overweight, or suffers from obesity, and therefore if the body mass
index is outside the range of the ideal weight index, the health of the body is
more at risk.
BMI Ranges
If
your BMI is:
- Below 18.5 – you are in the underweight range.
- Between 18.5 and 24.9 – you are in the healthy weight range.
- Between 25 and 29.9 – you are in the overweight range.
- Between 30 and 39.9 – you are in the obese range.
The body mass index is used to express the different weights for both sexes from the age of 20 years and over.
It is worth
noting that BMI is not necessarily an accurate indicator of the level of fat in
the body, it may be the same for two different people, but one of them has a
higher fat percentage while the other has a higher percentage of muscle mass.
In addition,
women's bodies have a higher percentage of fat compared to men's bodies on the
same measure of body mass index, and the same is true for black people who have
a lower fat percentage than white-skinned people, while Asians have a higher
fat percentage than white-skinned people.
It should be
noted that those who have high muscle mass have a higher body mass index,
without this being linked to the risk of health problems.
Other
methods used to determine body size include: the waist-hip ratio and body
composition. This calculates fat and muscle mass in the body.
These methods focus more on measuring the percentage of fats and their distribution in the body, so using them together with the body mass index may contribute to improving the accuracy of assessing health risks associated with weight.