BMI (body mass index) determines if an individual is overweight, underweight or at the correct weight. BMI is used by nutritionists, trainers and physicians. It calculates your height compared to your weight and will determine if you are in the healthy weight range or not. Being overweight can put you at a higher risk of many diseases. Many of these symptoms can be reversed with weight loss and exercise.
BMI is a tool that can determine a persons body fat. How accurate is this? Science has come close to having this accurate. In most cases if an individual has a high BMI they have a higher risk of health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, higher risk of some cancers and heart attack. BMI has some limitations. If a person is an athlete, they will have more muscle tissue. If the athlete has a high BMI and their body fat is low they do not have the health related issues that come from being overweight or obese. Body fat is the main culprit for these diseases.
If you are an athlete and your BMI is high get your body fat percentage checked to see if you are in the healthy zone. If you are not an athlete, BMI is a good tool to determine if you are overweight and need to lose some body fat.
There are many free tools available to find out what your BMI is.
BMI Score:
Below 18.5 – under weight
18.5-24.9 – Normal
25-29.9 – overweight
30+ – obese
If you are over weight, just losing 5% will start to reduce the health risks.