BMI Calculator
BMI (Body Mass Index) has become the most widely used diagnostic tool to screen individuals for an increased risk of health problems due to being overweight. While BMI calculation does not actually measure an individual’s body fat percentage, in most cases it has been found to correlate strongly to direct methods of assessing body fat levels such as DXA scans.
Limitations
There are, however, some caveats. BMI calculation was designed to identify weight problems in sedentary individuals with an average amount of muscle tissue. This makes BMI measurement unreliable for athletes with a significantly higher than average percentage of lean muscle mass. Professional bodybuilders, for instance, typically have a BMI that classifies them as overweight or even obese despite extremely low body fat levels. BMI measurement also fails to take into account gender, age, and skeletal frame differences.
Weight Categories
Despite these limitations, the Body Mass Index serves as an accurate indicator of healthy and unhealthy weight ranges in the majority of adult men and women. Here’s a breakdown of the weight categories:
- BMI below 20: Underweight
- BMI from 20 to 24.9: Healthy Weight
- BMI from 25 to 29.9: Overweight
- BMI over 30: Obese