Strength for Her

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement of body fat calculated using height and weight. It is used as an indicator of body “fatness”, or the amount of body fat versus lean mass. People are advised to keep their BMI within the normal range for maximum health.

Over recent years, the BMI concept has been criticized for being oversimplified. Because it only takes two factors into consideration – weight and height – it can be highly inaccurate in certain individuals. It allows no variations for different builds or body compositions.

For example, extremely muscular people or athletes may have a high BMI, which suggests that they are overweight and unhealthy. In reality, muscle weights more than fat, so their bodies are ‘dense’ and weight a lot for their height. It can work the other way too, by underestimating the health risks to elderly individuals who may have low weight but have high body fat and little muscle tissue.

So, while BMI can be helpful to the general population as a quick assessment of weight-related health, it has its limitations on an individual basis and should be taken with a grain of salt.

How to calculate BMI

To calculate BMI, you can use our handy BMI Calculator. Or do it yourself using the following formula:

BMI = [weight(lbs) * 703] / [height(inches)²]