Body Mass Index Calculator

By on December 1st, 2008

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The fat content in a human body based on their height and weight is the body mass index (BMI). Adolphe Quatelet, a statistician/mathematician from Belgium developed this way back in the early 1800’s. Basically, this is a formula that divides a person’s weight in kilograms and divides it by their height in meters squared. A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, underweight people usually have a BMI below 18.5 and overweight people have a BMI between 25 and 29.9, and the BMI of an obese person is over 30.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) indicates the amount of fat content in a person’s body and this can determine any risks of disease that the person faces. The BMI Calculator will indicate the balance of the body between height and weight to see exactly how much fat a person has. Knowing this enables people to better combat potential health disorders associated with obesity. To achieve a healthy weight it is suggested that you should weight yourself on a regular basis using a BMI calculator as this is the tool that is the standard medical method of determining a healthy weight, overweight, and obesity by using the height and weight data.

A BMI calculator can however, be limiting because it does not take into account the composition of body mass. The BMI calculator claims that anything that is over the recommended body mass is fat and means that a person is then overweight. This puts athletes sometimes in incorrect classifications of being overweight simply because they are low in body fat and high in muscle. Someone that is less athletic would not be as heavy as someone that is.

If you want to use a BMI calculator then you should first weigh yourself and measure your health. The following equation is then used, height x height (in feet). This formula is fairly reliable, especially for people between 19 and 70 unless you are pregnant, breastfeeding, a bodybuilder, a competitive athlete, and those that are chronically ill. The BMI weight loss calculator doesn’t consider your bodily composition so if you are in a weight loss program that involves gaining or losing muscle it is not advised that you use the BMI formula.

Your BMI lets you determine if your weight in correlation with your height falls within a healthy range. Traditionally, it is believed that the higher your BMI is the more chance you have of developing diseases. Your risk would become even higher if you are a male with a waist size over 40 inches or a woman with a waist size over 35 inches. If your BMI indicates that you are anything other than average then you should decide upon a weight loss program.

It is evident just from watching the nightly news that people are struggling not only with what they eat, but also how much. It is very important that people have a good idea of their BMI for their own well being. The heavier that a person is the better their chances are of becoming ill in the future.