BMI Guide: Calculate Healthy Body Mass Index by Age and Gender

Body Mass Index (BMI) serves as a key indicator of cardiovascular health and general wellness. Learn how to calculate BMI for athletes, children, and amputees, and understand what your results mean.

Acronym BMI - Body Mass Index

What Does a BMI of 26 Mean?

Your weight is a good indicator of your health. If you maintain a healthy weight throughout most of your life, you may be able to reduce your risk of a chronic illness such as heart disease. Body mass index, or BMI, is a tool that helps determine health risk based on a calculation using your height and weight.

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BMI With Frame Size

Body mass index is the ratio of your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. BMI provides an estimation of your body fat level, but is in no way diagnostic. It helps healthcare providers evaluate whether you may be at risk of chronic disease due to carrying excess fat.

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Woman measuring herself

How to Calculate BMI Using Waist and Hip Measurements

You can't actually calculate your body mass index, or BMI, using your waist and hip measurements. These two measurements are used to calculate your waist-to-hip ratio, or WHR, which can be helpful for determining whether you're carrying your weight in a healthy way.

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Arm Circumference & BMI Comparison

When you can't determine the height of a patient, upper arm circumference can help calculate his body mass index. Body mass index, or BMI, gives a caregiver an estimation of a patient's body fat level.

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How to Calculate BMI for a Bodybuilder

Many medical providers use body mass index, or BMI, to assess your weight and health risk. BMI is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters. A BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and 30 or above is obese.

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The Average BMI in Men

The average body mass index (BMI) in men between the ages of 20 and 74 has increased from 25.1 in the early 1960s to 27.9 between 1999 and 2002, the last year there was a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Men 75 and over weren’t sampled until 1988, but their BMI has also increased.

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How to Slim Muscular Calves

The soleus and the gastrocnemius are the two muscles that make up the calf. Without these versatile muscles you would not be able to drive a car, walk or lift your toes. Yet calves can be a source of body image distress: too small, too big or even too muscular.

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Body Mass Index

How to Convert BMI to Body Fat Percentage

Although body mass index and body fat percentage tend to be related, BMI -- a calculation based on height and weight -- doesn't necessarily accurately predict a person's body fat percentage.

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What Are BMI and BMR?

The abbreviations BMI and BMR sound similar, but they stand for two separate things. Your BMI, or body mass index, is a number calculated from your height and weight which is then used to assess your body composition. Your BMR, or basal metabolic rate, is the number of calories you burn when your body is at rest.

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Closeup of teen girl measuring her waist

Is a BMI of 16 Dangerous?

With so many images in the media of very thin women, some people will diet to try to fit in with this idea of beauty and in the process become so thin that they're unhealthy. Others may be overly thin for different reasons, but whatever the cause, it isn't healthy to be underweight.

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Woman measuring her waist

Problems With BMI

The body mass index uses your height and weight to estimate the level of fatness in your body. For much of the population, it's a fair enough gauge as well as simple to apply and noninvasive to perform. A BMI higher than 25 indicates that you're overweight, and when it's over 30, it indicates obesity.

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Woman on a scale

How Much Can Weight Fluctuate from Morning to Night?

Throughout the day your body weight can fluctuate from 2 to 4 lbs. Generally, you weigh less in the morning than in the evening. This is due to the things you consume during the day and the various functions of your body while you sleep.

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Smiling woman

BMI and Menstruation

Factors that often play a role in the regularity and flow of a woman’s menstrual cycle include hormone changes, genetics, serious medical conditions and body mass index. Of all these factors, you have the most control over your body mass index, or BMI.

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Young woman standing on weight scale

Scales That Measure BMI

Your body mass index, or BMI, represents an estimation of your body fat. BMI scales weigh you, just like any other scale, and ask you to input your height. The scale then performs a calculation that computes your BMI.

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Scottish Government Annouce Plans To Deal With The Time Bomb Of Obesity

Super Morbid Obesity & Body Mass Index

As of 2009, more than 10 million American adults were morbidly obese, according to an article published in "Archives of Surgery." A morbidly obese person has a body mass index of 40 or more, while a super morbidly obese individual's BMI is 50 or more.

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Normal Weight for Men

There is no ideal weight for men, but there is a recommended range for men based on height, known as the body mass index. BMI isn't perfect however, and it may benefit you to have your body fat percentage tested. The ideal body fat percentage for men changes as they age.

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BMI Calculator

How to Calculate Accurate BMI for a Large Frame

Body mass index -- BMI -- is a measurement used by doctors to classify a patient as underweight, overweight or right on target. Body frame size is not used when calculating BMI; instead, you can figure out your BMI using your height and weight.

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body mass index calculator

How Does BMI Affect VO2 Max?

The body mass index, or BMI, is a commonly used indicator of weight status. BMI measurements of between 18.5 and 24.9 show normal weight while a BMI over 25 indicates your being overweight. When the BMI value exceeds 30, your weight status is considered clinically obese.

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Body Mass Index

Is it Possible to Have a High BMI & Not Be Obese?

The body mass index, or BMI, is a tool that measures your body's fatness, which is an indicator of health. While BMI is useful for most people, however, it may not be a good measurement of health for athletes or bodybuilders.

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