BMI or Body Mass Index is a ratio calculation of weight to height. Below are the calculations in metric and standard units.
BMI = wt (kg)/(ht (m))^2
BMI = 703 * wt (ft)/(ht (in))^2
Body Mass Index Calculator
Enter your height:
Enter your weight:
Your BMI is: ?
This means you are: ?
BMI was developed between 1830 and 1850 by Adeolphe Quetelet, a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist as a way to measure the health of whole populations. It wasn’t until a 1972 paper by Ancel Keys that BMI was used as an indicator of individual obesity.
Today, BMI is often used as a “measure for health” and buckets individuals into weight categories:
| Very severely underweight | 14 or below |
| Severely underweight | 15-16 |
| Underweight | 16-18.5 |
| Normal | 18.5-25 |
| Overweight | 25-30 |
| Moderately obese | 30-35 |
| Severely obese | 35-40 |
| Very severely obese | 40-45 |
| Morbidly obese | 45-50 |
| Super obese | 50-60 |
| Hyper obese | 60 or higher |
Is BMI a good indicator of health?
BMI is a measure of obesity, not of health. Importantly BMI doesn’t capture fat location, which is important in predicting health. Think of a bodybuilder. A bodybuilder may have a very low waist to hip ratio and low body fat but be categorized as obese for BMI.
On the other hand, BMI seems to show some predictive value for long term health. studies have shown that very low or very high BMIs correlate strongly with negative health outcomes.
You can calculate your BMI using the calculator below and see images of bodies and their BMI. Do you think BMI is a good indicator of health? For more, read the book! Your Body By the Numbers by Dr. Kimbal Cooper
WHAT DOES MY BMI LOOK LIKE?
A BIG THANKS TO THOSE WHO DONATED IMAGES!
