![]() One of the major flaws in relying on BMI solely to define obesity is there’s no way to distinguish between muscle and fat. Why BMI Is Flawed and a History of the Obesity Measurement ( 7) Keep in mind that BMI isn’t very accurate when a child is going through puberty and gaining weight more quickly than usual, according to KidsHealth. Children who fall at or above the 95th percentile are obese, according to the CDC. A child is considered to be overweight if she falls at or above the 85th percentile and below the 95th percentile. ( 6) Kids’ BMIs are compared with those of their peers and presented as percentiles. Men and women use the same formula to calculate BMI numbers, though the BMI in children requires a slightly different formula that factors in their gender and age, according to KidsHealth. ( 5)Įxample For a person who is 1.7 meters tall and weighs 68 kg: 68 / (1.7 x 1.7) = 23.5 BMI. Or, for those who use the metric system, it's your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared, according to the CDC. Use this calculation to figure out whether you’re at a normal weight.įormula Weight (lb) / height (in) 2 x 703Įxample For a person who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds: 140 / (64圆4) x 703 = 24 BMI. “As with everything in healthcare, one needs to treat the patient and not just a number,” says Abraham Krikhely, MD, a bariatric and general surgeon and an assistant professor of surgery at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. BMI doesn’t properly account for your levels of body fat or your overall health, and should be used as one piece of a series of factors your doctor uses to assess your health, according to the CDC. Experts today say we should think of BMI as a screening tool that can be used to determine if you’re overweight or obese, but not as an actual diagnosis. ![]() ( 1) It’s also proven to be a generally reliable and easy way to estimate a person's risk of obesity. BMI has been used to measure obesity in the United States since 1985, and the current standards were set by the National Institutes of Health in 1998, according to a May 2016 study published in the Journal of Obesity. Specifically, BMI is one way that healthcare professionals estimate whether you’re at a normal weight or whether you could benefit from losing a few or many pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). BMI, which stands for body mass index, is defined as the weight (in pounds) divided by the square of the height (in inches), all multiplied by 703.
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