Short Articles on Weight Loss

Body Mass Index

For doctors and medical researchers, the Body Mass Index (BMI) is very useful. For the rest of us it's nice to know about, but isn't by itself going to help us lose any weight.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a single calculated number that lets doctors compare how much overweight people of different heights really are. In other words, a BMI of, say, 28, represents the same degree of "fatness" in a person who is 5' 2" as it does in a person who is 6' 2", or any other height. Doctors and medical researchers need to know this because they need to make treatment recommendations and decisions which can be affected by the amount of individual "overweight".

Individual people who just want to lose weight don't really need

 this measurement since they aren't comparing themselves to someone of a different height.  It is enough for them to know "Did I lose enough weight since last month at about this time?" And the bathroom scale is good enough to answer that.

However, there are three facts about your BMI that you may find useful.

1. If your BMI is between 21 and 22 you are probably at your ideal healthiest weight according to the standard IBW tables (which are based on direct measurements of millions of people).  [Use browser "back button" to return here.]
2. If your BMI is 25 or over, you have reached a degree of fatness where your doctor can begin to see  (through clinical tests and other observations)  that your weight is negatively affecting your health.  (You will likely already know this because you'll probably be able to feel it directly.)  This is the number at which you are "officially" overweight.
3. If your BMI is 30 or over, you are considered "obese" and you have a greatly increased risk of being in very poor health and developing several chronic diseases.

You can look up your body mass index (BMI) in the BMI tables starting here. [Use browser "back button" to return here.]

Unfortunately, just knowing that you are overweight doesn't do you any good unless you also have an effective method to do something about it. That's what this website is really all about. [Use browser "back button" to return here.]