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The BMI (Body Mass Index) calculator is a tool that allows you to check whether your body weight is correct. BMI indirectly describes the amount of body fat in the body based on the proportion of body weight measured in kilograms to height in meters. Check that your BMI is correct.

The BMIcalculator, orbody mass index , was developed almost 200 years ago by the Belgian statistician Adolf Quetelet. It came into widespread use in the 70s of the twentieth century. Currently, it is used by numerous organizations and centers dealing with he alth.

BMI(Body Mass Index) is an indicator, the result of which will allow you to assess whether your weight is normal or not. To use the BMI calculator, just enter two data: body weight (in kilograms) and height (in centimeters), and click "calculate". The same calculator can be used by both women and men.

Calculate BMI

BMI Calculator

womanmankidincorrect dataMandatory fieldMandatory fieldChild's BMIWe use BMI standards for adults.
To check the correct weight (as well as height and head circumference) of children up to 18 years of age, percentile grids are used to determine whether the child grows proportionally to age.Check the percentile grids

Example:BMIof a person weighing 70 kg and measuring 175 cm will be: 70 / (1.75) 2=22.86.

What is BMI?

BMI(body mass index) is a simple mathematical formula that indirectly describes the body fat content based on the proportion of body weight measured in kilograms to height in meters. It is used for adult women and men of all ages.

w In its original form, it does not apply to children and adolescents, however, it has been modified and applied to the percentile grids separately for girls and boys, which allows the use of BMI also in the measurement of children.

Formula for calculating BMI

The formula forcalculatingof the correct BMIlooks like this:

BMI index - norms

BMIis used to assess normal weight, risk of obesity and excess diseasebody fat. The BMI can be in one of the following weight ranges:

ValueWhat does it mean?
BMI<18,5underweight
18.5 ≤ BMI ≤ 24.9correct weight
25 ≤ BMI ≤ 29.9overweight
BMI>30

obesity

Sometimes there are alsoBMI>35 (second degree obesity) andBMI>40 , which indicates enormous obesity and a very high risk of diseases related to excessive body weight.

The World He alth Organization and other important organizations use BMI in their research and population he alth assessments. Importantly, this indicator was created to describe phenomena on a population scale, not an individual one. This means that in relation to large groups of the population it gives measurable information, while when used to assess the correct weight in individuals, it can be very misleading.

The body mass index was developed by the Belgian statistician Adolf Quetelet in 1832. The mathematician did not study obesity, but tried to apply the methods of probability calculus to the physical features of the human body.

He noticed that body weight tends to increase with increasing body height. A formula devised by Quetelet was intended to quickly and easily measure the degree of obesity in a population to help the government allocate resources. The author of the indicator himself emphasized that it should not be used to describe the degree of fatness of a single person.

In the 1940s, weight-to-height tables were used to assess the correct body weight, but they took into account the proportions and body build. In 1972, the Journal of Chronic Disease published a publication presentingBMIas not entirely satisfactory but useful parameter describing the risk of obesity.

The author of the publication emphasized thatBMIis used in population studies, and not in individual assessment of normal body weight, however, due to its simplicity and speed, the index began to replace the weight relationship tables from growth and was used in initial diagnostics.

Despite numerous accusations againstBMI , many doctors and public he alth professionals use this index to assess the risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia and other disorders related to excess body weight.

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BMI and gender and body fat distribution

Women have physiological conditions to accumulate more body fat, and naturally have less muscle than men. A woman and a man of similar height and weight will have similarBMI , but it can be said with high probability that a woman's adipose tissue will constitute a larger part of her body mass than a man.

It is the level of body fat that is associated with the risk of disease, not the body weight itself. In addition, the distribution of adipose tissue is very important. A much greater he alth risk is the fat surrounding the internal organs, the so-called visceral adipose tissue than subcutaneous fat.

The WHR (waist to hip circumference ratio) is much more indicative of he alth risk than BMI. In general, women are more likely to have gluteal-femoral obesity (the fat stored under the skin), and men are more likely to have abdominal obesity (the fat around their internal organs).

You may find that a woman with more body fat has a lower risk of metabolic disease than a man who has most of the fat around his internal organs. Hence, each case should be carefully analyzed, using several indicators.

BMI and muscle mass

Muscle is denser and heavier than fat, so a kilogram of muscle mass is up to 3 times smaller than a kilogram of adipose tissue. No one is surprised that two people with the same body weight can look completely different just because of the ratio of muscle mass to fat. BMI does not take these differences into account.

People with an athletic build, regularly practicing sports or strong men are classified as overweight or even obese. According to the body mass index, they are at risk of diabetes and heart disease, which has nothing to do with reality, as having high muscle mass and an active lifestyle help prevent disease.

BMI and bone mass

The degree of mineralization and bone density is another parameter that significantly affects body weight. For those of fine and thick bone structure, the correct body weight will be completely different. In addition, BMI does not take into account that bone density decreases with age, and the elderly often suffer fromosteoporosis, which lowers their body weight.

BMI and age

With age, muscle mass and bone mass decrease, and most often the amount of body fat increases. BMI does not take into account these changes during the aging process, so the results of older people are misinterpreted as better than they really are.

Main complaints about BMI

  1. BMI is used to assess the population, not individuals. The creator of the index emphasized it, but nevertheless doctors and nutritionists classify the body weight of patients according to the index results.
  2. The creator of BMI is a statistician, not an obesity research person.
  3. BMI is an index created 200 years ago.
  4. BMI is scientifically meaningless. There is no physiological basis for squaring height. Quetelet used this procedure to fit the formula to the obtained statistical data.
  5. BMI is physiologically inappropriate. It does not take into account the mass of muscles and bones which have a significant influence on body mass.
  6. The BMI definition contains a logical error. It says that BMI allows you to assess body fat, which is inconsistent with reality. Quetelet concluded that people with a lot of body fat had a high BMI, but not the other way around. People with a high BMI do not need to have a lot of body fat - they can have high muscle or bone mass.
  7. BMI is just a mathematical formula - another attempt to describe reality.
  8. BMI sets strict ranges of normal weight, overweight and obesity. This is incorrect because a very thin and slightly fat person is found in a wide range of ideal weight - both are classified as he althy. When a person on the limit of normal weight puts on a kilogram, he is classified as unhe althy, overweight. The rigid framework of the weight ranges is an oversimplification.

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About the authorAleksandra Żyłowska-Mharrab, dietician Food technologist, dietitian, educator. A graduate of Biotechnology at the Gdańsk University of Technology and Nutritional Services at the Maritime University. A supporter of simple, he althy cuisine and conscious choices in everyday nutrition. My main interests include building permanent changes in eating habits and individually composing a diet according to the body's needs. Because it's not the same for everyonehe althy! I believe that nutritional education is very important, both for children and adults. I focus my activities on spreading knowledge about nutrition, analyze new research results, and make my own conclusions. I adhere to the principle that a diet is a lifestyle, not strict adherence to meals on a sheet of paper. There is always room for delicious pleasures in he althy and conscious eating.

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