![]() ![]() It doesn’t speak to why a person’s big, it doesn’t take into account race, age, sex, or musculature. “People use BMI as a simple surrogate for weight, and most think they’re are supposed to have one that’s 23, which they refer to as ‘healthy,’” says Yoni Freedhoff, M.D., an American Board of Obesity Medicine-certified doctor and the founder and medical director of Ottawa’s Bariatric Medical Institute, which focuses on non-surgical, long-term weight management.īut “BMI is a literal measure of bigness. However, despite the good correlation between BMI and body fat percentage, a Mayo Clinic study found that BMI tends to under-report obesity, missing more than half of people with excess fat. “BMI does not measure body fat directly,” according to the CDC, but research shows that it moderately correlates with more direct tools, like skinfold thickness measurements, bioelectrical impedance (what your scale likely uses), and underwater weighing. For adults 20 years old and older, that number is then categorized into a weight status. What is BMI?īMI is measure of body fat that’s calculated by dividing your weight (in kilograms) by the square of your height (in meters). How do you make sense of those numbers? And how should you use them to get a better picture of your overall health? Step one: Learn a bit more about these body fat calculations. Or your weight could be stable, your body fat percentage good, but your BMI registers as obese. For instance, you could find out that your weight is stable, your BMI is healthy, but your body fat percentage classifies you as obese. Here’s why: These methods are designed to be screening-not diagnostic-tools, which means they can sometimes produce conflicting information. However, your BMI and estimated body fat percentage should not be the only pieces of information you consider. ![]() And that’s great: These at-home tools can be quick and easy ways to estimate your body fat percentage. To do so, many people turn to body mass index (BMI), calipers, and scales. So, it makes sense that you’d want to gauge your risk by quantifying exactly how “fat” you are. ![]() And not necessarily for vanity reasons: Nearly every major health organization, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the World Health Organization, has labeled obesity a disease and linked it to a variety of health conditions, such as depression, type-2 diabetes, and even certain cancers. Am I fat? If you’re a health-conscious person, this may be a question that’s crossed your mind. ![]()
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