Body mass index, often abbreviated BMI, is a ratio of weight to height. In other words, BMI addresses the issue of how heavy someone is for their height. If they are heavy for their height, they will have a higher BMI. BMI is calculated as:

BMI     =           Weight (in pounds) x 703          
                Height (in inches) x Height (in inches)

Interpretation of BMI

Some medical diseases are more likely to occur in people who are overweight. These diseases include high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, sleep apnea (absent breathing during sleep), osteoarthritis (worn out joints), gallstones, and irregular menstrual periods.

If your BMI is in the “healthy” range, your risks for these diseases are not increased by your weight. If however, your BMI is in the “overweight” range, you should determine how to stop weight gain, and how to lose some weight.  If your BMI is above 30, you have a serious problem because of health risk; and you would be wise to take major steps to lose weight. This Web site provides resources that may prove helpful, and we encourage you to use them.

Resources for More Information About BMI

National Institutes of Health (Table of BMI Values by Height and Body Weight)

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

BMI tends to be high when people are either muscular for their height or fat for their height. One criticism of BMI as a measure of fatness is that it gives a false reading on very muscular people. Examples of people who reputedly have a high BMI because of muscle development are Mark McGuire, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sammy Sosa and Sylvester Stallone. So, if you have a body and muscles like those guys, maybe you don’t need to worry about the BMI. If you don’t have muscles like them, you should pay attention to the BMI.

For most of us, a high BMI, unfortunately, means we are too fat.