Body Mass Index

September 12, 2008 by admin

Body Mass Index(BMI) or Quetelet Index is a statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to height.

As a measure, BMI became popular during the early 1980s as obesity started to become a discernible issue in prosperous Western society. BMI provided a simple numeric measure of a person’s “fatness” or “thinness”, allowing health professionals to discuss over- and under-weight problems more objectively with their patients. It is meant to be used as a simple means of classifying sedentary (physically inactive) individuals with an average body composition. For these individuals, the current value settings are as follows:

a BMI of 18.5 to 25 may indicate optimal weight;

a BMI lower than 18.5 suggests the person is underweight

while a number above 25 may indicate the person is overweight;

a BMI below 17.5 may indicate the person has or a related disorder;

a number above 30 suggests the person is obese (over 40, morbidly obese).

The BMI is meant to broadly categorize populations for purely statistical purposes. Its accuracy in relation to actual levels of body fat is easily distorted by such factors as fitness level, muscle mass, bone structure, gender, and ethnicity.

Whatever the accuracy across differing body types BMI becomes a useful relative tool for tracking your general health and fitness.

You can use the cycling software available on this site to calculate and track your BMI. To calculate your BMI click on the Calculate button in the Health Dialogue box which you can open through the ‘Add’ menu, or by double clicking on a calendar date in the Health Calendar.