Result
Your body mass index (BMI) is
More details of interest:
- Your suggested healthy weight range is -
- According to the WHO, your BMI indicates
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More details of interest:
Also known as Quetelet Index. It is named after the Belgian astronomer Adolphe Quetelet and allows, through mathematical calculations, to know the weight-to-height ratio of a person.
The results obtained show the weight distribution per square meter and whether this distribution is healthy or not. (1)
BMI, broadly speaking, is a simple formula that determines the ideal mass that any person should have. It serves as a guide to know if we are below or above our ideal body mass in relation to our height.
The weight ranges of this index cannot be applied to those under 18 years old. Children or adolescents, because their bodies are constantly evolving, present constant changes in their body mass.
BMI in children and adolescents is calculated by age ranges and has values by sex.
Height plays an important role in the interpretation of BMI, since a taller individual can ideally have a greater weight than someone shorter in height.
Even so, Carmen Escalada, a nutritionist at the European Medical Institute of Obesity, comments that “it is a system that only takes into account the weight we should be according to our height”, referring to it as an incomplete system, given that it does not take into account other aspects such as the percentage of adipose or muscle tissue the person has.
Susana Monereo, a dietitian belonging to the Spanish Society for the Study of Obesity, adds that “BMI does not distinguish between muscle mass, fat mass, water, and bone mass, parameters that make up the weight”.
The World Health Organization has created, in conjunction with BMI, a way to classify the nutritional status of a person, based on the results obtained from the calculation. (2)
The results shown below are demonstrated in kg/m2:
As we mentioned earlier, this index is based on just two basic variables: the mass and height of the individual, with the following formula being used to obtain the BMI of any person.
This is the formula with which you can calculate your BMI: BMI = mass * height / 2
In this equation, mass must be expressed in kilograms (kg) and height in square meters (m2) to obtain the BMI unit of measure in the International System of Units kg/m2.
As we said before, many specialists in the field claim that the BMI calculation tends to be quite inaccurate due to the omission of factors such as the different tissues in the body, being that a bodybuilder with greater muscle mass, according to BMI, has overweight, even when they do not present the same overweight symptoms as a normal person with a high BMI.
In the case of children, BMI must be calculated with the same formula presented, and then it must be compared with the age range based on the WHO charts. For children from 0 to 5 years old, the charts can be found at the following WHO link: BMI for Age Boys(3).
For ages between 5 to 18 years, the following link from the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance can be used: BMI Tables for Children and Adolescents(4).