Body mass index (BMI) or Quetelet Index is a statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to height. As such, it is useful as a population measure only, and is not appropriate for diagnosing individuals.
The BMI guide is useful for telling what sort of shape you are in, whether you're a healthy weight for your height. Normally BMI calculators have boxes for entering weight and height in Imperial or Metric units. BMI calculators are useful for adults only and not for children or older people. Also, if you have well-developed muscles, you may find that you will fall into the category of overweight on the Body Mass Index calculator when in fact you may have a healthy body shape and very little fat.
These ranges of BMI values are valid only as statistical categories when applied to adults, and do not predict health.
| Category |
BMI Range – Kg/m2 |
BMI Prime |
| Starvation |
less than 16.5 |
less than 0.60 |
| Underweight |
from 16.5 to 18.5 |
from 0.6 to 0.74 |
| Normal |
from 18.5 to 25 |
from 0.74 to 1.0 |
| Overweight |
from 25 to 30 |
from 1.0 to 1.2 |
| Obese |
from 30 to 35 |
from 1.2 to 1.4 |
| Clinically Obese |
from 35 to 40 |
from 1.4 to 1.6 |
| Morbidly Obese |
Greater than 40 |
Greater than 16 |
Whatever the results show, the most important thing to remember is that you need to make sure you're eating a healthy balanced diet and keeping physically active.
