Can You Rely on Your BMI Measurement?

Posted on: Jan 27, 2022 | | Written by:

Can You Rely on Your BMI Measurement?

Published on February 2, 2022. EST READ TIME: 3 minutes

If you have been worried about your weight lately, then you must have been doing some reading up about healthy weight and how to measure your weight accurately. Chances are that you have come across the term BMI rather frequently in this context. If your doctor has advised you to watch your weight, then he or she might have mentioned BMI too. Let’s see what BMI is and why it is significant.

What is BMI?

BMI stands for Body Mass Index and it gives you a way to measure your body fat. Both your weight and your height are taken into consideration to arrive at the BMI. This is the reason why BMI gives you a much more accurate idea of whether your weight is healthy for you, given how tall you are. Simply measuring your weight in kilograms can be very misleading. For example, a 4- foot tall person weighing 50 kgs is not the same as a 6- foot tall person weighing the same.

BMI tells you if you are in the correct and healthy weight range for your height. If this number is not within the ideal range, then you may be at risk of several health issues. For example, excessive weight for your height can result in:

• High blood pressure

• Heart ailments

• Type 2 diabetes

• Gallbladder diseases

• Osteoarthritis

Extremely low weight as compared to your height can lead to:

• Osteoporosis

• Anaemia

• Poor immunity

• Digestive disorders

• Respiratory issues

How is it measured?

Body Mass Index measures your body fat and tells you how close or far you are from your best weight for your height. To measure your Body Mass Index, you need to know your exact weight in kilograms and your exact height in metres. It is measured by dividing your weight (kilograms) by your height (metres squared). So, if your weight is X kgs and your height is Y metres, you get your BMI in this way:

BMI = X ÷ (Y x Y)

The WHO provides a chart that tells us how to categorise different BMIs. According to this chart, BMI below 18.5 puts you in the Underweight category while 25 to 29.9 puts you in the pre-obesity category. 18.5 to 24.9 BMI is the ideal range.

Can BMI be relied on?

BMI is not a good measure for children or teens as they keep growing at a fast pace. The cut-offs set for children and teens may be misleading owing to this reason. Also, boys and girls develop at different rates and that means the way body fat accumulates may be different for a boy and girl even if they are the same age. Even for adults, BMI has its limitations. People of the same height and gender may still have different BMI without their body fat being drastically different. For example, with pregnant women or body builders, the BMI figures may not be an accurate representation of their overall health based on weight to height ratio. The same inaccuracy creeps in when measuring BMI for senior citizens or those with a condition that restricts mobility. There are other aspects that prevent BMI from being 100% reliable:

• The biggest drawback of BMI is that it cannot tell muscle mass from accumulated fat

• Across different ethnicities, body fat may be higher in some than others naturally

• Short people typically get an overestimated BMI than taller people

However, Body Mass Index continues to be used very frequently for its many advantages. It offers a simple and easy to use screening method for weight range and quickly gives a hint about whether a person is underweight or overweight. Although it does not perfectly and directly measure body fat, it does give a great correlation tool for height-weight comparison. Hence, doctors still use BMI extensively. But they may do so in conjunction with other observations and measures such as waist circumference plus a thorough evaluation of your lifestyle and activity levels.

Conclusion

In conclusion, BMI calculator is a great and simple tool, if you want to get an idea about whether you are underweight, overweight or normal weight. However, it does have its limitations that you must be aware of. If you are deeply concerned about your weight and the BMI is not reassuring, the first thing you must do is take advice from your doctor and follow their recommendations.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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