What is Body Mass Index (BMI)?
Body Mass Index (BMI) is a simple calculation using a person's height and weight. The formula is BMI = kg/m2 where kg is a person's weight in kilograms and m2 is their height in metres squared.
A BMI of 25.0 or more is overweight, while the healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9. BMI applies to most adults 18-65 years.
Limitations of BMI
While BMI is a useful general indicator of healthy weight, it has some limitations. It does not distinguish between weight from fat and weight from muscle. Therefore, muscular athletes may have a high BMI but a low body fat percentage.