It’s a good way to gauge whether your weight is in healthy proportion to your height . In fact, knowing your BMI can help you – and your GP – determine any health risks you may face if it’s outside of the healthy range. Being overweight can lead to a range of chronic conditions including: Type 2 Diabetes.
Should you pay attention to BMI?
Being overweight or obese is associated with a higher risk of major conditions like heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, and BMI scales can help identify if someone is more likely to be at risk.
Why is it important to pay attention to your BMI?
Your BMI estimates your body fat better than the number on a scale . ... As your BMI rises above 25, so does your risk for developing high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Why should BMI be ignored?
By ignoring body composition, BMI sacrifices a lot of predictive power in relation to health outcomes . ... While the effect of higher BMI on the risk for lifestyle diseases such as heart disease than normal-weight men and women is muddled, the connection between body fat percentage and disease risk is much stronger.
Why is it important to maintain a healthy BMI?
Maintaining a healthy weight is important for health. In addition to lowering the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes , and high blood pressure, it can also lower the risk of many different cancers.
What is the best BMI for a woman?
Doctors consider a healthy BMI for women to be 18.5–24.9 . A BMI of 30 or above may indicate obesity. BMI measurements can help someone understand whether they have underweight or overweight.
What BMI typically indicates a normal weight?
BMI is classified as the following: BMI under 18.5 is underweight. BMI 18.5 to 24.9 is typically healthy weight. BMI 25.0 to 29.9 may indicate overweight status.
What is more accurate than BMI?
While BMI is a rough estimate of body fat, body fat percentage is a more accurate number. BMI, but not overfat. Likewise, a person of normal weight on the BMI scales may still be overfat and at risk of weight-related diseases.
Why do doctors still use BMI?
Health professionals have been using body mass index, or BMI, to help decide whether people are overweight or underweight for more than 100 years . Researchers in population studies, doctors, personal trainers, and others use the BMI in their work.
What is wrong with BMI?
Body Mass Index’ biggest flaw is that it does not take into account the person’s body fat versus muscle (lean tissue) content . Muscle weighs more than fat (it is denser, a cubic inch of muscle weighs more than a cubic inch of fat). ... A BMI calculation would class both of them as overweight.
Does BMI actually matter?
Yes and no . BMI is a useful tool for healthcare professionals to quickly identify health risks—for example, a person with a high BMI has a greater chance of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes—but your BMI alone doesn’t provide a detailed picture of your health.
Does BMI mean anything?
Body mass index (BMI) is a calculation that estimates a person’s body fat using their height and weight . A BMI of 18.5–24.9 is considered “normal” weight with a low risk of poor health, while anything above or below may indicate a higher risk of poor health.
Is the BMI outdated?
The body mass index, or BMI, was invented in the 1830s, and, as with many things that have been around for nearly 200 years, it seems to have outgrown its utility . There are four major problems with BMI, according to obesity experts: It doesn’t give you a good estimate of how much body fat you’re carrying around.
Why is it important to regularly monitor your weight?
If you think about what you’re doing and what you want to achieve, then it becomes easier to act early . The more quickly you act to lose any extra weight you’ve gained, the easier it is to do so. ... If you want to lose or gain weight, monitoring your weight regularly can be a good idea.
What should be the ideal BMI of a person Why?
BMI ranges
For most adults, an ideal BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range . For children and young people aged 2 to 18, the BMI calculation takes into account age and gender as well as height and weight. If your BMI is: below 18.5 – you’re in the underweight range.
What BMI should I aim for?
Ideally, you should aim for a target weight that gives you a BMI in the healthy weight category for your height (18.5 to 24.9) . The BMI tool will also provide you with your own personal “daily calorie intake” to help you lose weight at a safe rate.
