BMI Calculator
Find your Body Mass Index and healthy weight range
BMI is a general indicator and does not account for all aspects of individual health and body composition.
How Body Mass Index is calculated
Body Mass Index (BMI) is based on a simple calculation where you divide a person’s weight in kilograms by the square of their height in metres. For example, 75 divided by (1.8 squared) is 23.1.
A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered healthy, with readings below 18.5 indicating underweight, 25–29.9 classed as overweight, and 30 or above falling into the obese range.
Limitations of BMI
While it is a quick body health screening tool, BMI does have its flaws. The main criticism of using BMI as a way to gauge someone’s body profile is that it does not distinguish between fat and muscle mass. This means that most heavyweight boxers would be classed as overweight. For example, a 6’6 Anthony Joshua at 250 pounds would have been 10 pounds away from ‘obese’ when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko at the peak of his career.
BMI also does not account for different types of fat. Excess visceral fat around the organs is associated with a more significant health risk than subcutaneous fat under the surface of the skin.
Health professionals increasingly use BMI alongside other measures such as waist circumference and blood pressure readings in order to build a fuller picture of a person’s health. Similarly, readers should not use a BMI score as their only indication of