What is the full form of BMI
BMI: Body Mass Index
BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It is a measure to classify people under the following categories: underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. It is the ratio of your weight in kilograms to the square of your height in meters. People with high BMI have too much body weight or body fat for their height.
BMI gives you a rough estimate of your overall fitness and possibility of developing chronic diseases like heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, type 2 diabetes, gallstones etc. A highly muscular person may have a high BMI without any health risk. BMI was introduced in the 1830s by Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet, a Belgian mathematician. It is also known as Quetelet index.
BMI Categories:
- BMI =< 18.5 indicates Underweight
- BMI = 18.5-24.9 indicates Normal weight
- BMI = 25-29.9 indicates Overweight
- BMI = 30-34.9 indicates Obesity
- BMI= 35-39.9 indicates severely obese
- BMI > 40 indicates morbid obesity
How to calculate BMI
To calculate BMI, you are required to have two values: a person’s height in meters and his weight in kilograms. If the height is in inches, weight should be in pounds. The formula to calculate BMI is as follows:
BMI = weight in kilograms / (height in meters) 2
Or
BMI = weight in pounds / (height in inches) 2 X 703 (if pounds and inches are used, a conversion factor of 703 must be applied).
Let us see an example:
A person with height 2 meters and weight 80 Kg will have BMI = 20, as calculated below:
BMI = 80 kg / (2)2 meter
= 80 / 4 = 20 (normal weight)
Or
1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds
1 meter = 39.37 inches
So, weight in pounds of this person= 80 x 2.2 = 176 pounds
Similarly, height in inches of this person = 2 x 39.37 = 78.74 inches
BMI = 176 pounds / (78.74)2 inches x 703
=176 / 6200 x 703
= 20 / 6199 = 20 (normal weight)