Know Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

The BMI is often used as a general classification of obesity. It provides a measure of relative weight for heath and offers a healthy range rather than an absolute figure for individual people. Is it not a direct measure of fatness.

The BMI alone does not give enough information to correctly determine the body composition of individuals and is not very useful for measuring very athletic people as they usually have a greater percentage of muscle mass.

How to calculate your BMI

• Work out your height in metres and multiply the figure by itself 
  
• Measure your weight in kilograms
  
• Divide the weight by the height squared (ie. the answer to Q1.) For example you might be 1.6m (5 feet 3 inches) tall and weigh 65kg (10 stone). The calculation would then be:
  1.6 x 1.6 = 2.56. BMI would be 65 divided by 2.56 = 25.39.