Or use the free BMI calculator offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if arithmetic isn't your thing. If your weight and height are not in this sample chart, use the mathematical equation below to find out where you fall. Where those numbers intersect is your BMI, which will be in the normal (healthy), overweight, or obese range. The chart shows body mass index measurements that help determine if you are at a healthy weight. Download the BMI calculator app for iPhone and Android. The online BMI calculator will help you measure your BMI. If you're an adult, locate your height in inches (remember, there are 12 inches in each foot) and your weight in pounds on the BMI chart below. A healthy weight for adults is generally a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9.
How to Read a BMI Chart and How to Calculate Your BMI Since BMI is a measure still widely in use, it’s helpful to understand it, and how you can calculate it on your own.
If weight loss is a goal for you, recommendations should not be based solely on this one number but on decisions you make with your healthcare team, taking both your goals and health risks into consideration. While your healthcare team may still look at your BMI, the American Medical Association recommends that it be used in conjunction with other valid measures of risk, such as body composition, waist circumference, and genetic or metabolic factors. It’s no longer considered to be something that defines you, nor can the measure alone tell you if you’re a healthy person or not. Today that thinking has undergone a sea change, with health experts questioning the validity and usefulness of BMI as a health assessment tool.
The traditional thinking about BMI was that it could tell you if you were at a healthy weight, or if your health might benefit if you lost or gained a few (or more) pounds. Body mass index, or BMI for short, is a measure of body weight based on your height.