Are You Overweight?
Calculate Your BMI



HEIGHT

  feet
    inches

WEIGHT

  pounds




Your calculated BMI is


If your BMI is less than 27 then you may not qualify to order prescription weight loss drugs

 

National Institutes of Health BMI Catgegories:

Underweight = <18.5

Normal Weight = 18.5 - 24.9

Overweight = 25 - 29.9

Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

 

Scientific studies clearly indicate that obesity is linked to increased sickness and death rates. Hypertension, elevated levels of cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, gall bladder disease, back pain, arthritis, abnormal pulmonary function, and sleep apnea are physical problems intensified by obesity. The health risks of being overweight may be prevented by achieving and maintaining an ideal body weight.

Obesity is determined using body-mass index (BMI), a method of comparing height to weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered overweight, and a reading over 30 is considered obese. A BMI of 19 to 24.9 is considered normal weight. Using that standard, obesity researchers have estimated that more than half of adult Americans are either overweight or obese.

Body mass index (BMI) has been the medical standard for obesity measurement since the early 1980s. Government researchers developed it to take height into account in weight measurement. For example, let's say someone weighs 150 pounds. Is he or she obese? That's impossible to say without knowing the person's height. The answers would be different for someone who is 5' 0" tall, 5' 5", and 6'.

Recommended BMIs are in the range of 20 to 26.

The "overweight" range is 26 to 27.3 for women, 26 to 27.8 for men, though some authorities peg the upper limit of overweight at a BMI of 30.

Most authorities say that "obesity" begins at BMIs above 27.3 for women and 27.87 for men. All authorities agree that anyone with a BMI over 30 is obese.

According to these conventions, the woman who is 5' 0" and weighs 155 has a BMI of 30.14, and is obese.

Someone who is 5' 4" and weighs 155 has a BMI of 26.6, and is overweight, but not obese.

Someone who is 6" and weighs 155 is in the healthy BMI range.

 

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