A person’s ideal body weight is determined by several factors, such as age, muscle-fat ratio, height, sex, and bone density. Some say your Body Mass Index (BMI) is the ideal way to calculate whether your body weight is ideal. Others say BMI is faulty as it does not take into account muscle mass, and waist-hip ratio is better.
One person’s ideal body weight may be completely different from another’s. If you compare yourself to family and friends you risk either aiming too high if you are surrounded by obese or overweight people, or too low if everyone around you works as fashion models.
Even comparing yourself with people outside your immediate surroundings may not work.
The levels of overweight and obesity in one country, such as the USA or UK, are much higher than in The Netherlands. So a Dutch person may aim for a lower ideal weight than an American if all he did was to compare himself to other people.
Is Body Mass Index (BMI) a good measure?
Your BMI is your weight in relation to your height.
BMI metric units: Your weight (kilograms) divided by the square of your height (meters)
e.g. Weight 80 kilograms. Height 1.8 meters.
1.82 meters = 3.24
80 divided by 3.24 = BMI 24.69.
Imperial units: Your weight (pounds) times 703, divided by the square of your height in inches.
e.g. Weight 190 pounds. Height 6 ft (72 inches)
722 = 5184
190 x 703 divided by 5184 = BMI 25.76
Health authorities worldwide mostly agree that:
- People with a BMI of less than 18.5 are underweight.
- A BMI of between 18.5 and 25 is ideal.
- Somebody with a BMI between 25 and 30 is classed as overweight.
- A person with a BMI over 30 is obese.
In some countries health authorities say the lower limit for BMI is 20, anything below it is underweight.
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