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BMI

The ideal weight and body fat percentage is very important for an athlete. In order to know this, the correct body composition must first be determined. There are various methods for determining the body composition. One is the BMI or Body Mass Index.

How do you calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI)? The Body Mass Index (or BMI) is a simple tool to check if someone is too fat in proportion to his body length.

Disadvantage: it only gives an estimate of the amount body fat.

Formula to calculate the BMI:

BMI = weight in kilograms / (height in meters) x (height in meters)

Based on this, you will be categorized into the following categories (valid for adults between 20 and 65 years).

Underweight: Less than 18.5

Normal weight: between 18.5 - 24.9

Overweight: between 25.0 - 29.9

Obesity: Above 30.0

Both for very lean (BMI <18.5) and for very obese people (BMI> 30) the risk of health problems (arthritis, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoarthritis, ...) increases considerably. The score applies to both women and men. The calculation is useful for initial screening, but has limitations because the percentage of fat is not been taken in account.
The BMI scale is not applicable to children and adolescents (<20 years). During the growth, the amount of fat tissue changes continuously. Moreover, the BMI for children depends upon the gender : Girls have a slightly higher average BMI than boys. In order to interpret the BMI for children and adolescents aged 2 to 20 years, we use sex-specific growth curves.
Two adults with the same BMI can have a different percentage of body fat. A bodybuilder with a large muscle mass and low body fat may have the same BMI as someone with more body fat, because the BMI only takes into account weight and height. Some athletes with a lot of muscle mass can seem very fat according to their BMI, while in reality they may have little fat.

Source: cjsm.vlaanderen.be / gezondsporten

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