Running Road

A lot of people obsess about weight and talk about calories and miles logged. Many of them also throw around terms like BMI a lot. But how many of us actually understand what BMI means? BMI stands for Body Mass Index which is a ratio of a person’s height and weight. It is measured as follows:

Weight (kg/ pounds)

Height (m)

BMI is used to measure whether a person is overweight, underweight or has a healthy weight. Through this doctors and other health professionals are able to discuss a patient’s weight and related problems with them. It gives a person a proper idea about how overweight he or she is so that they know the goal they have to reach and act accordingly.

BMI is very easy to calculate and for that reason it is easy for people to find how to what extent their weight has become a problem. BMI is the best way to measure the body and weight ratio for people who lead sedentary lifestyles. It however has a lot of demerits.

BMI does not take into account muscle weight. Most athletes have a lot of muscle weight and they tend to be shown as overweight or obese on the BMI scale. Unless a different mechanism is devolved for athletes with a new framework, this one cannot be accepted as a true reflection. Also BMI also does not make allowances for body type/ frame etc. People who have a larger bone structure but not much fat may still be counted in the overweight category. In the U.S BMI is also used to make a new classification that is starvation. People are classified into various categories as followed: