Once you have decided to lose weight you start looking around and attempt to gather as much information as possible concerning weight loss .You may refer to the food pyramid or thumb through growth charts seeking to gain knowledge in your journey to a healthy weight loss.   Somewhere along the line you will encounter the statement “BMI”.  BMI is an abbreviation for Body Mass Index. Your BMI will assign you a number which is meant to describe your body and how overweight or underweight you are.  For many people this may be the first time the see themselves being referred to as suffering from obesity. This is when many people realize that they are now members of the rapidly growing group of obesity stastics pointing towards poor health. Whether you suffer from anorexia or bulimia nervosa ,you will fit somewhere into the BMI chart. Where does that number come from and what does it really mean? Before we go any further, be aware that a BMI chart for a person under the age of 18 is not valid. Never try to apply a BMI chart to a youth, for any results will be flawed. BMI charts are only accurate for adults.

Not being a math whiz was, I very pleased to discover just how simple it is to understand what “BMI” is all about.  Simply put, it is a ratio of what percentage of your body is fat. With that percentage it can be determined what health risks you have based upon the statistics that are nothing more than the history of the people who have lived and died before us today.
Let’s use an example.  A person is 73 inches tall. (6”1”) and weighs 280 pounds.

With the formula of BMI being:

So, (weight) 280 multiplied by 703 =196,840
73 (height) squared = 73 x 73 = 5329
196,840 divided by 5329 = 36.93 BMI

What this number provides is a statistic as to the current condition of your health and what can be
BMI also may not accurately reflect body fatness in people who are very short (less than 5 feet) and in older people, who tend to lose muscle mass as they age. And it may not be the best predictor of weight-related health problems among some racial and ethnic groups such as African American and Hispanic/Latino American women. But for many people, BMI is a reliable way to tell if your weight is putting your health at risk.

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