Body Mass Index Calculator
To calculate your body mass index, enter your height and weight.
This BMI calculator gives you accurate information about your own body mass index, which can be used for free. Just enter your weight and height in the BMI calculator and the value is calculated immediately.
Results:
- Your BMI is:
- This means you are:
Related: Ideal weight calculator
What does this mean?
Once you have calculated your BMI with our calculator you will get a ranking result. In the following table we explain the meaning and values for this classification.
The BMI calculator is used to calculate the relationship between body weight and height. A formula, developed by Adolphe Quetelet, gives the Body Mass Index (BMI), which, after taking into account other factors, gives a ranking of the person's weight.
According to this we can say that if we are between 18 and 24.99 we are within adequate parameters, it would be inadequate and therefore we may be suffering a problem of malnutrition if we are below these levels or of over-nutrition if we exceed the indicated value.
For women and men between 20 and 40 years of age, these values are a guide to their height/weight ratio.
The WHO has published a classification of weight based on the Body Mass Index, which is divided into four major groups. These groups are: underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity.
- With a BMI of up to 18, experts speak of underweight, which in turn is subdivided into severe, moderate or mild underweight.
- People with a BMI of 19-26 have a normal weight.
- People with a BMI of 26 or 27 are overweight.
- Obese people have a BMI over 30. To reduce the consequences this can have on your health, doctors strongly recommend weight reduction.
We recommend using the value of this calculator only as a guide. Especially for women and athletes, figures alone do not provide accurate information on the relationship between height and weight.
Athletes with a high percentage of muscle often have a BMI that indicates overweight, as muscle tissue is heavier than fat tissue.
For people who are missing one or more limbs, special BMI calculators are available that reliably calculate the corresponding body mass index using certain formulas.
Some BMI calculators also take into account the age and sex of the person, thus providing better guidance for those concerned. For example, a 40-year-old woman with a wide pelvis and a BMI of 26 is not yet overweight.
Although other measurement criteria, such as the Drill Index, waist-to-hip ratio or waist-to-height ratio also offer the possibility of detecting under- or overweight, BMI determination is more popular among experts and health professionals.
| Classification | BMI (kg/m2) | |
|---|---|---|
| Core values | Additional values | |
| Underweight | <18,5 | <18,5 |
| Severe thinness | <16 | <16 |
| Moderate thinness | 16 - 16,99 | 16 - 16,99 |
| Mild thinness | 17 - 18,49 | 17 - 18,49 |
| Normal | 18,5 - 24,99 | 18,5 - 22,99 or 23 - 24,99 |
| Overweight | >= 25 | >= 25 |
| Pre-obese | 25 - 29,99 | 25 - 27,49 or 27,5 - 29,99 |
| Obese | >= 30 | >= 30 |
| Type I Obese | 30 - 34,99 | 30 - 32,49 or 32,50 - 34,99 |
| Type II Obese | 35,00 - 39,99 | 35,00 - 37,49 or 37,50 - 39,99 |
| Type III Obese | >=40 | >= 40 |
About the Ideal Weight Calculation
To calculate the ideal weight, we use the BMI (Body Mass Index) formula, which will give us a value that will indicate the range within the weight we are at. This range goes from extreme thinness to Type III Obese with an intermediate zone that is considered "healthy".
The ideal weight is marked by three fundamental factors:
- Physical constitution
- Age
- Gender
How is it calculated?
BMI can be calculated by taking body weight in kilograms and dividing by the square of the height in meters. For example, a woman with a height of 1.56 meters would have a Body Mass Index of 21 for a body weight of 52 kilograms, which is calculated by: 52/2.4336 (the square of 1.56 meters).
The BMI calculation is obtained as a result of dividing the weight by the squared height of a person.
Formula
Example: If you weigh 67 kg and measure 1.7 m, the BMI would be calculated as follows:
It is much easier to use a BMI calculator than this formula, as you only need to enter your height and body weight here.
Additional explanations can often be found, as the overall BMI value does not take into account age, sex or special physical characteristics.
BMI Calculator for Women
In Spain the prevalence of overweight in adults between 25 and 64 years of age is 39.3% and obesity is 21.6% according to the Nutritional Study of the Spanish Population (ENPE) of the Spanish Society of Cardiology, and the incidence is much higher in men than in women.
According to this scale of values, overweight that seems acceptable and with which one feels comfortable can have serious health consequences.
From a Body Mass Index of 25, doctors are already talking about overweight and from a BMI of 30, urgent steps must be taken to reduce weight.
BMI describes the relationship between body weight and height and is directly related to body fat.
What is important for the BMI is not only the subdivision by gender, but also by age group.
The ideal BMI values are between 19 and 24 for those under 25, and between 24 and 29 for those over 64. As long as there is no suffering and no diabetes II, there is no need to do anything to avoid overweight. But if the body mass index is above 30, change is really necessary. At age 50, a BMI of 27 is still completely normal.
The World Health Organization has also long cited BMI as an important criterion for determining overweight. However, for very muscular people, who are heavier because of their muscle mass, the guide values cannot be adopted.
Men tend to have a higher proportion of muscle mass than women. Therefore, the upper and lower limits of BMI values are slightly higher for men than for women.
However, the Body Mass Index also has disadvantages: Although considered worldwide as a guideline for an adult's target weight, it divides people into rigid categories of normal weight, underweight and overweight, and obese people.
Those who are considered obese by this method are expected to suffer more quickly from diseases such as myocardial infarction or diabetes.
BMI also does not differentiate between fat and muscle mass. Fat does not equal fat. According to the latest findings, abdominal circumference is much more decisive for the development of diet-related diseases than weight. Especially harmful fats with the dreaded saturated fatty acids tend to settle in the stomach.
If you still want to know your body mass index, you can use our BMI calculator at any time and get immediate information on whether your weight is in the "green zone".
The BMI for men
To understand the data, a man with a BMI between 20 and 25 has an ideal weight. If your value is below 20, you are underweight. Values above 25 mean overweight, a BMI above 30 means even obesity.
Age is also important. As a general rule, BMI can always be a little higher with increasing age, to stay within limits, which is due to the natural aging process.
No matter what the BMI calculator says, you should always pay attention to more than just the numbers. After all, no BMI calculator records the body's fat and muscle content.
Thus, especially competitive athletes from the most diverse areas can show both under and overweight according to BMI, although this is not a reality. Muscle weighs more than fat and this must always be taken into account.
In addition to sport, however, there is another factor to consider. Because what is often used as an excuse or presented as such actually applies to many people: heavy bones. Everyone's physique is different.
While some are naturally thin and quite delicate, there are others who weigh more, even with optimal nutrition, simply because they have a more robust and ample physique. In this sense, the overall package should always be considered when interpreting the BMI. It is easily possible to find two men of the same height whose BMI differs greatly, but the one with a higher BMI has a visibly more balanced and healthy figure. So it remains a matter of each man's natural design what your BMI actually says.