Finding Your Body Fat Percent

Calculating your body fat percent will help you determine whether you fall into the overweight, obese or morbidly obese weight categories.

It will also give you a good indication of just how much weight you need to lose not only to look good, but to reduce your risk of developing the many diseases associated with obesity and overweight.

The Body Mass Index Chart

While the most accurate methods of determining body fat percent are expensive and require highly trained personnel, most people can get a good idea of how much body fat they have by using a simple body mass index chart.

Body Mass Index or BMI is an approximation of body fat percent based on height and weight. For most people BMI correlates well with direct measures of body fat such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

However, it isn't perfect.

Because the BMI is based on weight, for example, people with very muscular builds may have have a high BMI that is due to their muscle mass rather than their body fat, while older people with less muscle are likely to have more body fat than is indicated by their BMI.

Determining Your BMI

You can calculate your BMI using the formula:

weight (in pounds) / height (in inches) x height (in inches) X 703

or, for kilograms...

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

But an easier way to determine your BMI is to simply use a body mass index chart or a BMI calculator.



Interpreting Your BMI

For children and teens, the interpretation of BMI is both age and sex specific. To learn how to interpret the BMI for those under the age of 20 click here.

For those over the age of 20 interpretation of BMI is the same regardless of age or gender. Once you know your BMI use the following table to determine your weight category...

BMI/Weight Category

Less Than 16 Underweight
16- 18.5 Thin
19-24.9 Ideal
25 - 29.9 Overweight
30-34.9 Obese
35-39.9 Severely Obese
40-40.9 Morbidly Obese
50-50.9 Super Morbidly Obese
60 and Over Super Super Morbidly Obese


Why Your BMI Matters

Being overweight or obese is not only unsightly, it also significantly increases your risk of developing many debilitating disease. These include...
  • high blood pressure
  • diabetes
  • coronary heart disease
  • stroke
  • gallbladder disease
  • arthritis
  • sleep apnea
  • respiratory problems and
  • cancers of the uterus, breast, prostate, and colon.

Higher body weights are also associated with increases in overall mortality.

However, BMI is only one factor related to risk for obesity related diseases. To assess the liklihood of developing obesity-related diseases, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends looking at two other predictors in addition to BMI, namely...

  • Waist circumference (because abdominal or visceral fat is a predictor of risk for obesity-related diseases)and

  • The presence of other risk factors such as high blood pressure or physical inactivity.
The good news is that, if you are overweight or obese, losing even 5 to 10 percent of your total weight, reduces your risk of developing these diseases. It can also significantly lower your blood pressure, blood sugar and serum cholesterol.

In addition, people who maintain their weight losses report improvements in energy levels, physical mobility, general mood, and self-confidence.

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