Tuesday, January 20, 2009

What's Your BMI?

The magical BMI. We've all heard about it, but do you know what it is?

According to Wikipedia:

The body mass index (BMI), or Quetelet index, is a statistical measurement which
compares a person's weight and height. Though it does not actually measure the
percentage of body fat, it is a useful tool to estimate a healthy body weight based on how tall a person is. Due to its ease of measurement and calculation, it is the most widely used diagnostic tool to identify obesity problems within a population. However, it is not considered appropriate to use as a final indication for diagnosing individuals.[1] It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing "social physics".[2] Body mass index is defined as the individual's body weight divided by the square of his height. The formulas universally used in medicine produce a unit of measure of kg/m2. BMI can also be determined using a BMI chart, which displays BMI as a function of weight (horizontal axis) and height (vertical axis) using contour lines for different values of BMI or colors for different BMI categories.


I know mine, do you know yours?

Find out here: Body Mass Index

No comments: