Know Your Numbers: How to Calculate Body Mass Index

Your body mass index (BMI) is a broad way to help deter­mine if you are at a healthy weight for your height. Your BMI can be used as a tool to decide if your weight is putting you at addi­tion­al risk for health con­di­tions, such as heart dis­ease and diabetes.

Obe­si­ty is a chron­ic, neu­robe­hav­ioral dis­ease that increas­es your over­all health risk and can have a sig­nif­i­cant impact on your qual­i­ty of life. You are con­sid­ered to be obese if your Body Mass Index (BMI) score is 30 or greater. Your BMI score takes into con­sid­er­a­tion your height-to-weight ratio and can be deter­mined using the fol­low­ing calculation:

BMI = (Weight in pounds x 703)/(Height in inch­es x Height in inches)

The best way to accu­rate­ly cal­cu­late your Body Mass Index is to vis­it your doc­tor. If your doc­tor deter­mines your BMI is too high or too low, you will dis­cuss resources for weight man­age­ment and what to do next to remain healthy. 

Our Obe­si­ty Med­i­cine physi­cians and Weight Loss Clin­ic are also avail­able to part­ner with you to estab­lish health habits that pro­mote long-term health. Learn more about our obe­si­ty med­i­cine pro­gram and providers today!