So What Is A Healthy Weight, Anyway?
It seems we all want to lose weight. But how do you know what a healthy weight is exactly? One way, and I do stress one way, to gauge where you are weight-wise is to calculate your BMI, or body mass index. Here’s how you do it:
- Multiply your weight by 703
- Divide the result by your height in inches
- Divide that number by your height in inches again
- If the final number is between 18.5 and 24.9, you are at a healthy weight. If the number is outside of this range, you may be under- or overweight.
If this calculation brings back too many bad memories of high school math class, you can use a handy online BMI calculator.
There are a few caveats regarding using BMI to determine whether or not you are at a healthy weight. WebMd has some more in-depth reading about the matter, the most salient point for me is the following:
“It’s important to remember that your BMI is only one measure of your health. A person who is “overweight” according to BMI charts, but not “obese,” may be healthy if he or she has healthy eating habits and exercises regularly. People who are thin but don’t exercise or eat nutritious foods aren’t necessarily healthy just because they are thin.”
You can read the whole article from WebMd here.
