How Do You Know If You Are Overweight

How do you know if you are overweight? BMI is the gold standard of measurements of weight. There are web-based ways of calculating your BMI, you can google it. You can also do it yourself, it's not that hard. Take your weight in pounds times 703 and divide it by your height in inches squared. In general, a BMI of less than 24.9 is considered normal weight. If you’re between 25 and 29.9, you're considered overweight. A BMI greater than 30 is considered obese.

BMI is a population-based standard. It’s not necessarily the best assessment tool for an individual. For example, athletes have a high BMI because they have more muscle mass. If you are very physically active you might want another assessment technique.

BMI doesn’t account for individuals who have normal weight but are metabolically obese(high body fat percentage). For most of us, however, BMI is going to be great to asses our weight. It can help to predict risks of the big three: heart disease, diabetes and cancer; because they all increase with BMI.

The definitive assessment for body composition is the body fat percentage. Say for example that I have a normal BMI, but I want to see what that body composition is. How much of my weight is muscle vs. fat? If a woman has more than 30% body fat, or a man has more than 20%, they can be in the risk sector of the population. There are different types of tests, and I recommend you to go to an exercise facility to get them done.