That increases your risk for heart diseases and stroke. Obesity is now recognized as a major, independent risk factor for heart disease. If you're overweight or obese, you can reduce your risk for heart disease by successfully losing weight and keeping it off. Waist circumference and body mass index BMI are indirect ways to assess your body composition. Waist-to-hip ratio WHR is another index of body fat distribution. To calculate your exact BMI value, multiply your weight in pounds by , divide by your height in inches, then divide again by your height in inches.
Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisers. See our editorial policies and staff. Healthy Eating. Add Color. Fighting Food Insecurity. Let's Cook Together. Cooking Skills. Eat Smart. Heart-Check Foods. Losing Weight. Fewer joint and muscle pains More energy and greater ability to join in desired activities Better regulation of bodily fluids and blood pressure Reduced burden on your heart and circulatory system Better sleep patterns Reductions in blood triglycerides, blood glucose, and risk of developing type 2 diabetes Reduced risk for heart disease and certain cancers BMI is an indicator of the amount of body fat for most people.
For this reason, BMI measurements during childhood and adolescence take age and sex into consideration. Doctors and other health professionals do not categorize children by healthy weight ranges because:. Doctors calculate BMI for children and teens in the same way as they do for adults, by measuring height and weight.
This will indicate whether the child is within a healthy range. First, click here for the calculator. BMI is not accurate enough to use as a diagnostic tool, but it can screen for potential weight problems in adults and children.
If someone has a high or low BMI, a doctor or other healthcare professional might then consider other factors, such as:. The doctor or healthcare professional can then make diet and exercise recommendations based on these results. Carrying extra weight as a child or teenager can also pose significant health risks, both during childhood and into adulthood. As with adult obesity, childhood obesity increases the risk of various health problems, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea.
Apart from reducing the risk of the health conditions, maintaining a healthy weight offers additional benefits:. For example, an athlete with a lot of muscle tissue may have a higher BMI than a person who is not very active. But, this does not mean that the athlete is overweight or unhealthy. In addition, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure are more likely to occur in people who have additional fat — known as visceral fat — around their middle rather than their hips.
Other measures of body size include waist-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, and body composition, which measures body fat and lean body mass. These measurement systems focus more on the amount of fat a person has and its distribution around the body. BMI can be a useful screening tool for predicting certain health risks.
However, people should use it with caution, as it does not take other factors — such as activity levels and body composition — into account. For children and teens, it is important to include their age and sex when taking a BMI measurement, because their bodies continuously change as they develop. Find out more and use our tools to get a better idea of how much…. Obesity refers to when a person is carrying excess weight. It can put them at higher risk of a number of health conditions.
Learn more here. Being a healthy weight offers many health benefits, as well as a feeling of wellbeing. Miscellaneous » Plastics. International » Spanish. Regional » Airport Codes. Miscellaneous » Funnies. Community » Educational. International » German. Miscellaneous » Unclassified -- and more Medical » British Medicine. Business -- and more Community » Music. Miscellaneous » Unclassified. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
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