The Body Mass Index is just one of the ways of determining health and disease risk. Other measures are the Waist to Hip Ratio (WTH), Body Fat Percentage, and a person's blood lab results. What BMI does is to compare a persons height to weight (a formula that takes a person's weight in kilograms and divides it by the person's height in meters squared).

   It is important to remember that the BMI is only one measure of wellness and that it may not be accurate for some athletes, for pregnant or breastfeeding women, for elderly persons, or people under the age of 18 years old.

     BMI 18.5 or less  ....Underweight
         18.5-24.9 ........Normal
         25.0-29.9.........Moderately Overweight (Grade I Overweight)
         30.0-39.9.........Obesity (Grade II Overweight)
         >40.0.............Morbid Obesity (Grade III Overweight)