Know your BMI

Get a picture of your current health and potential future health risks.

BMI, or body mass index, is one way of measuring whether you’re a healthy weight for your height.

The result gives an indication of whether you’re a healthy weight, and if not, how over- or underweight you are. BMI isn’t perfect because there are other things that you need to take into account when it comes to weight, but it’s a useful guide.

Simply enter your details into our calculator and you'll know if you're a healthy weight for your height.

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Although in general BMI is a useful measure of whether or not you’re a healthy weight, it isn’t appropriate for everyone. There are a number of groups of people that it doesn’t apply to.

Girls and boys develop differently and have different amounts of body fat at different ages. Therefore, a child’s age and sex are taken into account when looking at their BMI.
As we age, we tend to have more body fat and less muscle so BMI isn’t always suitable for older people.
Athletes and people with a lot of muscle may have a high BMI but actually not have much body fat.
Pregnant women gain weight as a result of their developing baby. However, it’s still preferable to have a healthy BMI before becoming pregnant.
Certain ethnic groups, such as black or Asian, are at risk of certain health problems at a lower BMI than others. Speak to your GP for more information.