How do I know if I am at the right body weight?

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has recently decreed that a person with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 or greater is overweight. BMI is calculated by the following formula:

Weight (kilograms) / Height² (centimeters).

Example: a man or woman with a height of 66 inches and 155 pounds would have a BMI calculated as [(155/2.2)/(66x.0254)²] or 25.

This individual would be considered overweight. Should this person attempt to lose weight?

The NIH guidelines also state that a person with a BMI in the 25 to 29 range should try to lose weight only if he or she has two other weight-related factors for illness. These factors include high blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance (a condition of moderately high blood sugar that often leads to diabetes) and a waist circumference of 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women. (Waistline fat is closer to the heart and internal organs and is much riskier than fat below the hips.)

We have to be careful with numbers and height/weight tables. Mark McGuire, the home run king and Barry Sanders, running back for the Detroit Lions have BMI’s in excess of 30. The height/weight tables classify both men as being overweight, BUT Both McGuire and Sanders are very muscular and muscle weighs much more than fat skewing BMI calculations.