[littlered]

Ok,
I feel silly, but...
what is the difference between body fat% and your bmi?

theresa

[Meg]

Hi Theresa - it's a question that a lot of people get confused about so don't feel silly!

BMI is Body Mass Index and it's a formula based solely on height and weight. A BMI between 18 and 24 is considered normal, 25 - 30 is considered overweight, and anything over 30 is considered obese. The shortcoming of BMI is that it doesn't take into account age, gender, or body fat %. We have a BMI calculator here at 3FC.

Body fat % tells you what % of your body is fat and what % is LBM (lean body mass). LBM is everything in your body that isn't fat, such as blood, water, hair, skin and muscle. Body fat % is trickier to measure than BMI because it doesn't use a formula based on height and weight. Instead, people commonly use calipers, a body fat scale like a Tanita, or a hand-held device like the Omron to figure out what % of their body is fat.

Hope that helps!

[MariaMaria]

BMI is just a ratio of weight to height. Two people of the same weight and same height will have the same BMI regardless of how muscular or flabby they are. For example, an NFL running back or linebacker (hugely, ridiculously muscley and with almost no body fat) will probably have an unhealthy-sounding BMI.

Body fat percentage is the actual percentage of your weight that is fat.

[littlered]

Meg and Maria,

Thanks
that was just what I need to know.

theresa