Understanding your BMI results

Now that you know your BMI, check where you sit in the BMI range below:

Your BMI is under 18.5 – considered to be underweight.

Your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9 – considered to be within a healthy weight range.

Your BMI is between 25.0 and 29.9 – considered to be living with overweight.

Your BMI is over 30 – considered to be living with obesity.

My BMI is too high. What can I do to lose weight?

A good initial goal is to aim for losing 10% of your body weight. Even if this doesn't immediately place you in a healthy weight range, it’s a great start. Research shows that losing 10% of your body weight can significantly lower risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. At WeightWatchers®, we encourage members to focus on realistic weight-loss goals and provide the skills and techniques to help you achieve them.

Is BMI more important for women or men?

The same BMI measurements apply to both genders as the same risks of developing weight-related illness applies to both women and men.

Research has made the connection between having a higher BMI and an increased risk of a number of diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancer including breast cancer.

Is BMI 100% accurate?

BMI has many limitations and it’s not always accurate for everybody. It doesn’t distinguish between fat and muscle, so people who have a large muscle mass will often have a higher BMI, even though their body fat is in the healthy range. Plus, a healthy BMI doesn’t always correlate with good health. In fact, research shows that one in three people who have healthy BMIs are relatively unhealthy once other test results, such as blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol are taken into account.

One explanation is that BMI doesn’t reflect where body fat is stored, and it’s possible to have a healthy BMI, while carrying too much fat around your waist, a location that poses more of a health risk than weight carried on your hips and thighs. A 2017 study proved that point, finding that people who carry weight around their middle but have healthy BMIs are at the highest risk of death from any cause, compared to people with higher BMIs who carry the weight elsewhere.

“If I had to choose between making sure my BMI or my waist-to-hip ratio are within the ‘normal’ range, I would go for the latter,” says the University of Sydney’s Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, who co-led the study. “A high waist-to-hip ratio most likely means high amounts of abdominal fat, and we know this comes with quite serious health risks.”

Should I calculate my BMI?

Yes. BMI provides a snapshot of how weight affects the risk of medical problems for a population of people, so while it may not be a perfect measure of medical risk for every individual, it’s still very valuable as feedback for you.

But, while it is a good idea to calculate and know what your BMI is, no one piece of feedback about your weight or health should be viewed in isolation, so it’s really important to consider your BMI in context of other information and measurements.

What other health measurements matter?

1. Waist-to-hip ratio:

Divide your waist measurement (in centimetres) by your hip measurement (in centimetres). A waist-to-hip ratio of more than 0.9 for men and 0.85 for women indicates an increased health risk.

B) Waist-to-height ratio:

Divide your waist measurement (in centimetres) by your height (in centimetres). For good health, research shows that keeping your waist circumference to less than half your height – or a ratio no bigger than 0.5 – is wise.