The Body Mass Index

Good health is not only dependent on a healthy diet, physical activity is very important too. Physical activity helps to increase vitality, raise beneficial cholesterol levels and increase the metabolic rate, making it easier to burn stored fat for fuel. For most people, the rush of everyday living is not enough to burn off excess kilojoules in the diet, and the deficit gets stored as body fat. When physical activity is combined with decreasing kilojoule intake, stored fat will be used for energy. Healthy eating, combined with regular physical activity, goes a long way to ensuring a healthy body.

The Body Mass Index calculator

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is an approximate way of calculating if you are in the healthy weight range. It is calculated as follows:

weight (kg)            eg. 72 kg           = 27 BMI
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height ² (m)           eg1.632 ² m

• ^{Less than 20 underweight}
• ^{20–25   healthy weight}
• ^{25–30   overweight}
• ^{over 30  obese}