Common Body Mass Indicator, BMI Calculators are not enough to determine if your kid is overweight or underweight. You need a BMI-For-Age calculator that is designed specifically for children from 2 to 19 years old.
So what is BMI?
BMI is an indication of the percentage of a person's body fat. BMI is just your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters. So if your child is 3 foot 10 inches (46 total inches or 1.168 meters, tall and they weigh 65 pounds ( 29.5 kg) then their BMI is 29.5 / (1.168 x 1.168) = 21.6. If you want to use English units instead just take their weight in pounds multiply by 703 and then divide by the square of their height in inches. So if they are 46 total inches tall and weight 65 pounds then you would take 65 x 703 / (46 x 46) = 21.6
What is percentile? How is it determined?
Where adults can use the BMI directly to determine their weight category and health risk it is more complicated for children and teens. Since body fat changes so quickly in children and between boys and girls you must determine your child's percentile. So Child-Teen BMI calculators ask for your child's gender and age so they can compare your Child's BMI with thousands of other kids with the same age and sex. Where your child ranks is their percentile. So if your child's BMI is 60 then for their age and gender their BMI is greater than 59% of their peers and less than 39%. You can either use a chart to determine the percentile or some calculators will use the data gathered from tens of thousands of kids to calculate your child's percentile based on their BMI, their age, and their gender.
How is BMI and Percentile interpreted for children and teens?
For children and teens their BMI cannot be used directly. After their BMI is determined then it is compared with other kids their age and sex to determine their percentile. The percentile is then used to determine your child's weight category.Less than the 5th percentile is considered underweight.5th to the 85th percentile is considered a healthy range.85th to 95th percentile is considered at risk for being overweight.95th percentile or above is considered overweight.
What is a healthy weight range for my child?
The 5th to less than the 85th percentile is considered the healthy weight range in the U.S. You can use one of three methods to determine the healthy weight range for your child. 1) Use a chart for their age and gender; 2) Iteratively try different weights on a Child-Teen BMI Calculator; or 3) Use a Child-Teen BMI Calculator that automatically calculates and displays the healthy weight range values.
When is this method of screening a child for weight related problems inaccurate?
Percentile data only covers children >= 2 years and < 20 years old; BMI and thus percentile can be misleading if the child is very athletic with much muscle mass; BMI and thus percentile can be misleading if the child is over seven feet tall.
Why is childhood overweight considered a health problem?
Studies have established that overweight children and teens are more likely to become obese as adults. Being overweight doubles your risk of getting heart disease, the number one cause of death. Being overweight also doubles your chance of getting Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma, Sleep Apnea, and center types of cancers. Being overweight as a kid causes social discrimination which can lead to low self esteem as well as depression.
What causes obesity and overweight?
Our bodies are very efficient at saving as fat any excess calories we consume that are not used by our muscles. Thus there are only two ways to get overweight. Either you are ingesting too many calories for the amount of activities you are doing or the amount of activities is too small to use up the amount of calories you are ingesting. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are two reasons the problem is getting worse.
1) Global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals, and micro nutrients. {Comment: Manufacturers of processed food have just been giving us what we want, food that taste good, easy/quick to prepare, but not what is best for our bodies.}
2) Trends towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization. {Comment: Many of us now drive our kids to school, or they take the bus when we use to walk to school. Also, no doubt urban life is much less active than rural life was in the past.}
So what is BMI?
BMI is an indication of the percentage of a person's body fat. BMI is just your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters. So if your child is 3 foot 10 inches (46 total inches or 1.168 meters, tall and they weigh 65 pounds ( 29.5 kg) then their BMI is 29.5 / (1.168 x 1.168) = 21.6. If you want to use English units instead just take their weight in pounds multiply by 703 and then divide by the square of their height in inches. So if they are 46 total inches tall and weight 65 pounds then you would take 65 x 703 / (46 x 46) = 21.6
What is percentile? How is it determined?
Where adults can use the BMI directly to determine their weight category and health risk it is more complicated for children and teens. Since body fat changes so quickly in children and between boys and girls you must determine your child's percentile. So Child-Teen BMI calculators ask for your child's gender and age so they can compare your Child's BMI with thousands of other kids with the same age and sex. Where your child ranks is their percentile. So if your child's BMI is 60 then for their age and gender their BMI is greater than 59% of their peers and less than 39%. You can either use a chart to determine the percentile or some calculators will use the data gathered from tens of thousands of kids to calculate your child's percentile based on their BMI, their age, and their gender.
How is BMI and Percentile interpreted for children and teens?
For children and teens their BMI cannot be used directly. After their BMI is determined then it is compared with other kids their age and sex to determine their percentile. The percentile is then used to determine your child's weight category.Less than the 5th percentile is considered underweight.5th to the 85th percentile is considered a healthy range.85th to 95th percentile is considered at risk for being overweight.95th percentile or above is considered overweight.
What is a healthy weight range for my child?
The 5th to less than the 85th percentile is considered the healthy weight range in the U.S. You can use one of three methods to determine the healthy weight range for your child. 1) Use a chart for their age and gender; 2) Iteratively try different weights on a Child-Teen BMI Calculator; or 3) Use a Child-Teen BMI Calculator that automatically calculates and displays the healthy weight range values.
When is this method of screening a child for weight related problems inaccurate?
Percentile data only covers children >= 2 years and < 20 years old; BMI and thus percentile can be misleading if the child is very athletic with much muscle mass; BMI and thus percentile can be misleading if the child is over seven feet tall.
Why is childhood overweight considered a health problem?
Studies have established that overweight children and teens are more likely to become obese as adults. Being overweight doubles your risk of getting heart disease, the number one cause of death. Being overweight also doubles your chance of getting Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma, Sleep Apnea, and center types of cancers. Being overweight as a kid causes social discrimination which can lead to low self esteem as well as depression.
What causes obesity and overweight?
Our bodies are very efficient at saving as fat any excess calories we consume that are not used by our muscles. Thus there are only two ways to get overweight. Either you are ingesting too many calories for the amount of activities you are doing or the amount of activities is too small to use up the amount of calories you are ingesting. The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are two reasons the problem is getting worse.
1) Global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals, and micro nutrients. {Comment: Manufacturers of processed food have just been giving us what we want, food that taste good, easy/quick to prepare, but not what is best for our bodies.}
2) Trends towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization. {Comment: Many of us now drive our kids to school, or they take the bus when we use to walk to school. Also, no doubt urban life is much less active than rural life was in the past.}
About the Author:
Author Dave Davis has written extensively on weight loss. For an automated child BMI Calculator go to Child-Teen-BMI-Calculator. For information on how you can develop your own custom diet plan MyDietForWeightLoss.com
