There's a new BMI calculation in town - 1.3*W/(H^2.5)

LumberJacck
LumberJacck Posts: 559 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just a heads up for those who calculate BMI on a regular basis. If you don't, or don't know what "to the power of 2.5" means or how to calculate it, don't worry, not a big deal.

For those who do know how to calculate to the power of 2.5, you can get a more accurate calculation using 1.3 times your weight divided by height to the power of 2.5. The reason for that is because weight increases with height to the power of 2.5, when Quetelet was creating the formula scientific calculators were a bit scarce due to a shortage of button batteries so he used to the power of 2 rather than 2.5.

For reference:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264964/Tall-people-overweight-thought-youre-short-stay-New-Year-diet-little-longer.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21229387

Replies

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Have you worked out who the winners and loser are?
    Ah it favours taller people and theres a calculator on the BBC link with the new formula.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    Have you worked out who the winners and loser are?
    Ah it favours taller people and theres a calculator on the BBC link with the new formula.


    Ooh, I'm a taller person - I'll have to check this out and see if my BMI is improved :happy:


    ETA: The new calculation moves my BMI downwards by 0.27. So I guess that makes me one of the 'winners'.
  • fatcity66
    fatcity66 Posts: 1,544 Member
    I'm 5'9". With the new calculation, I'm no longer obese at my current weight, just overweight. Still, my goal weight is well within the area of normal for both.
  • refuseresist
    refuseresist Posts: 934 Member
    i'm edging towards overweight :-(
  • Thetasquared
    Thetasquared Posts: 3 Member
    The new scale gives me -0.6!! :-)

    I know this has probably been discussed a bunch of times on these boards, but why oh why does myfitnesspal not instantly calculate my BMI when I enter my weight ( I was shocked by this)? Its not a huge problem, but when we are nearing the point where we can essentially take a picture of our plate of food and have nutrition calculated for us, why do I have to manually calculate my BMI after I weigh myself?

    ps. and my "manually calculate" I mean click on another link - not do math :-)
  • annette_15
    annette_15 Posts: 1,657 Member
    Went from 19,46 to 20,33.... fml being short sucks :laugh: lol
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    Woohoo!

    Oh wait, I'm still fat. :frown:
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    I know this has probably been discussed a bunch of times on these boards, but why oh why does myfitnesspal not instantly calculate my BMI when I enter my weight

    Because BMI is a horridly inaccurate system that does nothing to account for body composition.

    An example... my "ideal weight" according to BMI would have me 45 pounds lighter than my current LBM weight.
  • ajvilla629
    ajvilla629 Posts: 13 Member
    Damn, Still "overweight" just *slightly* less now....
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,857 Member
    I still use the mirror method. If I look fat, I'm fat.
  • MoveitlikeManda
    MoveitlikeManda Posts: 846 Member
    sod that, its puts mine up from 36.05 to 36.75 :noway:

    I will stick with the old way :laugh:
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    well being short sucks!
  • violasmith85
    violasmith85 Posts: 274 Member
    mine went down 0.14 points. haha not much difference but hey, I'll take it!

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