“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote”} }”>
Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness and nutrition courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>sign up for Outside+.
Your jeans are looser than ever, you’re hearing compliments about your buff arms and you’re seeing muscles in new places. But the scale hasn’t budged and your body mass index, or BMI, suddenly places you in the overweight category. What gives?
BMI Is Not a Body-Fat Calculator
The BMI formula — a simple calculation based on your height and weight — has been around since the mid-1800s, but only in the last few decades has it gained popularity among doctors as a way to estimate a healthy bodyweight and mortality risks. Anything below 18.5 is considered “underweight,” 18.5 to 24.9 is “normal,” 25 to 30 is “overweight,” and 30.1 or more falls into one of three obesity categories.
But as Nancy Clark, MS, RD, FACSM, a Boston-based sports nutritionist and author of Nancy Clark’s Sports…
