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BMI Calculator

Enter weight and height — the index appears with the WHO category and, more usefully, the weight range that counts as healthy for you.

—
  • — Healthy weight for your height
  • — To reach it

The scale works for adults. For children and teenagers doctors use percentile charts that depend on age and sex, and a single number would mislead.

Daily calories

  • —To keep your weight
  • —To lose weight
  • —To gain weight

How to use

  1. Choose your units: kilograms and centimetres, or pounds and feet.
  2. Enter weight and height — the number and the mark on the scale move as you type.
  3. Read the healthy range: it says how many kilograms separate you from it.
  4. Fill in age, sex and activity below to get the daily calorie need.

Good to know

What the number actually means

BMI is weight divided by height squared — a formula from the 1830s that describes a population, not a person. It knows nothing about muscle, bone or where the fat sits. An athlete lands in «overweight» with no excess fat at all, and someone with little muscle can be «normal» with too much of it. Treat it as a first hint, not a diagnosis.

Why a range in kilograms is more useful than the index

«Your BMI is 27» tells you nothing to act on. The same thresholds, turned back into kilograms for your height, say «the healthy range for you is 57–76 kg, four kilograms away» — and that is a sentence you can do something with. The calculator shows both, but the range is the part worth remembering.

Frequently asked questions

Does BMI work for children?

No. For children and teenagers doctors use percentile charts that depend on age and sex, because a growing body changes proportion constantly. A single number would mislead here, so this calculator is meant for adults.

How is the calorie figure worked out?

By the Mifflin — St Jeor equation, the one nutritionists have used since the 1990s, multiplied by an activity factor. Many calculators still use the older Harris — Benedict formula, which can be two hundred kilocalories a day off for the same person.

Why is the deficit only fifteen percent?

Because a sharper cut is rarely kept up for more than a couple of weeks, and a number nobody can follow is useless. Fifteen percent below maintenance gives a steady loss of roughly half a kilogram a week without wrecking the routine.

Is my data saved anywhere?

No. Weight, height and age stay in the page and are gone when you close the tab — nothing is sent to a server, because there is no server here.

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