Percent Body Fat versus Bod Mass Index (BMI)

Question
Dear Dr. Manger,

Can you please tell me which is a better indicator of ideal body weight for a person, 1) the Percent of Body Fat measured by skin folds etc or 2) the simple Body Mass Index (BMI) chart which is easy to read.

I went from 216 lbs to my present 175 lbs and kept to a strict diet.  I was using the BMI chart to record progress.  However, somebody told me it is better to use Percent Body Fat rather than BMI.

So I got confused.  Is it OK to use the BMI chart or should I try to get an accurate meansure of body fat percentage instead.  I have no idea how to do that test.  Is there an easy way?

Thank you very much for your kindness in answering my question.

Sincerely,
Michael

Answer
Michael,

Good for you!  Great weight loss.

Body Mass Index is a good indicator and predictor for overall health as extablished by the World Health Organization.  If your BMI is less between 22 and 25 you're in pretty good shape. The problem with BMI is that for athletes, who generally have more muscle than fat, their BMI trends higher.  Muscle is denser, and therefore heavier, than fat.  You could imagine an athlete who has a very low percent body fat could have a calculated BMI that puts them in the obese range!

For the average person, BMI is fine to use to predict your health risks.

Percent body fat can be helpful as well, but is more difficult to calculate.  Again, for the average person, it doesn't necessarily add much information.

As an aside, Waist to Hip ratio is a very accurate predictor of cardiovascular risk, and is also very easy to measure.  I have a spreadsheet on my website call the Body Fat Calculator that you can download and use to track all three parameters while you continue your exercise program.  Feel free to download it and plug in your numbers

http://www.smartcalorie.com/downloads.shtml

Keep up the good work.  

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