Smart BMI

The problem is that we are all different builds, so the weight/height ratio is not an accurate guide. I'm tall, but of a small build, so at 9 stone I look overweight even though I'm within the 'normal' range.

SBMI and BMI are more or less the same - and both are wrong. I had my body fat measured with callipers over a range of locations on my body some years ago and I was reckoned to be 7 - 10lbs overweight.

Anyone looking at me or at photos can see how rounded and plump I am. I just have a very narrow slight frame.

Ah, Gonegirl and Luckygirl, tums are us!

ilbc that's strange, for me it works the other way round. On the original bmi scale, I'm classed as overweight, but on the SBMI scale I'm within the normal range for my age, sex, height, etc. So, guess which one I'm going with...

It says I am slightly underweight at BMI 18.6, but I just fit into the ‘normal’ WHO range. My current weight, approximately 9 stone, is about the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I am 5’9 or thereabouts. I somehow seem to have reached the age of 79 in spite of being ‘underweight’ almost all my life. Like my father, I am just naturally light. I have never dieted and eat what I like.

Exactly Luckygirl. Same here.

Yes. My know-it-all son () decided I should use the smart BMI calculator, because he thinks I do much temporary dieting. I do much better on it! But I would still like to be in the ideal range the WHO one shows.

I am slap bang in the middle of normal - if only they could see my round tummy they might think again!

I've just had a go at this and I think my understanding of the wretched metric system is awry.
It says I'm overweight but on the original calculations I'm not! Therefore, despite all my best intentions I shall have to ignore it.
I'm 5'1" and 9 1/2 stone by the way.

Smart BMI: that's what I keep an eye on!

open the menu

EnglishDeutschEspañolPortuguêsFrançaisItaliano

What is the Smart Body Mass Index?

Chart
This chart shows the "ideal" range of BMI from birth to old age (dark green) and the "normal weight" range (light green) according to the WHO, i.e. between BMI 18.5 and 25, beginning at the age of 20 years. Both sexes are pooled. For an explanation, see "Why SBMI?" below. © SBMIC

The Smart Body Mass Index (SBMI)

This calculator functions on the basis of the newly developed Smart Body Mass Index. The SBMI differs from the BMI in three important aspects.

Firstly, it takes age and sex into account, besides weight and height. Secondly, the SBMI is a purely comparative figure (without any physical units) on a scale of 70 points. And thirdly, the significance of the body weight for your health can easily be derived from the SBMI but not from the BMI: The weight-related health risk levels shown in green, yellow, orange and red (see the SBMI chart on the Results page), are always 10/70 SBMI points wide.

The ideal range of the SBMI is 30/70 to 39/70 or, in words, "between thirty and thirty-nine points out of seventy".