I can't wait to be Overweight

How to calculate your BMI and visualize it

Your humble author’s exciting journey through the different obesity classes. Note I was never normal weight even at my adult low. But so close!

Cheeky, of course, I’m coming at it from the obese side. In fact, I was briefly morbidly obese - as defined by BMI - not too long ago.

In case you’re not aware, BMI (Body Mass Index) is a somewhat crude tool to determine if people are too light, too heavy, or just right for their size.

These are the categories:

Category BMI
Underweight (Severe thinness) <16.0
Underweight (Moderate thinness) 16.0 – 16.9
Underweight (Mild thinness) 17.0 – 18.4
Normal range 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight (Pre-obese) 25.0 – 29.9
Obese (Class I) 30.0 – 34.9
Obese (Class II) 35.0 – 39.9
Obese (Class III) ≥40.0

BMI is crude but useful if you have a lot to lose

The BMI only takes into account your height and weight and so it can group in very muscular athletes or bodybuilders with obese people.

But I think it’s still a good tool. Let’s be honest, we know if we’re a professional athlete or not. Nobody walks around like a professional bodybuilder or linebacker by accident.

If we have a lot of weight to lose the BMI is a useful tool to “walk it in.” Maybe your perfect target BMI is 24, or it’s 26, or maybe it’s 23.82.

But if you’re starting at a morbidly obese BMI of 40, like I was, it’s easily close enough. You can still stop at BMI 27 if you decide that’s lean enough. When my BMI was 26 or so I was pretty happy about it even though I never quite reached the <25 “normal weight” BMI.

I think it’s useful to calculate the relevant BMI boundaries for yourself so you can have a rough idea where you’ll end up for a healthy weight. No need to bother calculating severe underweight or anything much above your current weight. Just do the ones between your current BMI and your “normal weight” BMI of 25.

How to calculate your BMI

First, let’s take the formula:

BMI = weight (lbs) / (height (in) * height (in)) * 703

or, for our metrically inclined friends:

BMI = weight (kg) / (height (meters) * height (meters))

Let’s plug in my current numbers (as of 3/7/2023):

BMI = 245lbs / (73in * 73in) * 703 = 32.3

Cool, I’m Obese (Class I)! Coming from over 301lbs that’s a huge improvement. I already crossed the entirety of Class II obesity and am halfway through Class I on my way to Overweight (Pre-obese). I can’t wait to be pre-obese! Or will it be post-obese?

Naturally, I’ve made a script to print my current BMI category and the category boundaries for my height.

BMI categories for a height of 6’1:
>=16.0 - 120.5lbs - Underweight
>=17.0 - 128.0lbs - Slightly underweight
>=18.5 - 139.3lbs - Normal
>=25.0 - 188.2lbs - Overweight
>=30.0 - 225.9lbs - Obese <- 32.5
>=35.0 - 263.5lbs - Very obese
>=40.0 - 301.2lbs - Morbidly obese

So as I said, I can’t wait to be overweight. See you in 20lbs!