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All BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculators are not the same. Some only work for adults and some only work for children and teenagers. You need a calculator that also takes into account their age and gender to determine your child's percentile. These are often called BMI-For-Age calculators. So what is BMI? Much research has shown that BMI directly correlates with a person's body fat. Since BMI is easy to calculate it is used all around the world to screen adults for weight related health risks. BMI is just your weight in kilograms divided by the square of your height in meters. So if you are 5 foot 10, 1.78 meters, tall and you weigh 190 pounds, 86.4 kg, then your BMI is 86.4 / (1.78 x 1.78) = 27.3; You can also calculate your BMI in English units using the following formula. Take your weight in pounds multiply by 703 and then divide by the square of your height in inches. So if you are 6 feet tall, 72 inches, and weight 200 pounds then you would take 200 x 703 / (72 x 72) = 27.1 What is percentile? How is it determined? Percentile is the ranking of where your child stands compared to thousands of other kids the same age and sex as your child. So if your kid's percentile is 75 then their BMI is higher than 75% of kids their age and gender. Also their BMI is less than 25% of the kids their age and gender. How is BMI and Percentile interpreted for children and teens? First your child's BMI is determined by accurately measuring their height and weight and then calculating their BMI using the same formula used for adults. But then the BMI plus their age and gender is used to determine our child's percentile. Finally your child is put into one of four groups based on their percentile. If your child's percentile is less than 5 then your child is considered underweight. If your child's percentile from 5 to less than 85 then they are in the healthy range. If your child's percentile is from 85 to less than 95 then they are in the At Risk of being overweight range. If your child's percentile is 95 or greater then your child is considered overweight. What is a healthy weight range for my child? The 5th to less than the 85th percentile is considered the healthy weight range in the U.S. You can use one of three methods to determine the healthy weight range for your child. 1) Use a chart for their age and gender; 2) Iteratively try different weights on a Child-Teen BMI Calculator; or 3) Use a Child-Teen BMI Calculator that automatically calculates and displays the healthy weight range values. When is this method of screening a child for weight related problems inaccurate? The child must be at least 2 years old and less than 20 years old; If the child is very athletic or muscular the BMI and percentile could be inaccurate; In the rate event your child is over 7 feet tall the results could be inaccurate. Why is childhood overweight considered a health problem? Doctors are concerned about the rise of overweight children and youth because according to the CDC being overweight leads to the following health problems: Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Asthma, Sleep Apnea, and Social discrimination leading to low self-esteem. Additional studies have shown that overweight children and teens are more likely to become obese as adults. What causes obesity and overweight? Simply stated being overweight is the result of eating more calories than your body uses performing its functions such as pumping your blood, muscle activities, and other cell functions. There are many reasons why this occurs but according to the World Health Organization (WHO) they mainly fall into two categories. 1) Global shift in diet towards increased intake of energy dense foods that are high in fat and sugars but low in vitamins, minerals, and micro nutrients. {Comment: Our busy lifestyles with the need for convenience such as fast foods doesn't help us here.} 2) Trends towards decreased physical activity due to the increasingly sedentary nature of many forms of work, changing modes of transportation, and increasing urbanization. {Comment: How much do you think your kid is using TV, video games, and computers to replace physical activities that you did when you were a kid?}
Article Source: http://www.writedot.com
Dave Davis has written extensively on weight loss. For an automated BMI-For-Age Calculator go to Child-Teen-BMI-Calculator. For information on how you can develop your own custom diet plan MyDietForWeightLoss.com
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