"You simply referenced a body mass index (BMI) table and found the weight that placed you in the "green" 18.5-24.9 BMI range (BMI values of 25.0-29.9 represented "overweight" and values of 30.0+ represented "obesity"). Coined by the famous nutrition researcher, Dr. Ancel Keys, in the 1970's, the BMI was a ratio of a person's weight versus their height (technically weight (kilograms) / [height (meters) 2]."
"Because the BMI was simple to calculate and predicted important health outcomes such as total mortality risk and cardiovascular mortality risk at the population level, it was quickly adopted as the gold standard method for determining healthy weight status by major health bodies such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). Although every public health scientist and healthcare provider knew that - at best - the BMI offered only a crude estimate of ideal weight,"
Determining ideal weight previously relied on BMI, a height-weight ratio developed by Dr. Ancel Keys in the 1970s and adopted by public health authorities because it predicted population-level mortality and cardiovascular risks. BMI's simplicity and population-level utility masked its crude individual-level accuracy, misclassifying muscular people and creating rigid standards in institutions like the U.S. military and insurers. Decades of research and professional pushback exposed BMI limitations. Ideal weight requires a broader, personalized formula that integrates medical factors (body composition, age, sex, genetics, metabolic health) and psychological factors (goals, mental health, functional capacity) to guide realistic, individualized weight targets.
Read at Psychology Today
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