Is Calculating BMI Complicated for you? Professor Invents “Maximum Weight Limit” Formula to Determine Ideal Weight
When talking about ideal weight there is invariably much mention made of a person’s BMI – body mass index. The formula for calculating BMI is a rather complex one mathematically. One has to take a subjects weight in pounds, multiply it by 703 and then divide it by height in inches squared. Without a good scientific calculator handy that can be a tough number to figure out.
Once the BMI is calculated (hopefully correctly) charts are then referred to show a healthy weight range according to an individual’s sex and height. A healthy BMI has a value range of 19-24.
A professor in Nevada, George Fernandez came to the same conclusion as many people do, this BMI stuff is just way too complicated. Fernandez, who is a professor of applied statistics and director of the Center for Research Design and Analysis at the University of Nevada, Reno has now come up with another system, one which has dubbed a “Maximum Weight Limit” This figure is designed to be somewhat like a speed limit for a car, the figure that one cannot safely exceed in order to stay healthy.
His Maximum Weight Limit calculation he says is far simpler than the BMI system, and it is easy for anybody to figure out in their head easily, no calculator required. Apparently for both men and women there is a baseline height and weight. For women that is 5-feet tall, 125 pounds for a woman and 5-feet, 9-inches tall, 175 pounds for a man. To calculate own “MWL” a person simply has to a little simple subtraction. A man adds or subtracts five pounds for every inch they differ from the baseline height and a woman 4.5 pounds. For instance if you are a six foot tall male you are 3 inches taller than the baseline height, so adding 5 pounds for each extra inch means that your MWL is 190. A 5’8” woman is a full 8 inches taller than the baseline five feet so she can add 36 pounds to the 125 pound baseline figure making her Maximum Weight Limit 161 pounds.
This is certainly a far easier way to calculate an ideal weight than the BMI system and it actually stacks up very well against the perceived accuracy of that older system.
“Now people can calculate their own Maximum Weight Limit, based on the BMI index, but without any calculators or charts,” Professor Fernandez explains. “And, all they have to remember is that one number, 185 pounds for example, which is easier for most people than retaining a weight range, such as 155 to 185 pounds.”
Professor Fernandez will be presenting his system in its entirety in front of a gathering of his students and other notable s at the University of Nevada in Reno on September 22nd.
September 20th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Are you kidding me?! The calculation for women is sooooo wrong! I’m 5′3″ and I currently weigh 130 (Size 6)–that’s 27 lbs. heavier than I’ve weighed for the last 24 years. (I’m 42.) I’m now in the gym busting my ass to get back down to 103 (Size 0) after being completely sedentary for the last 5 years. But according to this formula, I should GAIN 13.5 lbs. Sounds like a recipe for obesity.
The old formula I heard a long time ago sounds much more realistic and it’s easy to calculate. For a woman–100 lbs. for the first 5 feet, and 5 lbs for every additional inch (that would make my ideal weight 115 lbs.). I’ll stick with that, thanks.