BMI for Men

BMI is a non-gender-specific tool that all adults, including men and women, can use to check if they are a healthy weight.

Calculating a man's Body Mass Index (BMI) is a straightforward way to check if men are within the healthy weight range for their height. It can also indicate if men are underweight, overweight, or obese.

What does a BMI tell you?

BMI tells you if you have a healthy body weight. It provides an estimate of your total body fat as a proportion of your total body weight, which can indicate your risk of developing weight-related diseases. Very high and very low body fat levels can present serious health risks, such as heart problems, loss of bone density, and diabetes.

However, a BMI does have limitations. BMI cannot distinguish between the proportion of weight due to fat or muscle. It is, therefore, less accurate in certain groups of people. For example, BMI calculations will overestimate the amount of body fat for body builders, weight lifters and some high-performance athletes. Conversely, a BMI may underestimate the amount of body fat for the elderly and people with a physical disability who have lost muscle.

Health professionals often use BMI and waist circumference together to assess if an adult is overweight or obese and to evaluate their risk of cardiovascular disease and other health conditions.

How to calculate BMI for men

There are several ways to calculate BMI for men. You can use an online BMI calculator, work it out manually using the BMI formula or look at a BMI chart or graph..

BMI formula for men 

The BMI formula for men is the same as the BMI formula for women.

To calculate BMI for men, you need to divide their weight by the square of their height in metres. You can do this using either metric or imperial units. For example, if you’re using the metric system, the formula would be:

Weight (kg) / Height (m)² = BMI

BMI calculator for men

A quick way to calculate the BMI for a man would be to use an online calculator.

A BMI calculator for men measures a man’s weight in relation to his height to instantly give the BMI measurement. BMI calculators will also show you what weight category you fall into, such as underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or obese.

BMI chart for men

A more visual way to find our BMI would be to use a BMI chart for men (often called a weight chart for men). Here is an example:

A BMI chart can also be used to find out the parameters for your weight to achieve a normal BMI rating. For example, if you are a man of average UK height at 5 foot 9 inches, you can follow this height column down into the normal ‘green’ zone and see that a weight of between 130 pounds to 165 pounds will generate a normal BMI rating. However, the same UK average-height man would have an overweight BMI if they weighed 170 to 200 pounds.

What is the ideal average BMI for a man?

A healthy BMI for men is the same as a healthy BMI for women - between 18.5 and 24.9.

However, BMI does not take into account muscle mass. So, if you’re a man with more muscle mass than average, your BMI may be high, although your weight is within a healthy range.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) categorises BMI values as follows:

• Below 18.5 - Underweight
• 18.5 to 24.9 - Healthy weight
• 25.0 to 29.9 - Overweight
• 30.0 and above – Obese

If you are underweight, overweight or obese, you may be at risk of certain weight-related health issues, such as high blood pressure, type II diabetes, heart disease, loss of bone density, stroke, sleep apnoea and breathing problems.