| Hey there, The emphasis on body mass index (BMI) is a perfect example of how many experts miss the mark. The idea behind it is this: in order to know if someone is over- or underweight, their height must be taken into account, since taller people are naturally heavier than shorter ones. Therefore, to calculate BMI, you divide weight (in kilograms) by height (in meters squared), producing a number that represents the relationship between these dimensions. Doctors often use BMI to monitor how a patient's weight is likely to affect their health and categorize them like this: - Underweight = BMI of less than 18.5
- Normal weight = BMI of 18.5 to 24.9
- Overweight = BMI of 25 to 29.9
- Obese = BMI of 30 or greater
If your number is too high, you may be told to lose weight, and if it's too low, to gain weight. There's a kicker, however: BMI was never meant to serve as a proxy for the health of specific individuals, only to reveal trends in a population. That is, someone with a high or low BMI may or may not be over- or underweight, but a large group of people with a high or low average BMI will likely include many over- and underweight individuals. For instance, I weigh 197 pounds and have a six-pack, but my BMI is 25.29, suggesting I'm overweight and should slim down. Likewise, there are many people who have a "normal weight" BMI with the health problems of an obese person (elevated cholesterol, blood sugar, etc.). How can that be? BMI doesn't take into account your body composition—how much muscle and fat you have. This is crucial because it's not excess body weight per se that negatively affects our health, but excess body fat. "Excess body weight" in the form of muscle actually has the opposite effect on the body, enhancing our health. This is why I teach people to pay less attention to their weight and more to their body composition. So long as muscle and body fat levels are going in the right direction, we don't much care about body weight. That's also why my new book Muscle for Life provides realistic and sustainable diet and training plans for people of all ages and abilities who want to rapidly transform their body composition. Click here and pre-order your copy now: ⇒ www.muscleforlifebook.com Go for it! Mike P.S. Another example of the importance of body composition: While we may say you want to "lose weight," what we really want is to lose fat, not muscle; and if we say you want to "gain weight," we really want to gain muscle, not fat. This is especially important to understand for people new to strength training, who can expect to gain a considerable amount of muscle in their first six to twelve months—muscle that'll mask some or much of the fat weight lost along the way. | 
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