When you can't determine the height of a patient, upper arm circumference can help calculate his body mass index. Body mass index, or BMI, gives a caregiver an estimation of a patient's body fat level.

Many medical providers use body mass index, or BMI, to assess your weight and health risk. BMI is a calculation of a person's weight in kilograms divided by the square of his height in meters. A BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 is normal, 25 to 29.9 is overweight and 30 or above is obese.

The average body mass index (BMI) in men between the ages of 20 and 74 has increased from 25.1 in the early 1960s to 27.9 between 1999 and 2002, the last year there was a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Men 75 and over weren’t sampled until 1988, but their BMI has also increased.

The soleus and the gastrocnemius are the two muscles that make up the calf. Without these versatile muscles you would not be able to drive a car, walk or lift your toes. Yet calves can be a source of body image distress: too small, too big or even too muscular.

Although body mass index and body fat percentage tend to be related, BMI -- a calculation based on height and weight -- doesn't necessarily accurately predict a person's body fat percentage.

The abbreviations BMI and BMR sound similar, but they stand for two separate things. Your BMI, or body mass index, is a number calculated from your height and weight which is then used to assess your body composition. Your BMR, or basal metabolic rate, is the number of calories you burn when your body is at rest.

With so many images in the media of very thin women, some people will diet to try to fit in with this idea of beauty and in the process become so thin that they're unhealthy. Others may be overly thin for different reasons, but whatever the cause, it isn't healthy to be underweight.

The body mass index uses your height and weight to estimate the level of fatness in your body. For much of the population, it's a fair enough gauge as well as simple to apply and noninvasive to perform. A BMI higher than 25 indicates that you're overweight, and when it's over 30, it indicates obesity.

Throughout the day your body weight can fluctuate from 2 to 4 lbs. Generally, you weigh less in the morning than in the evening. This is due to the things you consume during the day and the various functions of your body while you sleep.

Factors that often play a role in the regularity and flow of a woman’s menstrual cycle include hormone changes, genetics, serious medical conditions and body mass index. Of all these factors, you have the most control over your body mass index, or BMI.

Your body mass index, or BMI, represents an estimation of your body fat. BMI scales weigh you, just like any other scale, and ask you to input your height. The scale then performs a calculation that computes your BMI.

As of 2009, more than 10 million American adults were morbidly obese, according to an article published in "Archives of Surgery." A morbidly obese person has a body mass index of 40 or more, while a super morbidly obese individual's BMI is 50 or more.