How this is worked out, and its limits
BMI is weight in kg divided by height in metres squared. The Indian consensus (Misra et al., 2009) treats 18.0 to 22.9 as normal, 23.0 to 24.9 as overweight and 25 or more as obesity, because diabetes and heart risk rise at lower BMI in Asian Indians than in Europeans. BMI cannot tell muscle from fat, which is why the waist measures sit beside it.
Waist-to-height bands follow NICE NG246 (2025): 0.40 to 0.49 healthy, 0.50 to 0.59 increased risk, 0.60 and above further increased. Indian waist cut-offs are 90 cm for men and 80 cm for women. Waist-to-hip cut-offs follow WHO 2008: 0.90 for men and 0.85 for women.
Body fat uses the US Navy circumference method (Hodgdon and Beckett, 1984), which agrees with reference methods to about ±3 to 4 points in most adults. It is not meant for pregnancy, adolescents or very muscular athletes.
References: Misra et al. 2009, consensus for Asian Indians (JAPI) · NICE NG246 (2025), waist-to-height ratio · WHO 2008, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio · Hodgdon & Beckett 1984, US Navy circumference method
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