BMI Checker

Check your Body Mass Index here to discover whether you’re a suitable candidate for weight loss medicines.

People with a BMI over 30, or people with certain conditions or of South Asian, Chinese, other Asian, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean ethnicity with a BMI over 27, are considered potentially eligible for treatment.

BMI, or body mass index, is an average of your weight per square metre of your body. This means for someone with a BMI of 22, that they have an average of 22kg weight for each square metre of their body.

BMI is not:

• a diagnosis

• used alone to decide whether medicines are safe for you

• a defining health parameter

BMI is:

• a good indicator of whether a person can be considered, obese, overweight, normal weight or underweight

• a good correlator - allowing us to understand how weight and certain health conditions are related

Limitations of BMI:

• BMI cannot differentiate between fluid, fat, muscle and bone, meaning that the health of certain people is not well indicated by it:

  • people who bodybuild

  • people with limb differences

  • people who are pregnant

  • people with certain medical conditions

• Because BMI doesn’t know the difference between fat and muscle, it’s possible that healthy changes like increased exercise and better nutrition, which can decrease fat and increase muscle, are not fairly reflected by BMI or weight.