BMI Vs. Body Fat Percentage

有两种方法可以测量您的健康和健身：体重指数（BMI）和体脂百分比。虽然很多人互换地谈论它们，但BMI和身体脂肪率应该用于您的健身旅程中的不同阶段。通过了解如何使用，您将能够轻松和清晰跟踪您的健身进度。

BMI stands for body mass index. The two factors used to determine your BMI are your height and weight. Doctors often use BMI as simple and easy way to measure if a person is healthy, underweight or overweight.

重要的是要注意，BMI评分不是一个人应该称重的艰难规则，这只是一个受过教育的猜测。

获得BMI评分的公式是（你的体重磅×703）÷（你的身高为英寸x，英寸高度为英寸）。您的BMI评分的结果确定如下：18.5以下不重量;18.5至24.9是正常的;25.0至29.9超重;肥胖了30.0或更高。

BMI does have one major drawback--it doesn't take into account how much of your weight is muscle and how much of your weight is fat.

If you are an athlete or active, you are going to have more weight in muscle than the average person, and your BMI may not accurately reflect your health and fitness, or how healthy and fit you look. Many athletes have a higher than normal scale weight, despite being active and being lean. It's not unusual for a bodybuilder, football player or basketball player to have a BMI that reads overweight or obese, despite the fact that they are obviously lean and fit.

This is where body fat percentage comes in. Body fat percentage is literally measuring what percentage of your body is made up of fat. Everything else is usually referred to as "lean tissue." This gives a more accurate representation of health, fitness and leanness for someone who is physically active.

The results of your body fat percentage are determined as follows:

For women, 10 to 12 percent is essential fat; 14 to 20 percent is in the athlete category; 21 to 24 percent is fit; 25 to 31 percent is acceptable; and 32 percent or more is obese.

For men, 2 to 4 percent is essential fat; 6 to 13 percent is in the athlete category; 14 to 17 percent is fit; 18 to 25 percent is acceptable; and 25 percent or more is obese.

Let's say there are two women who are the same height and weight: Alice and Melissa.

爱丽丝和梅丽莎均为4英寸4英寸和140磅，这意味着它们都有24个BMI。

爱丽丝并不能解决，吃垃圾食品。她只是控制她的垃圾食品部分尺寸，并保持她的尺度重量。爱丽丝有42磅。脂肪和98磅。瘦肉。这意味着爱丽丝是30％的体脂。

Melissa does a weight training workout and cardio 3 days per week and eats a healthy diet. Melissa has 28 lbs. of fat and 112 lbs. of lean mass. Melissa would be 20 percent body fat.

Even though Alice and Melissa both have the same scale weight, they have drastically different looking bodies, and that's reflected in their body fat percentages being at opposite ends of the spectrum.

根据2008年报告的研究报告，超过一半的美国人具有正常的BMI或正常的尺度重量和高体脂百分比。

Researchers are now calling this normal weight obesity and report that it's just as unhealthy as having a high scale weight.

Instead of say normal weight obesity, personal trainers have simply dubbed the condition "skinny fat." Having a normal scale weight and a high body fat percentage explains how a person can be skinny through most of his body and still have fat covering up his abs.

The dirty little secret of the personal training industry is that the only way to get a flat stomach and visible abs is to have a body fat percentage in the athlete range.

健身房里的大多数人都担心做仰卧起坐，仰卧起坐和核心力量练习。与此同时，拥有最精简的胃和腹肌的人是改变饮食的人，并且正在做出强烈的全身锻炼，以降低身体脂肪百分比。

If you aren't working out, or if you are in your first 3 to 6 months of working out, then it's fine to use your BMI to track progress. After that point, your focus should shift away from BMI. In the long term, body fat percentage will be the best gauge of your health and fitness.