Health is wealth. Getting sick drains us of precious time that could have been better spent with our families. It drains us of much-needed resources that could have found better use in renovating the leaking roof or buying milk for the baby. Simply put, in an age where money is difficult to come by, we certainly cannot afford to get sick.

Yet, so many Americans are carelessly eating their health away. No pun intended here. Obesity is a major health concern not only in the United States but all over the world as well. The more our body puts pressure on the weighing scale every time we step up to get our weight, the higher our chances of developing heart and other cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and even certain cancers. On the other end of the spectrum, being underweight could also signal malnutrition, an eating disorder or some other undiagnosed medical condition. Whatever the case, it then becomes part of our responsibility to do all we can to stay fit and healthy, not only for ourselves but for our families and the society we live in as well.

The BMI or the body mass index is a useful tool of measuring body fat using the height and weight of an individual. While there are BMI Calculators for children, this article will focus on the one used for adults 18 to 65 years old. BMI Calculators are available online. If you don't have access to the Internet, however, you can still manually use the formula given below and interpret your BMI based on what your scores mean.

The BMI metric formula is as follows:

BMI=Weight in Kilograms/ Height in Meters x Height in Meters. Thus, if you weigh 85 kilograms and you stand 1.8 meters tall, your BMI would be 26.23. The rule of thumb in interpreting the BMI result is the higher above the normal figures you go, the higher your chances of obesity-related health risks. Thus, in the example above, a BMI of 26.23 would categorize you as being overweight.

The data below gives a more specific interpretation of your BMI results:

BMI Category

Less than 16.5 Severely underweight

16.5-18.4 Underweight

18.5- 24.9 Normal

25.0- 29.9 Overweight

30.0- 34.9 Obese Class I

35.0- 39.9 Obese Class II

Above 40.0 Obese Class III (Morbid Obesity)

The body mass index is a useful tool for determining whether you need to lose those excess pounds or whether your body weight is just within the normal range. It does have its limitations, however. For example, because it only relies on weight and height, it may overestimate the body fat in athletes or individuals who have more muscle in their bodies. Conversely, it may also underestimate the fat of the sick or elderly who have already lost muscle.

Be that as it may, it's still the easiest way of determining whether an individual is underweight, overweight or obese- conditions which necessitate a visit to one's health care provider to determine what changes can be made in terms of lifestyle and dietary practices.