What does obese mean in terms of bmi?

Answer 1

Obesity clinically refers to being so overweight as to be detrimental to one's health. This can vary from individual to individual, depending on the height, muscle mass and body fat of that person. An individual who has a tall, muscular build and is 20 pounds overweight will probably not be considered obese (and actually may not be considered technically "overweight"), whereas a much shorter person with no muscle tone may well be obese if he or she packed on an extra 20 pounds.

Obesity is usually calculated by figuring one's Body Mass Index (BMI), which is determined by one's height and weight. Clinically speaking, it is usually determined that someone who has a BMI between 25 kg/m2and 30 kg/m2 is overweight while a person whose BMI is over 30 kg/m2 is obese. It should be noted, though, this is not always an accurate determination of who is obese and who is not as those with larger bone mass and more muscle mass will have a larger BMI. Still, I would recommend learning how to calculate your BMI is you would like to see where you fit in these statistics.

To Calculate BMI

To determine your BMI using inches and pounds, you simply divide your weight by your height2 (height in inches, squared), then multiply that number by 703.

For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, and are 5' 10" tall, your BMI would be 175/4900 x 703 = 25.11

Answer 2

According to the BMI scale:

Underweight: < 18.5

Ideal: 18.5-24.9

Overweight: 25-29.9

Obese: 30-39.9

Morbidly obese: 40-49.9

Super morbidly obese: 50+

I however always recommend a proper body composition test with a bio-impedence analysis machine (BIA), which tells one the muscle mass, fat mass and water mass withing the body - more accurate than BMI which doesn't account for athletes, very muscular people, water retention etc.