Welcome to the BMI calculator for kids, a simple tool that lets you calculate your teen BMI, see if you’re in the healthy BMI range for teenagers, and compare your findings to those of other teenagers. We will not only assist you in swiftly and easily calculating your BMI for adolescents, but we will also educate you on how to interpret BMI charts for teens and what you can do to get your optimal BMI.
What is BMI and does it matter for teens?
Many of you are undoubtedly already familiar with BMI, but for those who aren’t, and to provide a thorough picture, let’s go through its definition briefly. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a metric that measures a person’s weight in relation to their height. The metric units (meters for length/height and kilograms for weight) are the most extensively used. Even imperial countries like the United States are guilty of this.
It’s simple to calculate your BMI by multiplying your weight by your height squared, as indicated in the BMI formula:
BMI = weight/height²
As you can see, calculating your BMI isn’t rocket science, but for the lazy among us (believe us, you’re not alone), we’ve made it even easier with our BMI calculator for adolescents. The calculator is tailored to the BMI of teens and will provide you with additional information on how your BMI compares to that of this age group. We offer several BMI calculators for all population groups if you want to determine the BMI of someone who isn’t a teenager.
Why a BMI calculator for teens
In fact, we produced five BMI calculators in all, including a general BMI calculator (jack of all crafts, master of none) as well as BMI calculators for men, women, children, and teenagers. Please utilize the links below to find the one that best matches your needs:
- General BMI calculator
- BMI calculator for men
- BMI calculator for women
- BMI calculator for kids (boys and girls up to 10 years old)
If you’re intrigued, we recommend checking out all of the calculators, since they provide useful information not just on BMI, but also about its relationship to health and how to effectively use this figure.
Some of you may ask why we created so many calculators when the BMI calculation is the same for everyone. The solution is straightforward: statistics and percentiles. We’ll go over these subjects in greater depth in a later section, but for now, know that various groups have varied acceptable BMI values; for example, a healthy BMI for adolescents is not the same as a 2-year-old child. Having numerous calculators allows you to do a variety of things.
BMI, statistics and percentiles
It’s pointless to discuss BMI without a benchmark or comparison. In actuality, BMI was originally intended to be used as a statistical comparison tool to assess a person’s physical condition. We’ve gone over the drawbacks of a statistical method for determining the health of one individual in the generic BMI calculator, but BMI can still be useful if we impose certain limits.
The first thing to understand is that BMI is a sedentary person’s assessment. This means that, although being perfectly healthy, athletes and others who are extremely active may have “unhealthy” BMI readings. The second thing to realize is that BMI doesn’t take into consideration body kinds and body shapes.
The statistical character of BMI is to blame for these flaws. Because BMI ranges and charts are based on people’s actual body mass indices, the findings may be skewed. This is not to imply that BMI is meaningless because the majority of the population is ‘healthy on average,’ but it should be taken with a grain of salt. BMI is usually split into percentiles or percentile groups for simple comparison.
In comparison to the rest of your population, the percentile is the position you hold in the BMI range. In other words, if your BMI is in the 30th percentile, that implies you have a greater BMI than 30% of the population.
BMI prime and healthy BMI for teens
Prime BMI. This number is generated from BMI and indicates how close your BMI is to the “healthy BMI for adults.” Adults with a healthy BMI are considered to have a BMI of 25kg/m2. Although this is extremely valuable for men and women, its applicability to teenagers and children is dubious at best, but we’ve decided to include it here for comparative purposes and consistency.
To calculate your BMI prime, simply divide your current BMI by 25, and you should get a value that is near to 1. Your BMI is thought to be healthier the closer you go to 1. However, because we’re working with lower quantities, it’s crucial to keep this in mind.
How to use the BMI calculator for teens
It’s quite easy to use our BMI calculator for teenagers. To calculate your BMI and BMI prime values, simply enter your height and weight. You’ll get a lot more information if you also put in your age and gender. To be more specific, the calculator will immediately provide you with the following information:
- Your BMI
- Your BMI prime
- Your percentile according to your age and sex
- Your BMI category according to WHO
You now have all of the data you want, but numbers are numbers, and they are worthless unless they are interpreted correctly. While we’ve attempted to clarify some of the concepts and numbers used in our calculator, we haven’t gone into great detail regarding the relationship between BMI and health. So, in the following segment, we’ll do it.