What is the Body Mass Index?

10. Alternatives to BMI

While body mass index is a useful tool for assessing whether a person is a healthy weight, other methods can replace BMI if it isn't appropriate. For instance, athletes and people with physical disabilities may require different or supplementary measurements. Determining a person's body fat percentage is one way to identify obesity. Body fat calipers and special machines can take this measurement. Checking a person's waist-to-height ratio is another way of judging obesity, and some research suggests that this is a more accurate way than BMI of predicting risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

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