“With BMI, you can’t say that it offers conclusive proof that someone has excess body fat,” adds O’Neil. ( 4) For instance, if you’re extremely athletic and have a lot of muscle mass, your BMI may indicate that you’re obese when you’re actually fit. As the CDC points out, age, sex, ethnicity, and muscle mass can skew BMI as it relates to body fat. That said, BMI has its limitations for what it can and can’t tell you about your health and whether you need to lose weight.
( 3) BMI is only a correlation of that, since usually the higher the BMI number, the more fat you’re likely to be carrying around. Excess body fat, especially visceral fat (the kind that coats the insides of the body and accumulates on internal organs), is linked to higher blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and cholesterol, all of which can affect your risk for conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease. “If we were being more precise, we’d say excess body fat is bad for your health,” says Dr. While there’s a lot being said about how being overweight or obese is bad for health, it’s not the full picture.
