What’s on the BMI & Its Limits poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
Body Mass Index is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. It is cheap, fast and useful across populations — and crude for any one person.
- Categories: under 18.5 low, 18.5–24.9 healthy, 25–29.9 overweight, 30+ obese.
- It cannot distinguish muscle from fat.
- It ignores where fat is carried, which matters more.
- Thresholds differ for some ethnic groups.
- It is unsuitable for children, athletes and pregnancy.
- Waist circumference adds information BMI lacks.
- Formula — kg ÷ m²
- Healthy — 18.5–24.9
- Waist — < half height
- A muscular athlete can be classed obese by BMI with very low body fat.
Educational reference. Waist-to-height under 0.5 is a useful companion measure; a clinician can interpret both.
Questions about the BMI & Its Limits poster
- What’s on the BMI & Its Limits poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. Body Mass Index is weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared. It is cheap, fast and useful across populations — and crude for any one person. Categories: under 18.5 low, 18.5–24.9 healthy, 25–29.9 overweight, 30+ obese.; It cannot distinguish muscle from fat.; It ignores where fat is carried, which matters more.; Thresholds differ for some ethnic groups.; It is unsuitable for children, athletes and pregnancy.; Waist circumference adds information BMI lacks.; Formula — kg ÷ m²; Healthy — 18.5–24.9; Waist — < half height; A muscular athlete can be classed obese by BMI with very low body fat.. Educational reference. Waist-to-height under 0.5 is a useful companion measure; a clinician can interpret both.
- Who is the BMI & Its Limits poster for?
- BMI & Its Limits belongs to the Body & health section rather than to a school year, because health is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning prevention can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the BMI & Its Limits poster?
- BMI is a population screening tool. It was never designed to assess an individual. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so BMI & Its Limits belongs on the wall where that health work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with BMI & Its Limits?
- Air Quality, Antibiotics and Blood Pressure sit alongside BMI & Its Limits in the Body & health section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Air QualityAntibioticsBlood Pressure
- Is the BMI & Its Limits poster free to download and print?
- Yes. BMI & Its Limits downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Body & health section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the BMI & Its Limits poster print at?
- BMI & Its Limits is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of BMI & Its Limits loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside BMI & Its Limits on the same wall.
Browse every Body & health poster, or start from the full catalogue.