BMI Tool app review: easily calculate your BMI in a matter of moments

Introduction

What we have here is a very well designed app which enables you to quickly calculate your Body Mass Index or BMI by inputting your height, weight, sex, and waist size, thus providing you with a rough approximation of where you are relative to what is considered to be an appropriate weight for your body type.

Although I’m in no way a proponent of the Body Mass Index - more on that in a moment - I can see that Epocrates has done a great job of putting this app together, and the way everything is laid out makes it very easy to both make an initial calculation of your BMI and determine whether or not you are at risk of various diseases.

Is the BMI an Outdated Metric?

Before I comment on the Body Mass Index, I’d like to preface this review by stating that this is a fantastically developed app and Epocrates has definitely adhered to their usual high-standard of both content and layout.

The BMI was created as far back as 1830 as means of providing a benchmark for where a person’s bodyweight should be relative to their waist size, gender, and height.

The problem with this measurement is that the human body is incredibly complex, and BMI readings can vary wildly based on countless factors such as muscle mass, water retention, and metabolic profile.

 

Who Can Benefit from the BMI?

Let’s use myself as an example.

I am around 5’10’’ tall, my body weight as of this morning is 178lbs, and my waist is around 30 to 32 inches. According to the BMI I am overweight and at an increased risk of disease; however, I exercise regularly, have a substantial amount of muscle mass, and am lean enough to be able to see my abdominal muscles, so should I take this to mean that I must push my weight down further?

If you’re completely sedentary, I think this app may be of some use to you, but if you are classed as being overweight and you begin exercising, you may find that over time, your body increases its lean tissue and you may never actually find yourself in the “normal” range.

 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Calculate your BMI in seconds
• View a BMI chart to see where you are relative to where you should be
• BMR calculator enables you to easily calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate
• Find out which treatments are necessary depending on your level of obesity
• Well-developed interface which is incredibly easy to navigate

 

Cons

• The BMR is an almost 200-year-old metric which is only relevant to people who perform little to no exercise and have therefore not developed any appreciable muscularity

Final Words

I’d like to round off this review by noting that I am all for any app which raises people’s awareness of their health and informs them of which methods they can use to improve their wellbeing.

For this reason, I would definitely like to recommend BMI Tool by Epocrates to those of you who are perhaps a little concerned that it might be time to drop a few pounds.

The addition of the BMR Calculator is something I am glad to see because this will give you a rough idea of how many calories you need to consume on a daily basis to maintain your current body weight, and from here you can shave off a few hundred calories each day in order to gradually begin losing weight.