Healthy BMI for Teenagers
Maintaining a healthy body weight is an important first step on the road to sustained health. With teen obesity on the rise, body mass index, or BMI, is a useful screening tool to identify weight problems in kids and teens. The BMI is a number calculated from a teen’s weight and height. That number is then assigned a percentile based on the teen's age and sex. A healthy BMI falls between the 5th and 85th percentiles.
How to Interpret Percentiles
Four percentile ranges exist, and each is assigned a weight status category. Underweight is less than the 5th percentile, while overweight is from the 85th to the 95th percentile. A teenager is considered obese if his weight is at the 95th percentile or above. A healthy weight is anywhere from the 5th percentile to the 85th percentile.
Adults vs. Teens
In adults, a healthy BMI falls between 18.5 and 25. But this range does not apply to teens, as the amount of body fat changes with age, and it differs between girls and boys. For this reason, the percentile is used, which takes into account a teenager’s age and sex. For example, a 10-year-old boy with a BMI of 23 would be classified as obese, but a 15-year-old of the same BMI is in the healthy weight category.