| The best way to tell if your child is overweight
or obese is to use several tools to find approximations. These
tools find approximations of Body Mass Index, or BMI, which
is the standard, medically accepted tool to measure body fat.
The BMI tables and calculator may over- or under-estimate
body fat slightly, so it is important to use more than one
tool. It may overestimate body fat in athletes with a very
muscular build, or may underestimate the elderly who have
lost muscle mass.
The best way to determine if your child is overweight or
obese is to visit your physician, who is also able to help
you find ways to help your child become more active or lose
weight. Your physician will use several tools to determine
if your child is overweight or obese.
Click
here to use a BMI calculator from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC).
To see a BMI table for children aged 2 to 20 years from the
CDC, click
here.
Click here
to see BMI Percentile cutoffs used by healthcare professionals.
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