BMI Categories

(This assignment was suggested by Joel H in 2012.)

The body mass index (BMI) is commonly used by health and nutrition professionals to estimate human body fat in populations. It is computed by taking the individual's weight (mass) in kilograms and dividing it by the square of their height in meters.

Start with the BMI Calculator you wrote previously (BMICalc.java). Then use some if statements to show the category for a given BMI.

BMI category
less than 18.5 underweight
18.5 to 24.9 normal weight
25.0 to 29.9 overweight
30.0 or more obese

Note: Although BMI is a very good estimate of human body fat, the formula doesn't work well for athletes with a lot of muscle, or people who are extremely short or very tall. If you are concerned about your BMI, check with your doctor.

Sample Output

Your height in m: 1.75
Your weight in kg: 73

Your BMI is 23.83673
BMI Category: normal weight

It doesn't matter whether you input the values in metric (kilos and meters) or Imperial measurements (feet/inches and pounds).

Your height in inches: 69
Your weight in pounds: 220

Your BMI is 32.5
BMI Category: obese

Bonus #1 - More Categories

For +10 bonus points, use more if statements to show the ALL the BMI categories.

BMI category
less than 15.0 very severely underweight
15.0 to 16.0 severely underweight
16.1 to 18.4 underweight
18.5 to 24.9 normal weight
25.0 to 29.9 overweight
30.0 to 34.9 moderately obese
35.0 to 39.9 severely obese
40.0 and up very severely (or "morbidly") obese
Your height in inches: 70
Your weight in pounds: 90

Your BMI is 12.9
BMI Category: very severely underweight



©2013 Graham Mitchell

This assignment is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
Creative Commons License