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A frequent question among people of a certain age, including yours truly, is "Why, when I weigh the same as or less than I did when I was younger, does my waist keep getting bigger?" Phrased another way, the question could be "Why, when my body mass index has not changed, am I fatter than I used to be?"
The simple answer is that the index, usually called B.M.I. for short, is a crude measure of fatness in individuals. Calculated by dividing one's weight in kilograms by the square of one's height in meters, it doesn't differentiate between fatty and lean tissue.
"The B.M.I. tables are excellent for identifying obesity and body fat in large populations, but they are far less reliable for determining fatness in individuals," explained Dr. Carl Lavie, a cardiologist at the Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans.
