Jack Bell

When trying to find if your overweight, just measuring your waistline can sometimes be as effective as calculating your body mass index, health officials said.

While BMI, a calculation based on a person's height and weight, is the most basic way to find out if a person is overweight, it's not always accurate for certain body types, experts say.

"Plenty of people out there ... are overweight (but) not obese," said John Bilderback, Step One program manager for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department. "Some people are just going to carry more weight than others."

BMI is the same measurement used for everyone over 20 years old male or female, said Dr. Veronica Gunn, chief medical officer for the Tennessee Department of Health.

You may have an elevated BMI and still be a healthy weight, Dr. Gunn said.

Both male and female athletes and men in general's BMI calculations could be inaccurate because they usually have a higher lean muscle content, health officials said.

An athlete who is in perfect shape could be listed in the overweight category because muscle weighs more than fat, Mr. Bilderback said.

MUSCULAR OR OVERWEIGHT

Many tests can be done on a person to find out if they are a healthy weight, but most require time and money, said Gregory Heath, head of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's department of health and human performance.

The easiest and cheapest way to test if you are either overweight or just muscular is to use the tape measure, Dr. Heath said. And measure both your waist and hips.

"Your waist should be smaller than your hips," he said.

If a man's waist is larger than 40 inches he's too fat, and the same is true for women greater than 32 inches around the waist, he said.

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING

Sometimes thin people are an unhealthy weight because they have a higher percentage of body fat Mr. Bilderback said.

A health official would never know if these type of bodies were unhealthy just by measuring their BMI, he said.

For those reasons, professional trainers including Jack Bell, the owner of Absolute FIT Fitness and Weight Management Center, use more than just a BMI calculation to find out if his clients are unhealthy.

"The best rule of thumb we use is making sure people get a body fat or a body analysis test to see how much actual lean muscle tissue one has," Mr. Bell said.

A person's body fat is a better indicator of one's health, he said. Men need to be between 19 and 22 percent and woman between 22 and 25 percent body fat.

But in order to measure body fat one must have the right equipment and it's not as simple as the BMI calculator.

If a person is not living a healthy lifestyle they may need to find out if they are healthy even if they aren't overweight, Dr. Heath said. But if someone is a little overweight but active they are probably healthy.

"The bottom line is if your active and eating a good quality diet and your watching your weight ... then that's a good indicator that you're fine," he said.