I stumbled across your web page and really liked it. Only the calculator bugs me. I’m 25 years old, 203 centimeters (~ 6 feet 7 inches) tall, of medium bone structure (elbow of 3 1/4 inches) and weigh 227 pounds. The BMI method your calculator uses seems to be inaccurate with tall people. I am certainly not over fat (as my BMI value proclaims) and the same time not overtly muscular or athletic. I guess that I should stick to a body fat percentage analysis. That’s my question – are there any “do-it-yourself” kits available (like calipers plus reference manual)? And who would sell it (mail order)?

BMI is not a calculated estimate of your body fat; it is an estimate of health risk. If you were very athletic and did weight training / aerobic exercise daily, then perhaps you should have your body fat analyzed. However, you state that you aren’t athletic and you will probably fall into the norms for your age.

Your BMI is 26 and your healthy weight range is 198 – 242 pounds. Your current weight of 227 is in the middle of this and close to ideal at 220. BMI’s are age related and people as young as you should have a BMI less than 25. BMI’s don’t relate as well for very tall people as you suggest, but I use a formula currently used in nutrition practice. (I assumed you are a male and if not, please write back.)

Would not suggest doing body fat analysis yourself as some of the sites on your body to measure are out of your reach. Also, it takes training and lots of practice to get good at accurately measuring body fat with a caliper. Good calipers happen to be very expensive. Besides, you don’t need to measure body fat that often and every 3 – 6 months would be sufficient. If you are interested, ask a registered dietitian or exercise physiologist to measure your body fat.