ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Body Shape Index

Body shape index (BSI) is a way to measure how much fat you have in your body compared to your muscles.

Imagine your body is a tower of legos. Some legos represent your fat and some legos represent your muscles. If you have more fat legos than muscle legos, your body shape is different than if you have more muscle legos than fat legos.

The BSI formula takes measurements of your body shape and compares the amount of fat you have to the amount of muscle you have. It uses two measurements: your waist circumference (how big your waist is) and your height.

A doctor or health expert will use the BSI formula to determine your body shape index. They use the formula to find out whether you have more fat in your body or more muscle. If you have more fat, you may be at risk for health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

So, just like you might count the number of legos in your tower to figure out how tall it is, doctors use the BSI formula to figure out how much fat you have in your body compared to your muscles. It's an important tool for staying healthy and understanding your body!