Type your height and weight to see your BMI on the Indian cut-offs, what it means for your health, and how long a weight target may take: with food and activity alone, or with a weight-loss medicine added.
Reviewed by Dr. Prabhat Arya, MBBS, MD (Internal Medicine)
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Your height and weight are enough. Add your waist for a truer picture. Nothing you type leaves this phone.
BMI
Losing weight you did not mean to lose needs a doctor’s look: see weight loss without trying.
The average path in large studies, drawn from your weight today and only as far as each study ran. Change the target to see how the time changes.
These are study averages, not a promise: many people in each study lost less than the average, and some lost very little. The medicine lines are for people given the highest dose in the studies; the studies lasted about a year to a year and a half. Medicines need a prescription and are not right for everyone: read how they work, their doses and their risks.
Body mass index is your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres, squared. These are the cut-offs for Indian adults.
BMI Below 18.5
Too little reserve. Weakness, getting ill more often, anaemia and thin bones are more likely. Losing weight without trying needs a check.
BMI 18.5 to 22.9
Weight itself adds little risk here. The waist still matters: fat around the tummy raises sugar and BP even at a healthy BMI.
BMI 23 to 24.9
Risk is starting to rise. For Indians this is where sugar, BP and liver fat begin to climb, earlier than on Western charts.
BMI 25 to 29.9
Risk is clearly raised. Losing 5 to 10 percent of your weight brings much of it down.
BMI 30 or more
Risk is high, and rises further with every step up. This is where medicines, and sometimes surgery, are worth discussing.
The waist often says more than the scale: 90 cm (about 35 inches) or more in men, or 80 cm (about 31½ inches) or more in women, points to fat around the organs, even when the BMI looks normal. More on weight gain, waist and the tests worth doing.
From the first step everyone takes to the last that only a few need. Each step adds to the ones before it; none replaces them.
In the large studies, people changing food and activity with regular follow-up lost about 5 to 7 percent of their weight in the first year. On semaglutide they lost about 15 percent over 68 weeks, and on tirzepatide about 21 percent over 72 weeks, alongside the same food and activity advice.
Weight comes off fastest in the first months and then levels off. That plateau is the body defending its weight, not failure.
When the medicines are stopped, most of the weight usually returns within a year. For most people they are a long-term treatment, like a BP medicine.
18.5 to 22.9. For Indian adults a BMI of 23 to 24.9 counts as overweight and 25 or more as obesity, lower than the 25 and 30 on Western charts.
At the same weight and height, Indians tend to carry more body fat, and more of it around the organs. Diabetes and heart disease start at a lower BMI, so the cut-offs are set lower to catch the risk in time.
No. It cannot tell muscle from fat, so a muscular person can read high. It reads less well in older people, in pregnancy, and it is not used the same way for children. That is why the waist matters as well.
About half a kilo to one kilo a week, on food and activity alone. Faster loss on a crash diet is mostly water and muscle, and comes back quickly.
Less than most people think. Losing 5 to 10 percent of your weight, for example 5 to 10 kg from 100 kg, often brings sugar, BP and liver fat down noticeably.
Yes. On a video call Dr. Arya can go through your weight history, food, sleep, medicines and reports, plan the tests, and follow you up month by month. You weigh yourself at home and share the readings. How an online consultation works.
Study numbers are averages. One person can lose more or less than the average, and studies are not a promise of any result.
Bring your weight, height and waist, your reports, and every medicine you take. Dr. Arya, an internal medicine physician, goes through them with you and plans what fits your body and your life.
Book a video consultationDr. Prabhat Arya · MBBS, MD (Internal Medicine)
