The new body-fat standards are between 18% and 26% for men and between 26% and 36% for women, according to a Dec. 18 memo from undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness Anthony J. Tata that the Pentagon released on Monday.
“The upper limit for allowable [waist-to-height ratio] for military service body-composition policies shall be less than 0.55,” the memo says.
The ratio is determined by dividing waist measurement by height.
Under the policy, service members with a waist-to-height ratio of 0.55 or above will be further tested and, if found to exceed body-fat standards, will be placed in their service’s remedial programs and referred to medical authorities for an evaluation, according to the memo.
Doing basic BMI calculation is notoriously bad at assessing actual body-fat % in athletes and other highly muscled people. BMI uses weight to height ratio primarily, and this is even worse by using waist to height ratio.