Body mass index (BMI) has been used for years as a standard to determine if a person is underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese. However, last week the American Medical Association voted to limit the use of BMI.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS anchor Leah McLean sat down with Health Expert Archelle Georgiou on Tuesday to discuss the changes.

BMI is calculated by using a persons height and weight to place them in a category ranking them for health risks like diabetes and heart disease, said Georgiou.

Fat around your waist places you at a different risk than fat around your hips, said Georgiou, adding that other factors, like fat distribution in the body, can affect a person’s health risk. This is one of the fallbacks of using BMI, as it doesn’t take a person’s fat distribution into consideration.