The Pentagon has directed the U.S. military to begin evaluating troops on their body fat composition using waist-to-height ratio measurements.
According to a Pentagon memo dated Dec. 18, 2025, and published on Jan. 12, military services will discontinue the use of height and weight tables to determine the body fat composition of military personnel. Instead, body fat composition will be determined by taking a person’s waist circumference measurement and dividing it by their height measurement.
The new policy memo states the various military services will employ an upper limit measurement of less than 0.55. Military personnel will have to meet this measurement requirement at least twice a year….
Military Adopts New Method for Measuring Body Fat
