The Short Version
I am James Whitfield, a health data analyst living in Chicago. I spent four years as an NCAA Division I track athlete at the University of Texas at Austin, where I first got obsessed with body composition numbers. After graduating with a degree in Kinesiology in 2014, I spent six years working in corporate wellness programs before going independent.
Now I build free calculators, run self-experiments, and write about what the data actually tells us about our bodies. Every tool on this site runs entirely in your browser. I do not collect data, I do not sell ads to third parties, and I do not pretend to be a doctor.
Education & Credentials
- B.S. Kinesiology — University of Texas at Austin, 2014
- ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist — American College of Sports Medicine, 2016
- Precision Nutrition Level 1 — Precision Nutrition, 2018
Work Experience
- Independent Health Data Analyst — 2020 to present. Building tools, writing, consulting on wearable data interpretation.
- Senior Wellness Analyst — Corporate wellness firm, Chicago, 2016–2020. Designed biometric screening programs for 12,000+ employees.
- Graduate Assistant — Exercise Physiology Lab — UT Austin, 2014–2016. Assisted with DEXA and metabolic cart studies.
Why I Built BMITool.org
After years of watching people misuse BMI, confuse BMR with TDEE, and trust generic calorie calculators that ignore body composition, I got tired of explaining the same concepts in emails. So I built the calculators I wish existed when I was coaching: tools that show their work, store your history locally, and never send your data anywhere.
When I am not coding or writing, I am usually running along the Lakefront Trail, arguing about NFL statistics, or trying to perfect my sourdough bread recipe. I have a dog named Metric who does not care about body composition at all.