BMI

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MommyWilhelm
MommyWilhelm Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
bmi on here based on height and weight vs bmi based on body messurements(hips, wrist, waist, forearm)? Which one should i go by?

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  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
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    Ehh honestly BMI of any variety isn't super important. It can be useful in the beginning to help set goals and realize where you should be aiming for, but the closer to goal you get the less realistic I find BMI to be.
  • dopeysmelly
    dopeysmelly Posts: 1,390 Member
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    Why not use both? I use BMI, waist-height ratio, waist-hip ratio and body fat estimated using the Military Body Fat calculator (not the best, but it's fine for my purposes).
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    In my opinion, BMI is a bad measure of fitness and doesn't take into account all of the factors. It basically assumes that you have no muscle mass. I am 185 lbs at ~8-9% body fat and BMI tells me that I'm overweight. Completely wrong. I much prefer people to go by body composition and body fat %. That frees you from the scale and allows you to add on muscle, which add tone, shape, and boosts your metabolism.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    BMI is useful for most people who aren't athletes or super low in body fat.

    Is it the be-all-end-all in weight loss? No, of course not. But it is a decent gauge for a large number of people, and it can be helpful in setting that initial goal weight.

    Sure, it's inaccurate for some folks. But let's face it: MOST people with lots of weight to lose are going to have a BF% that's too high, not too low. And BMI is really only inaccurate for people with very low BF.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    BMI is a screening tool. At best, it will give you a rough number to shoot for.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Are there more BMIs?
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    The more obese you are the more accurate BMI is, the closure you get a healthy weight (especially if you build muscle) the less accurate it is. My suggestion use it as a guide but not as the be all end all.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited January 2015
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Are there more BMIs?

    Nope. From what her post says, she is asking about BMI vs BF% estimate from measurements.

    Edit: Well, I shouldn't say no. There are some modified BMI scales for Asians. Usually however, it's just a smaller range for a healthy weight.

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