"The graphic that reveals why BMI is useless?"
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris
Posts: 502 Member
"The graphic that reveals why BMI is useless?"
This entire article is saying something akin to "Your speedometer is useless in determining your fuel economy" or "Your thermometer cannot tell time."
Of course, no one has ever accused the Daily Mail of delivering news.
If your physician or nutritionist is confused by BMI charts, you need to stop seeing them.
BMI (Body Mass Index) charts are a useful measuring tool, and one of many we can employ to determine overall health. If you remember the old Bell curve from Stats 101, MOST people will be fairly accurately represented, although there will always be outliers.
Also, apologize for just posting the link...this is the first time I've tried to share an article on this forum.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3152862/The-graphic-reveals-BMI-useless-Scientists-reveal-radically-different-body-shapes-readings.html
This entire article is saying something akin to "Your speedometer is useless in determining your fuel economy" or "Your thermometer cannot tell time."
Of course, no one has ever accused the Daily Mail of delivering news.
If your physician or nutritionist is confused by BMI charts, you need to stop seeing them.
BMI (Body Mass Index) charts are a useful measuring tool, and one of many we can employ to determine overall health. If you remember the old Bell curve from Stats 101, MOST people will be fairly accurately represented, although there will always be outliers.
Also, apologize for just posting the link...this is the first time I've tried to share an article on this forum.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3152862/The-graphic-reveals-BMI-useless-Scientists-reveal-radically-different-body-shapes-readings.html
0
Replies
-
BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.0
-
The vehement "BMI is useless" crowd is mostly comprised of folks that are in denial about how fat they are.0
-
And physicians and nutritionists have known that for decades. No one would look at Dwayne Johnson and say he was overweight, or Tom Brady, or other athletes. But for the vast majority of people, it will be fairly accurate.yopeeps025 wrote: »BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.
0 -
For the vast majority of people, those legions that do not add extra muscle mass...
BMI charts apply
If you have extra muscle you are a minority in our overweight under exercised society
0 -
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
And physicians and nutritionists have known that for decades. No one would look at Dwayne Johnson and say he was overweight, or Tom Brady, or other athletes. But for the vast majority of people, it will be fairly accurate.yopeeps025 wrote: »BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.
and where it's inaccurate for your average gym rat, we're talking maybe 5-10 lbs off.
0 -
Chief_Rocka wrote: »TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
And physicians and nutritionists have known that for decades. No one would look at Dwayne Johnson and say he was overweight, or Tom Brady, or other athletes. But for the vast majority of people, it will be fairly accurate.yopeeps025 wrote: »BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.
and where it's inaccurate for your average gym rat, we're talking maybe 5-10 lbs off.
For me it was 20-30, even at my lightest....and no I wasn't in denial about how fat I was at 11%0 -
Everyone already recognizes this. BMI is presented for masses, not elite athletes and bodybuilders. In the military if you fail BMI, then additional measurements are taken to ensure the individual is compliant with operational standards.0
-
When I was enlisting, if you failed the BMI charts, they simply grabbed the tape measure. It wasn't that difficult to sort out who was too fat and who was muscular.0
-
Chief_Rocka wrote: »TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
And physicians and nutritionists have known that for decades. No one would look at Dwayne Johnson and say he was overweight, or Tom Brady, or other athletes. But for the vast majority of people, it will be fairly accurate.yopeeps025 wrote: »BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.
and where it's inaccurate for your average gym rat, we're talking maybe 5-10 lbs off.
For me it was 20-30, even at my lightest....and no I wasn't in denial about how fat I was at 11%
What was your weight and height?0 -
I think in my case, BMI is pretty accurate.
Obese vs about 6 pounds Overweight
0 -
To provide some context this is the BMI of elite male athletes:Normal Weight: 18.5-24.9
Most Olympic champions and nearly all of the runners fall into the normal weight category. The sprinter Usain Bolt is at the high end of the range. The hurdlers and jumpers are in the middle. The 5K and 10K champion, Mo Farah, is at the low end.
Usain Bolt (100 m, 200 m) 24.9
Ashton Eaton (decathlon) 24.4
Greg Rutherford (long jump) 24.4
Sven Kramer (speed skating) 23.7
Andy Murray (tennis) 23.7
Michael Phelps (swimming) 23.6
David Boudia (diving) 23.4
Marco Fabián (soccer) 23.2
Félix Sánchez (400 m hurdles) 23.0
Ivan Ukhov (high jump) 22.6
Christian Taylor (triple jump) 22.5
Taoufik Makhloufi (1500 m) 22.1
Alexander Vinokourov (bicycling) 22.1
Evan Lysacek (figure skating) 21.8
Aries Merritt (110 m hurdles) 21.8
Renaud Lavillenie (pole vault) 21.8
Kohei Ichimura (gymnastics) 21.1
Mo Farah (5000 m, 10,000 m) 21.1
Kirani James (400 m) 20.9
Alistair Brownlee (triathlon) 20.9
Ezekiel Kemboi (3000 m steeplechase) 20.2
David Rudisha (800 m) 19.6
Chen Ding (20 k walk) 19.1
from here: Usain Bolt yo!0 -
Chief_Rocka wrote: »The vehement "BMI is useless" crowd is mostly comprised of folks that are in denial about how fat they are.
Dude my doc says bmi is useless for me at my lightest I was 10 lbs over a "healthy" bmi but because I lose very little mass in the chest area leaving me wearing a 36 G bra and my lovely muscled legs kept me in a size 10 pants with a belt keeping them at the waist. Bmi is not the be all end all hun.0 -
Dude my doc says bmi is useless for me at my lightest I was 10 lbs over a "healthy" bmi but because I lose very little mass in the chest area leaving me wearing a 36 G bra and my lovely muscled legs kept me in a size 10 pants with a belt keeping them at the waist. Bmi is not the be all end all hun.
Who is saying it is? If your breasts caused you to weigh more, your physician can account for that. However, for most people it will be accurate.0 -
Chief_Rocka wrote: »The vehement "BMI is useless" crowd is mostly comprised of folks that are in denial about how fat they are.
Dude my doc says bmi is useless for me at my lightest I was 10 lbs over a "healthy" bmi but because I lose very little mass in the chest area leaving me wearing a 36 G bra and my lovely muscled legs kept me in a size 10 pants with a belt keeping them at the waist. Bmi is not the be all end all hun.
That's why I said "mostly." As the OP noted, there will always be outliers, Your huge breasts doesn't render the BMI irrelevant.0 -
BMI is a screen to quickly eliminate people who are not at risk. So if you are at normal or under, your doctor doesn't even have to see you to know you are not fat/at risk for overweight issues. I challenge you to find a fat person who is normal/underweight on the chart. So go stand over there in the low risk corner.
Next is the people who are barely over the normal - overweight category. Doctor can glance at you - oh hey you lift weights/run/whatever - you are not at risk, go stand over there with the under-BMI people. Don't take offense, or bash the system.
The rest are at risk, or at least need a bit more thorough exam. The BMI screen does exactly what it's supposed to. It does not conclusively say you are fat - it just says you either are NOT fat, or need a 2nd look.
I also would state that while the middle ground can get murky with lifters and such, that once you get into BMI of 30+ there is no grey area - you have weight issues regardless of how much you bench.
0 -
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »
And physicians and nutritionists have known that for decades. No one would look at Dwayne Johnson and say he was overweight, or Tom Brady, or other athletes. But for the vast majority of people, it will be fairly accurate.yopeeps025 wrote: »BMI is pretty useless once people had sometime in the gym weight training.
Yep, I've read its very reliable for around 85%+ of the population. The remainder being people who work out hard and have much muscle mass and a few other outliers0 -
Chief_Rocka wrote: »The vehement "BMI is useless" crowd is mostly comprised of folks that are in denial about how fat they are.
In my experience the only people who claim BMI is useful are the skinny fat people who are in denial about how fat they are.0 -
I'm claiming that it's useful. I'm not skinny nor in denial. You can now update your experience.0
-
BMI is a screen to quickly eliminate people who are not at risk. So if you are at normal or under, your doctor doesn't even have to see you to know you are not fat/at risk for overweight issues. I challenge you to find a fat person who is normal/underweight on the chart. So go stand over there in the low risk corner.
Next is the people who are barely over the normal - overweight category. Doctor can glance at you - oh hey you lift weights/run/whatever - you are not at risk, go stand over there with the under-BMI people. Don't take offense, or bash the system.
The rest are at risk, or at least need a bit more thorough exam. The BMI screen does exactly what it's supposed to. It does not conclusively say you are fat - it just says you either are NOT fat, or need a 2nd look.
I also would state that while the middle ground can get murky with lifters and such, that once you get into BMI of 30+ there is no grey area - you have weight issues regardless of how much you bench.
I mean, this is the entire thing. This is all the BMI does.0 -
Chief_Rocka wrote: »The vehement "BMI is useless" crowd is mostly comprised of folks that are in denial about how fat they are.
In my experience the only people who claim BMI is useful are the skinny fat people who are in denial about how fat they are.
Guilty as charged! But surely my BMI of 20 stands for something? ha ha0 -
BMI is so popular for one reason and one reason only- it's insanely easy to measure. All you need is a person's height, age, weight and gender- that's it. Doctors can calculate it with little time and less money and you don't even need to be in same hemisphere for them to do so.
Conversely,stats like body fat percentage, BMR, VO2 max, etc. give a much clearer picture of a person's health, but they take more time and cost more money to fully and accurately perform.0 -
Um, nope. You only need height and weight.
See? Even easier than you thought!0 -
-
Um, nope. You only need height and weight.
See? Even easier than you thought!
Yeah, quick and easy. It's amazing to me how something that simple can give your very close estimates in the overwhelming majority of cases.
During entrance processing for the military, they can use BMI to quickly separate most of the recruits into who is 'ready' and who needs a second look. I said previously, the 1 in 10 that needs a second look simply gets taped measured.0 -
I find it funny that in every thread about BMI, everyone throws out how it doesn't work for body builders / long term athletes. If you actually look at research done on BMI's ability to predict body fat, it actually tends to be TOO GENEROUS about body fat.
In a study of 13,601, BMI classified 21% of men, and 31% of woman as obese versus the body fat percentage showing 50% and 62%, respectively. The rate of men and women diagnosed obese who weren't via body fat standards: 5% for men, and 1% for women. If you wanted to accurately complain about BMI, it would be that it doesn't diagnose enough people as obese that are, not that there is an army of bodybuilders getting put in the obese category by it.0 -
TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »Um, nope. You only need height and weight.
See? Even easier than you thought!
Yeah, quick and easy. It's amazing to me how something that simple can give your very close estimates in the overwhelming majority of cases.
During entrance processing for the military, they can use BMI to quickly separate most of the recruits into who is 'ready' and who needs a second look. I said previously, the 1 in 10 that needs a second look simply gets taped measured.
That I feel is a sad statistic too. My original goal was to try to be 180 lb with 15% body fat at height 5'6.5. That didn't happen.
0 -
At 5'6.5", if you maxed out the Fat Free Mass Index (about 25 for natural lifters), that would be 157 lb of lean body mass. It could take 10 years or so of lifting if you could hit, which would let you be ~15% body fat at ~184.yopeeps025 wrote: »TheLegendaryBrandonHarris wrote: »Um, nope. You only need height and weight.
See? Even easier than you thought!
Yeah, quick and easy. It's amazing to me how something that simple can give your very close estimates in the overwhelming majority of cases.
During entrance processing for the military, they can use BMI to quickly separate most of the recruits into who is 'ready' and who needs a second look. I said previously, the 1 in 10 that needs a second look simply gets taped measured.
That I feel is a sad statistic too. My original goal was to try to be 180 lb with 15% body fat at height 5'6.5. That didn't happen.0 -
yopeeps025 wrote: »
That I feel is a sad statistic too. My original goal was to try to be 180 lb with 15% body fat at height 5'6.5. That didn't happen.
What did happen? BMI chart says someone at 180 pounds measuring 5' 6.5" would be overweight by about 20 pounds. I cannot estimate your BFP without your waist measurement, though.
I am curious how your case turned out.0 -
I just think the BMI is useless crowd embarass themselves, they spout it as though they have just made some major discovery but show their own ignorance when its understood its just a general population measure and doesnt claim to apply to everyone. We wll know it doesnt take into account muscle, but its for general populations for which its convenient.0
-
If your doctor, nutritionist or dietitian ever thought that BMI was the single most important diagnostic tool for measuring health then they were/are imbeciles. BMI is a statistical tool not a diagnostic tool and as has been mentioned above while it may apply to the broad spectrum of people (I would like to know the actual percentage of the population? Hopefully at least 80%) the simple fact remains that any professional must have the intelligence and capability to apply logic on a case by case basis.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 424 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions