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I see how people can get depressed about weight easily...

Jburlen2007
Jburlen2007 Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am a 27 year old male, 5'8" and weigh 154 lbs. I have a 31 inch waist, 13% body fat and a 24.3 BMI. 25 is considered overweight...how is that possible? I am (in my mind) nowhere near overweight. Although I have lost 19 lbs since Thanksgiving.

Anyone else similar to this?

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Jburlen2007 wrote: »
    I am a 27 year old male, 5'8" and weigh 154 lbs. I have a 31 inch waist, 13% body fat and a 24.3 BMI. 25 is considered overweight...how is that possible? I am (in my mind) nowhere near overweight. Although I have lost 19 lbs since Thanksgiving.

    Anyone else similar to this?

    Your bmi is 23.4 not 24.3.

    It's within the healthy range so what's to worry about? Healthy range means statistically healthy at all the weights in the range. A bmi of 20 isn't necessarily better than a bmi of 24. Use bmi for a general idea of how you're doing, not a specific diagnosis.
  • bspringer544
    bspringer544 Posts: 155 Member
    BMI doesn't account for muscle mass (as far as I know).
  • Jburlen2007
    Jburlen2007 Posts: 59 Member
    It just seems...odd? to be that close to the dividing line.

    We all know how our minds like to play tricks on ourselves
  • Jburlen2007
    Jburlen2007 Posts: 59 Member
    So would one with a lower body fat (which means more muscle) have a higher BMI?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Mathematically speaking, there is an infinitesimally small fraction of a bmi point between healthy and overweight. It's just how it works.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Jburlen2007 wrote: »
    So would one with a lower body fat (which means more muscle) have a higher BMI?

    Yes, those people are outliers when it comes to bmi. Tall people are outliers as well.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    There are very lean athletes out there who are high on the BMI scale. Not dramatically, but higher than you might think. It's just a rule of general measure.
    If you're at the high end of healthy what's the problem? If you want to recomposition I would say try to form a clearer goal than just some random BMI number...
  • Mavrick_RN
    Mavrick_RN Posts: 439 Member
    edited January 2016
    It's an estimate designed to approximate a "healthy" range for a large group of diverse people. You may have very dense bones or another individual variation.

    Yes, very muscular people are not well represented by BMI. And we all know muscle weighs more than fat.*

    *You know I am kidding about that.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 33,644 Member
    Jburlen2007 wrote: »
    So would one with a lower body fat (which means more muscle) have a higher BMI?
    Arithmetic. It's just arithmetic.

    One of the known limitations of the BMI system is that it puts very muscular people (NB: quite a small percentage of people) in a category that makes them seem to be at a less healthy weight than they actually are.

    You weigh 154, 13% bodyfat, 23.4 BMI.

    You know who else would have a 23.4 BMI? Guys who weigh 154 pounds, are 5'8', and have a 40" waist (bodyfat percent around 38%, very squishy build). Everyone at the same weight & height has the same BMI, regardless of body composition.

    BMI is a blunt instrument. Despite what quite a few wishful thinkers here may say, it's an OK ballpark, rule of thumb kind of guide that will work for most average-ish people. You're presumably more muscular than average, so it works less well for you. Shrug.

    Body at percent is a better indicator, it's just tougher to get an accurate figure for that. The home scales that "measure" it are notoriously inaccurate.

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