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Is every single body in the world intended to be within the so-called healthy BMI range?
Replies
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Mycophilia wrote: »jamesakrobinson wrote: »18% is HUGE!
A 180 pound person - 18% is 147.6 pounds, add 18% instead and that's 212.4!
So an 18% variation one way or the other from 180 is a range of 64.8 pounds! That's a 5th grader!
Except people aren't either 100% skeletal muscle or 100% fat tissue. Take a 100kg person at 20% bodyfat and replace half of the fat with muscle and that person will weigh 101.8kg.
LMAO your 220 pound hypothetical person with only 20% body fat is about 7 feet tall (or more!)11 -
jamesakrobinson wrote: »Mycophilia wrote: »jamesakrobinson wrote: »18% is HUGE!
A 180 pound person - 18% is 147.6 pounds, add 18% instead and that's 212.4!
So an 18% variation one way or the other from 180 is a range of 64.8 pounds! That's a 5th grader!
Except people aren't either 100% skeletal muscle or 100% fat tissue. Take a 100kg person at 20% bodyfat and replace half of the fat with muscle and that person will weigh 101.8kg.
LMAO your 220 pound hypothetical person with only 20% body fat is about 7 feet tall (or more!)
To better illustrate the math and my point.3 -
Ok maybe BMI wasn’t the best way to frame it. What I’m hearing though is that y’all generally believe there is an ideal body weight / body size / body fat percentage range that people should be in? And that being outside that range indicates less-than-optimal health? And that people should strive to be close to or within this range?0
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For about 4 months I was in the healthy BMI range and I didn’t like how my body looked. My BP, Cholesterol, etc have always been fine so as long as my waist to hip ratio is under .86 I don’t worry because that’s shown to be a better indicator anyway.0
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BMI is nonsense.19
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Total drivel - apparently I'm clinically obese!!8
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BritishSpy007 wrote: »Total drivel - apparently I'm clinically obese!!
LOL You should probably try lifting some weights and see if that helps.
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Sounds like too much hard work fatty! 5
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Even in the medical world BMI is considered a guide. It's certainly not good enough to use to calculate drug doses.
Some medications doses are calculated by weight alone (heparins for example).
Others are calculated based on 'ideal weight' which uses the vague idea of lean body mass as projected by height/weight ratio (some antibiotics etc).
Other medications (some anaesthetics etc) are calculated on surface area.
It's all to do with how different drugs are metabolised, excreted etc.
Back to BMI though. A doctor might use it to illustrate/quantify that a person is overweight; 'you are overweight, your BMI is 30 when the normal healthy range is ...'
A shorter muscle bound guy who also might technically have a higher BMI the doc can see, through observation that this person is not carrying a bunch of fat. They're not about to tell this person to lose weight based on numbers alone.
..........
Like all population based guidelines, they are just that.
Even on infant growth charts, someone's baby is always going to be in the 99th percentile. That doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong, but it can be a clue to look into why.
BMI is kinda the same.7 -
distinctlybeautiful wrote: »Ok maybe BMI wasn’t the best way to frame it. What I’m hearing though is that y’all generally believe there is an ideal body weight / body size / body fat percentage range that people should be in? And that being outside that range indicates less-than-optimal health? And that people should strive to be close to or within this range?
For a guy, get naked, stand up straight. Look down. if you can see your junk without bending or using a mirror you're probably okay. If you can't you're most likely overfat and if no health problems, you are working on them.13 -
Great rule of thumb! Except if you’ve got micro-penis, then you’ve got worse problems than being fat...12
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For most people that are not professional athletes or body builders, yes, they are a good general guideline. There is ongoing debate among some folks who think it is possible to be "healthy" while still being fat, but I do not buy into this personally.10
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Us barrel chested folks laugh derisively at the BMI.6
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jamesakrobinson wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »jamesakrobinson wrote: »Hell no! If you are lean and lift it's easy to be "overweight" even at a sub 10% body fat.
"Easy" is a bit exaggerated when even most world-class elite athletes are at most slightly into overweight.
I beg to differ. My BMI floats around 26 to 27 (and even higher in the winter) but my body fat is under 9% (can get close to 10% by mid January) That is classified as "overweight" and I am just a gym rat in my 50s, certainly not any kind of elite athlete or anywhere near in my peak condition. (good for an older guy, but nothing like what's achievable in your prime)
Lifting and paying more attention your macros than just your total caloric intake WILL skew your body composition towards lean mass, which is much more dense than fat. (this is the biggest thing the CICO cult leaves out of their holy equation)
Denseness of muscle has zilch to do with CICO. And it's only 10%.2 -
BMI: 24.7
Really, you can take almost any athlete who's not a football quarterback or somesuch where the heavier you are the better and they'll not break far into overweight.10 -
stevencloser wrote: »
BMI: 24.7
Really, you can take almost any athlete who's not a football quarterback or somesuch where the heavier you are the better and they'll not break far into overweight.
If his legs were proportional to his upper body he would be rocking a 27 BMI...
I don't think anyone said pro athletes (especially not runners and REALLY REALLY not endurance athletes) have higher BMI while lean? So that post isn't remotely relevant.
My assertion is that anyone training for strength and asthetics while watching their macros can easily bump over a BMI of 25 while maintaining a sub 10% body fat. I hold my old self up as an example of an average male who is overweight by BMI while under 9% fat. I'm certainly not an athlete, and drove a desk for 30 years. I haven't been on any sports team since I was a gangly teen.
I have lifted on and off since I was a teen, and my dietary habits have always tended towards the carnivorous. For 3 years I have tried to stick to 5 days a week of lifting and have tracked all my food. I use keto as a valuable tool in the spring for stripping off the fat I inevitably accumulate over winter (almost a necessity here because winter is brutal) but I really don't limit calories at all.10 -
jamesakrobinson wrote: »stevencloser wrote: »
BMI: 24.7
Really, you can take almost any athlete who's not a football quarterback or somesuch where the heavier you are the better and they'll not break far into overweight.
If his legs were proportional to his upper body he would be rocking a 27 BMI...
I don't think anyone said pro athletes (especially not runners and REALLY REALLY not endurance athletes) have higher BMI while lean? So that post isn't remotely relevant.
My assertion is that anyone training for strength and asthetics while watching their macros can easily bump over a BMI of 25 while maintaining a sub 10% body fat. I hold my old self up as an example of an average male who is overweight by BMI while under 9% fat. I'm certainly not an athlete, and drove a desk for 30 years. I haven't been on any sports team since I was a gangly teen.
I have lifted on and off since I was a teen, and my dietary habits have always tended towards the carnivorous. For 3 years I have tried to stick to 5 days a week of lifting and have tracked all my food. I use keto as a valuable tool in the spring for stripping off the fat I inevitably accumulate over winter (almost a necessity here because winter is brutal) but I really don't limit calories at all.
The natural limit of FFMI is about 25. That's what's assumed to be about the most muscle a person of a height can carry naturally. At 9% bf, I would be a 26,xx BMI at the most amount of muscle I could possibly carry (approx.).
That's not "easily being in overweight BMI." if you're just training and paying attention to macros.14 -
Not sure how short you are but last time I calculated (May) my FFMI was 22.x, my BMI was 26.x, and my body fat (Dexa) was 8.x... I'm 5'11" if my body fat went up to 9.x (and I am probably there and on my way up as autumn sets in) my FFMI would go down and my BMI up.4
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distinctlybeautiful wrote: »If a body is not within that range do you assume that person must be doing something wrong?
I laugh at this question.distinctlybeautiful wrote: »If a body is not within that range do you feel that person should be doing whatever it takes to get there?
I snort at this question.distinctlybeautiful wrote: »I’m not sure I’m asking these questions in the clearest way. I’ve been rolling them around in my brain for a while now, though, so I figured I’d throw them out as they are and go from there.
For a person who regards yourself as distinctly beautiful, you sure have an ugly way of thinking about people.
It's not your job, nor is it mine, nor is it the job of a pro trainer to have an opinion about the body appearance of random other people.
If this response hurts your feelings, then you did not ask in the clearest way.15
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