BMI Question

apehead1

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post and I Have to say I just love this site, I started this journey on May 25 2010 at 190 lbs and today I have lost 28 lbs. I Originally set my goal to be 160 lbs but have now reconsidered and changed it to be what my BMI says I should be?

This is the lightest I have ever weighed that I can remember and my question is I hear so much about the BMI scale that it's only a guideline etc.

What is everyone's feeling about the BMI? It says I should way 150 to be in the healthy range and I intially thought that would be way way to low for me but now Im not to sure as the weight is coming off pretty easy.?

Thanks for your input?

abricklin

You will have many varying responses to this one I think. How tall are you/what size do you wear/HOW DO YOU FEEL.
BMI is not the end-all be-all because it does not take into account your frame (small, medium, large structure) nor your lean muscle mass AT ALL. I think people should take it with a grain of salt and figure out what works for them. How is your blood pressure, bloodwork, etc. How do you feel? Are you happy with how you look. My husband is 6'0 and 150 lbs. He is that way regardless of what he eats and how much. Before we met he tried gaining weight with various protein shakes and did not gain an ounce. To me, 150 at 6'0 is a little thin (and he knows I think that) but 150 at 5'7 is a different story. Again, this is my OPINION about how I like my men At 150 lbs he wears a 34 pant, 15 1/2 dress shirt, medium tops

ChellieIrish

Hey there :drinker:

Welcome to the site :flowerforyou: and congrats on the loss so far :bigsmile:

With regards to the BMI it usually gives you a lowest and highest figure .. Is 150lbs the lowest number you see IMO it depends on your height and body build ... Too much weight loss on some can make you look very gaunt so it's hard to judge what suits everyone as we are all built differently lol

What height are you ?

Vipecap

The BMI is a very, very broad sampling of what an average person should be. It does not take into accounts muscle mass. Most professional athletes are overweight or obese by it's scale and with the exception of maybe NFL lineman, that is simply not true. I would go by your actual body fat percentage if possible. The average male is 15 - 18% body fat, so if you are within in that range or lower you should be good to go.

apehead1

Thanks for the responses.

I'm 5 ft 5 and have huge muscular calves which I don't like LOL

150 is the high end of the bmi scale which says I should be in the healthy range.

Silly question how do you measure body fat?

Thank you

borisda

BMI is a load of tosh,I'm 6ft tall I weght 86 kilos and a body fat of 14.5% yet my BMI is 27 so I'm officially over weight, what rubbish. If you do your best to drop the fat but not to much (not below 10 - 12%) and your fit then screw the BMI.

bloblynda

I'm with apehead1 - How DO you measure body fat - male & female?

sbarham

Gyms usually have little hand held machines that calculate, or I'm sure you could buy one. They are not always accurate, as some have stated, because they don't take into account your lean muscle mass. The BMI charts say I should weigh around 140, but my goal weight is around 160-170 because I have more of a muscular build. Right now, the charts say I'm obese. They always have. I don't look much different now than I did in my profile pic, so there's a disconnect in information somewhere. Anyway, the only TRUE way to get an accurate BMI in through an underwater test/machine. They are difficult to come by though beause they are so expensive. I had one done at a university I attended in a fitness class, and that's how I came up with my goal weight: the BMI took into account my lean muscle mass and said I should weigh 170!!! A lot of people have said it-find what's right for YOU. Where you feel good, where you want to be! Good luck!!!

singfree

As I understand, the BMI was introduced as a tool by the life insurance industry to set premiums higher or lower, depending on risk. The higher the BMI, the higher the risk, thus a higher premium. For some reason it is used by the health care industry as a reliable method of determining one's percentage of body fat. IMO, the BMI is completely useless.

Vipecap

You can measure body fat in multiple ways but the most accurate are also the most expensive. The cheap and somewhat reliable method is to use calipers and do a 3-fold skin although you can do a 5-fold, 7-fold, 9-fold, and even 11-fold test for more accuracy. You can do it yourself although it is better if you have someone else do it. There should be plenty of sites on the web that show you where to pinch to measure, where to get calipers, etc. Hope that helps