Anyone Else "Overweight" on the BMI Chart but Healthy, Active, Happy and not Really "Overweight"

RaeBeeBaby

Not sure why I got the dreaded "woo" for my post. The origins of BMI and the insurance company weight charts are pretty well documented. The interesting thing is that so many people have used them as the standard for so many years. There's always room for improvement in any statistics. Data in, analyze, data out, conclusions.

Bottom line (and the point of my post) is you can be healthy and happy and not fit into a little box someone called "normal".

whosshe

I just hit a healthy BMI, like I'm 1lb in lol but I'm totally happy at my weight right now even if a 1lb gain puts me back into "overweight". I want to lose another 10lbs but honestly I don't really care how long it takes me now. I've upped my calories and I'll get there eventually. After losing 90lbs I'm perfectly fine staying this size forever.

DomesticKat

OP is also getting wooed for paying me a compliment. That's cool.

emmieems

I’m technically overweight by 11 pounds right now however I’m living the healthiest life style I have yet and I don’t look super big or anything, it’s weird like that.

JDixon852019

Being overweight doesn’t really effect health risks much, when you hit the obese category is when you should be concerned.

BMI is just a fast and easy ballpark figure. Have you done the waist to hip ratio?


https://www.healthline.com/health/waist-to-hip-ratio

inkedrapture

I’m 5’6 as well and don’t really care about BMI, it classifies me as overweight because of the muscle I have. Not too worried about it. I’m more concerned about keeping a fairly low body fat percentage.

PowerliftingMom

BMI charts are useless for those who have a muscular build like most athletes

AnvilHead

PowerliftingMom wrote: »

BMI charts are useless for those who have a muscular build like most athletes

Athletes like runners, cyclists, basketball players, baseball players, tennis players, hockey players, soccer players, speed skaters, swimmers, skiiers, sprinters, gymnasts, surfers and/or martial artists?

Or do you mean athletes in very specific sports with very specific demands which make muscle mass and/or overall mass advantageous, such as powerlifting, bodybuilding or football (specifically, certain positional players such as linemen/linebackers)?

Also worth noting that the latter sports have much higher incidences of AAS/PED usage, which can drive muscle mass beyond genetic potential.

rheddmobile

For me at least BMI seems to accurately represent my health and fitness level. When I was morbidly obese I got tired just walking normally. Then I lost enough weight to be just regular obese and could walk for miles but had difficultly running. When I hit overweight I could run much better, but I could also tell that running would be much easier at a lower weight. Now I am at the high end of normal weight and can do most things easily, but there are some more intense fitness related activities like jumping and acrobatics and pull-ups which would greatly benefit if I lost about fifteen more pounds, which would put me at close to ideal weight. In college I had an underweight BMI and was constantly run down and anemic. Everyone is different but in my case the chart is spot on.

I also note that when I first lost enough weight to get down to just overweight and no longer obese, I thought I looked great. I would admire myself in the mirror and think I was mostly finished with my weight loss journey. But then I would see photographs of me taken with other people and I looked fat in them. I blamed the camera. But now that I am normal weight, suddenly I look normal weight in photos and surprise, the ones taken when I was overweight, I still look overweight, because I was overweight then, I just had trouble seeing it. It just took a while for my perception to adjust to my new reality. You may discover something similar when you have been at your current weight for a while.

PAV8888

rheddmobile wrote: »

I also note that when I first lost enough weight to get down to just overweight and no longer obese, I thought I looked great. I would admire myself in the mirror and think I was mostly finished with my weight loss journey. [...] But now that I am normal weight, suddenly I look normal weight in photos and surprise, the ones taken when I was overweight, I still look overweight, because I was overweight then, I just had trouble seeing it. It just took a while for my perception to adjust to my new reality. You may discover something similar when you have been at your current weight for a while.

+1 in that perception takes quite a while to match reality... even if the weight loss is within conservative deficit parameters.

Kst76

rheddmobile wrote: »

For me at least BMI seems to accurately represent my health and fitness level. When I was morbidly obese I got tired just walking normally. Then I lost enough weight to be just regular obese and could walk for miles but had difficultly running. When I hit overweight I could run much better, but I could also tell that running would be much easier at a lower weight. Now I am at the high end of normal weight and can do most things easily, but there are some more intense fitness related activities like jumping and acrobatics and pull-ups which would greatly benefit if I lost about fifteen more pounds, which would put me at close to ideal weight. In college I had an underweight BMI and was constantly run down and anemic. Everyone is different but in my case the chart is spot on.

I also note that when I first lost enough weight to get down to just overweight and no longer obese, I thought I looked great. I would admire myself in the mirror and think I was mostly finished with my weight loss journey. But then I would see photographs of me taken with other people and I looked fat in them. I blamed the camera. But now that I am normal weight, suddenly I look normal weight in photos and surprise, the ones taken when I was overweight, I still look overweight, because I was overweight then, I just had trouble seeing it. It just took a while for my perception to adjust to my new reality. You may discover something similar when you have been at your current weight for a while.

Very good answer.

whosshe

rheddmobile wrote: »

For me at least BMI seems to accurately represent my health and fitness level. When I was morbidly obese I got tired just walking normally. Then I lost enough weight to be just regular obese and could walk for miles but had difficultly running. When I hit overweight I could run much better, but I could also tell that running would be much easier at a lower weight. Now I am at the high end of normal weight and can do most things easily, but there are some more intense fitness related activities like jumping and acrobatics and pull-ups which would greatly benefit if I lost about fifteen more pounds, which would put me at close to ideal weight. In college I had an underweight BMI and was constantly run down and anemic. Everyone is different but in my case the chart is spot on.

I also note that when I first lost enough weight to get down to just overweight and no longer obese, I thought I looked great. I would admire myself in the mirror and think I was mostly finished with my weight loss journey. But then I would see photographs of me taken with other people and I looked fat in them. I blamed the camera. But now that I am normal weight, suddenly I look normal weight in photos and surprise, the ones taken when I was overweight, I still look overweight, because I was overweight then, I just had trouble seeing it. It just took a while for my perception to adjust to my new reality. You may discover something similar when you have been at your current weight for a while.

True but my "ideal weight" is around 115-120 and at 140 I'm already a size small and can see my bones. I can't imagine losing 25lbs.

I think we should all strive to at least hit the healthy BMI range tho. It's a great reference point for regular people. OP you might not think your body will be happy (idk what that means) but it will probably be a lot happier. Unnecessary extra fat just brings you down and you may feel healthy and active but just having that excess fat is making all these active things you're doing more difficult, whether you feel it or not.

amusedmonkey

Just to be clear, I believe a normal BMI is achievable and most women would not look like skeletons like they think they would - it's an accurate representation for most women, but I also believe there is theoretical ideal, and then there is practical ideal. If someone finds it significantly harder to maintain a normal BMI, they would be worse off stubbornly chasing it. If the result is extreme yoyoing, stress, and inability to enjoy life, then a slightly overweight maintainable BMI can be much healthier and more desirable. If that person learns more about themselves and the strategies that work for them enough to sustain a normal BMI without it being overwhelmed, then they could always reassess and lose more if they wish.

Fizzypopization

I have been at the bottom and top range of my normal BMI and I prefer the top. I have an hourglass figure and I did look like a skeleton. I prefer my butt and boobs to be big, it looks hot. Same reason men might want to maintain a higher weight to look good. Fact is I want to stay in the lowest weight where these things are still true which is the middle for me, but if I never lose a single pound I'll be happy at the top range I still look hot. I don't really care what others do. Do what makes you happy 165lbs isn't going to make you fat. Any shame or pressure we feel is internal which means we have the power to change it. Ignore people who aren't supportive and live your life your way. That's what matters. Nothing else.

ap1972

My 14yo son was talking about this earlier, I'm 5'10" and around 210 which puts me just into the obese range. I don't feel obese but would say I'm overweight, when I said to him even if I lost 30 pounds I would still be overweight he said that would be crazy as he thought i would look unhealthy if I lost more than that.

Packerjohn

PowerliftingMom wrote: »

BMI charts are useless for those who have a muscular build like most athletes

This is true, may apply to 10% or so of the population. The OP reports doing 4.5-6 hours of cardio and weights a week. This just hits the minimum levels of exercise recommended by the CDC. I doubt it gives her the bodyfat level of an athlete, so in her case BMI is most likely a pretty realistic indicator.

Packerjohn

ap1972 wrote: »

My 14yo son was talking about this earlier, I'm 5'10" and around 210 which puts me just into the obese range. I don't feel obese but would say I'm overweight, when I said to him even if I lost 30 pounds I would still be overweight he said that would be crazy as he thought i would look unhealthy if I lost more than that.

My wife is also 5'10-5'11" and got up to 195. She is now 170, feels and looks great. She is going to go down another 5-10 to see how that feels.

Individual results/perceptions may vary.

TravisJHunt

Just my personal opinion but you also have to look at weight as just one component of being healthy. Sure you can be within a healthy BMI range and have a terrible health situation. Many skinny people do have heart attacks, high blood pressure, etc. On the opposite, many slightly over weight people would be overall more healthy on a whole than their lighter counterparts. I find this site really only focuses on the weight side in the forums when talking about health when really there's more to health than just weight. To take it to the extreme, many meth heads would easily fit into a healthy BMI category but you wouldn't consider them healthy as the only reason they are that way is the drug use keeps them from eating which in turn eats away at their bodies which in turn makes them skinny. Could they run a 5k or bike 10k? Probably not. Now on the other than I've seen many obese people easily run a 5k, including myself. So if you're asking can you be healthy and be higher then the recommended BMI, sure. Would you be even healthier lower on the BMI, maybe, but as another poster already said, if it starts to bring in too many other factors including mental stress, then no. There's a ton of proven scientific research out there to show that while most of when we want to get "healthy" focus only on weight, the mental aspect of our healthy is equally and in some cases even more important. Again just my opinons, not backed by science.

daloverlyme

I was once super obese ( highest point on the BMI chart) I'm 5 lbs away from just being "obese". My healthy BMI would put me around 104-108 lbs. I think I will be okay at a little higher on the scale.

ap1972

Packerjohn wrote: »

ap1972 wrote: »

My 14yo son was talking about this earlier, I'm 5'10" and around 210 which puts me just into the obese range. I don't feel obese but would say I'm overweight, when I said to him even if I lost 30 pounds I would still be overweight he said that would be crazy as he thought i would look unhealthy if I lost more than that.

My wife is also 5'10-5'11" and got up to 195. She is now 170, feels and looks great. She is going to go down another 5-10 to see how that feels.

Individual results/perceptions may vary.

I'm male and haven't been 170 since I was about 16.......if you looked at me then you would probably say I was underweight, my mum was always embarrassed if I took my top off in public as i was so skinny.