Biometric screening

cyndit1
cyndit1 Posts: 170 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Had my biometric screening for work insurance yesterday and the tech measured me at 5’4.5”. My entire life I have mean 2 inches taller or so I thought. I am 58 and know you shrink as you age but now my BMI is higher. I am sooo mad that I went from normal to overweight again (I am 151 lbs). I have been maintaining within 2 lbs for about 6 months. So the question is how much more to lose? To get back to what I thought my BMI was (in the 23s) I need to lose about 11 pounds.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    Well, from personal experience, some years I'm 5'7", some years I'm 5'6", then the next year I'll be 5'7" again.

    I wouldn't get too hung up on a number - but just keep doing the right things and it will all settle out.

    I have a "take action" weight, regardless of which inch I reach on the tall-o-meter. :)
  • nossmf
    nossmf Posts: 11,616 Member
    During my career in the military, my "official" height kept changing from as low as 5'8" to 5'10", largely depending on which tech was doing the measuring.

    Since I lift weights, my BMI is useless to me, as one glance at me says I'm healthy, but according to BMI I'm overweight bordering on obese. It works for some people, just not for me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    One thing to consider here is that the basic BMI chart doesn't take age into account or ethnicity...it's sort of all encompassing. I use this:

    https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/

    At my current weight (198) I am considered slightly to moderately overweight with this calculator...obese with regular BMI. At my normal maintenance weight of 180 I am at a perfectly acceptable weight for my age whereas the generalized BMI puts me at about 6 Lbs over. For myself it doesn't really matter much as I don't get too hung up on BMI...it's only one metric. I know that at 180 I'm 15% BF or slightly less, so fairly lean (just not super lean) and have a flat midsection and the outlines of a 4 pack in the right light.

    If you're really worried about it talk to your Dr. and see what they say. BMI isn't the be all and end all, it is just a tool to analyze potential health risk in a population, not an individual. There is a lot more that goes into your risk as an individual than just BMI. I know people who are well within what is considered to be a healthy BMI who aren't remotely healthy and at great risk of medical issues because they don't exercise, drink excessively, smoke, etc.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,092 Member
    I would be more worried about what it says about my bone and spine health if I had lost 2 inches by the age of 58. Maybe bring that up with your doctor?

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