Doctors Keep Telling Me I'm Overweight

Sarauk2sf

I would listen to them. With you being 5'8" and 152-160, you are overweight still. And looking at your pic, you are a medium frame. Try measuring your wrists and ankles. You don't have a low body fat % and that would be the only reason you wouldn't be considered overweight with those stats. Keep up the good work.

Her bmi isn't in the overweight range though? So how are you determining that she's overweight?

Body composition. She is medium or even small frame according to her tiny wrists. Ideal weight for 5'8" is 140 with good body fat %. She has a little higher body fat % and 12-20 extra pounds. So that is slightly overweight. BMI is not a good test if you are looking to be fit.

Where are you getting 140 as the ideal weight? Is it that ridiculous outdated 100 lbs plus 5 lbs for every inch over 5 feet you are? Because that's even less accurate than BMI.

Why do you think that is ridiculous and outdated? Is it because over 60% of Americans are overweight or obese and you think we should up the ideal for you?

Where are you getting this from...its a silly blanket statement.

Achrya

Where are you getting 140 as the ideal weight? Is it that ridiculous outdated 100 lbs plus 5 lbs for every inch over 5 feet you are? Because that's even less accurate than BMI.

If this is the case in in trouble seeing as I am 5'4" and my LBM is 117 lbs, yet 100 + 5 would put me at 120. That's only 2.5% bf. :frown:

If that's the case a lot of people are in trouble. Sara up there should probably just give up and throw in the towel right now.


(I keed I keed)

Sarauk2sf

I would listen to them. With you being 5'8" and 152-160, you are overweight still. And looking at your pic, you are a medium frame. Try measuring your wrists and ankles. You don't have a low body fat % and that would be the only reason you wouldn't be considered overweight with those stats. Keep up the good work.

Her bmi isn't in the overweight range though? So how are you determining that she's overweight?

Body composition. She is medium or even small frame according to her tiny wrists. Ideal weight for 5'8" is 140 with good body fat %. She has a little higher body fat % and 12-20 extra pounds. So that is slightly overweight. BMI is not a good test if you are looking to be fit.

Where are you getting 140 as the ideal weight? Is it that ridiculous outdated 100 lbs plus 5 lbs for every inch over 5 feet you are? Because that's even less accurate than BMI.

Why do you think that is ridiculous and outdated? Is it because over 60% of Americans are overweight or obese and you think we should up the ideal for you?

I mean, to be fair, according to that formula I should be 115, but I'd be hardpressed to believe I need to lose another 30someoddpounds.

YMMV

And not to confuse my case with the OP, who may very well have a high body fat percentage and could be fine at 140. Just saying it certainly doesn't apply to everyone.

Apparently I am 18lb overweight! Considering my LBM is about 123lb - I can have a grand total of 7lb of fat - 5% BF. I'll be right on that!

XTSH

I'm 5'8" as well. Healthy BMI but unhealthy amount of body fat. Turns out I don't seems to have enough muscle mass as well. I'm just flabby and weak all over.

anemoneprose

i haven't looked at it in a while (am sure everyone will tell me things have changed), but last i read, waist circumference was thought to correlate to CV disease risk, maybe that's what they were talking about? though it doesn't sound like they measured your waist, or that you'd exceed guidelines (quick check on webmd, 35 inches for women)

Knsclptr30

I am so tired of doctors that have no body modification background and professional skill set relying in the archaic bmi test. The best measure of a woman's true shape is through the amount of lean muscle mass and fat pounds she carries ( bodyfat percentage) her basal metabolic rate (bmr) and the waist to height ratio.

thesophierose

You need new doctors.

Knsclptr30

So for women in general heathy bodyfat percentages ranges from 18-28% the waist to height ratio is key and should at least augment the bmi as a decent health risk diagnostic tool. But I generally take the measurement of the thickest part if the waistline for my clients instead of the navel or the narrowest part. The ratio should not exceed 0.5 fir women. In your case the thickest part of your waist (usually lower region of the abdominal ) should be 34 in at most 0.5 of your 68 in height.

Knsclptr30

Yes I agree that the guidelines in general for women in the pouch area (lower abs) should be at most 35 in for lowest risk of degenerative diseases especially metabolic disorders.

Knsclptr30

As far as the weight ranges for bmi I have had clients that have had good bloodwork even at 30+ bmi ranges because they became more curvy had thicker frames and bone structures and had brought their bodyfat under 28% in the healthy range and their waistline at 0.5 or less. This means as long as a woman that is a certain height ( 5 '8) in this example ) is under 28% bf and her waistline is under 0.5 of her height she can be healthy even at higher bmis in certain cases.

anemoneprose

Yes I agree that the guidelines in general for women in the pouch area (lower abs) should be at most 35 in for lowest risk of degenerative diseases especially metabolic disorders.

is that where the measurement was taken for the studies, though?

Cuchulan

Ignore the people who are frying to shame you. If you can, try different clinics and check out www.drsharma.ca/ .He is my personal obesity doctor & would NEVER have let any of his colleagues treat you with such little respect. You deserve so much better then that just because you're human

Achrya

Ignore the people who are frying to shame you. If you can, try different clinics and check out www.drsharma.ca/ .He is my personal obesity doctor & would NEVER have let any of his colleagues treat you with such little respect. You deserve so much better then that just because you're human

\

...Are we reading the same thread?

anemoneprose

Ignore the people who are frying to shame you. If you can, try different clinics and check out www.drsharma.ca/ .He is my personal obesity doctor & would NEVER have let any of his colleagues treat you with such little respect. You deserve so much better then that just because you're human

Your sympathy with the OP is laudable, but a little misplaced, given her situation (it doesn't sound like she will need specialist care). But, I agree that obesity is poorly understood & measured, that obese people suffer all kinds of inappropriate judgements.

You are very lucky to be treated by Dr. Sharma. (for those who don't know: former Canada Research Chair in Obesity Studies.)

EvgeniZyntx

As far as the weight ranges for bmi I have had clients that have had good bloodwork even at 30+ bmi ranges because they became more curvy had thicker frames and bone structures and had brought their bodyfat under 28% in the healthy range and their waistline at 0.5 or less. This means as long as a woman that is a certain height ( 5 '8) in this example ) is under 28% bf and her waistline is under 0.5 of her height she can be healthy even at higher bmis in certain cases.

No. No.
1) Risk ratios in later studies on Waist to Height Ratios are age-dependent.
2) One can be healthy at higher ratios but risk is increased it isn't suddenly a given.

Based on the age results there is no significant critical risk at 0.5 to 0.6 for women over 40.

Sorry but you need to stop applying magic number thinking.

rml_16

Your BMI at 160 pounds is 24.3, which is the high end of the healthy range and not considered overweight.

So those people are basically idiots and you should probably just ignore them.

vim_n_vigor

Did you ask your doctor how they determined you were overweight? What criteria they were using to give you that information? It seems like that would be the place to start.

UsedToBeHusky

This is a "government" health department??

Those people don't have masters degrees... get real. (And I should add that a doctor would have a doctorate, anyway.)

I used to have my kids on WIC and the health department would tell me all sorts of crap and I would go back to the pediatrician, and she would say to ignore all the crap.

So basically, what I'm saying is... ignore the health department. They have been given a script.

FlaxMilk

I don't know what to do. I know I've made a lot of progress, and I want to feel good about it, but I can't if the doctors keep telling me I'm overweight. Should I just ignore them? It seems like I shouldn't since they're the ones with the master's degrees, but I don't know.

You can feel good about your progress even if there is still work to be done. The progress hasn't gone anywhere. You're still 50 lbs lighter, fitter, and feeling better about yourself. Keep up the great work with the working out. Since the picture isn't recent, and we don't know your body fat %, I doubt any of us here can tell you whether or not you "need" to lose more fat, but if you do, you're already on the track to doing so. Great job!

SapiensPisces

The cutoff for an overweight BMI at 5'8" is 164 lbs. At 150-160, you are not above that line and are considered at a healthy BMI.