So, you think you hate the BMI now?

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MrsBingley
MrsBingley Posts: 145
in Fitness and Exercise
"Based on their findings, Braverman and his coauthor, New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav Shah, M.D., say the BMI threshold for obesity, which now stands at 30, should be lowered to 24 for women and 28 for men."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/health/obesity-rates-maybe-worse/

Smh
«1345

Replies

  • alikonda
    alikonda Posts: 2,358 Member
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    BMI was always an oversimplification, to which even the article already alludes:
    Bodybuilders can be classified as obese based on their BMI, he says, while "a 55-year-old woman who looks great in a dress could have very little muscle and mostly body fat, and a whole lot of health risks because of that -- but still have a normal BMI."

    Any generalized metric that tries to assign concrete weights to a person based on their height is going to be BS because peoples' bodies are built so differently - which is precisely why I roll my eyes when somebody tries to tell someone what a "healthy weight" is for someone they've never met.
  • SteveStedge1
    SteveStedge1 Posts: 149 Member
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    I hear that under Obamacare BMI may be use to determine if you are obese for your rates. Love the govt.
  • PennyM140
    PennyM140 Posts: 423 Member
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    GEEZ...If they think 150 is obese what is healthy? Right now I'm just trying to get under 168 so I can be in their stupid healthy category ( I'm 5'9")
    Not everyone is meant to weigh 100 pounds
  • anro86
    anro86 Posts: 790 Member
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    You have ruined my day, ruined it. I am going to choose to put my fingers in my ears right now and sing "la-la-la-la"
  • Danny_Boy13
    Danny_Boy13 Posts: 2,094 Member
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    BMI sucks IMO. According to the scale I am overweight coming up on obese. Im sorry but if I have abs I am not anywhere close to over weight.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    I hear that under Obamacare BMI may be use to determine if you are obese for your rates. Love the govt.

    A lot of insurance companies already do that. So even if "Obamacare" did that, it wouldn't be new to the health insurance industry.

    Also, the "require BMI for rates" is thusfar unsubstantiated FUD, made all the more dangerous by the fact that EHR records do require the BMI, but not for the purposes of determining rates.

    http://www.examiner.com/article/does-obamacare-mandate-bmi-screening
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
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    BMI 24 is nowhere near obesity. WTF. That's 145 pounds for me. Just, no.
  • WhiteRabbit1313
    WhiteRabbit1313 Posts: 1,091 Member
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    That would put me in the "overweight category," again. :cry:

    However, I don't use BMI as my metric; I use my trip to Italy and seeing so many thin, healthy-looking people that appeared to weigh, on average, 15-20 lbs. less than me, now.

    Yeah...I'm a glutton for punishment, as well as food. :tongue:
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    Here's a thought, let's ditch the BMI and just stick with body fat percentage.

    If the BMI says that a person of a given height and weight, but without much muscle, is "healthy," but their BF% says they're essentially obese; and that same scale says that a person of a given height and weight, but with a fair amount of muscle, is "overweight" or "obese," but their BF% says they're in the healthy or even athletic category, then it's not the people that are faulty, here.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    Well, I'll be rocking my bikini this coming spring at their obese level for my height. I don't know what these people do to get such a low LBM, but it does suck to be penalized for their habits.

    I had the nurse yesterday come back in and make sure she didn't transpose 2 numbers in my weight, lol. She thought I was 20 lbs lighter than I really am.

    Scale weight is just not the greatest measure, although for populations you do have to use something pretty inexpensive, I guess. Couldn't they at least pull out the measuring tape to go with scale weight, though? Or just use calipers, my goodness. We have robots performing surgery and can't figure out how to tell if people are fat or not? Kinda crazy.
  • micheleb15
    micheleb15 Posts: 1,418 Member
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    Well, still fat.
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    Damn, obese again.
  • explosivedonut
    explosivedonut Posts: 419 Member
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    If they are planning on mixing up how BMI is calculated for obesity, why not switch the standard to Body Fat percentage? Give doctors a pair of calipers. Much, much more accurate than BMI. Not perfect, but still much better.
  • coolraul07
    coolraul07 Posts: 1,606 Member
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    BodPods and DunkTanks for everyone! ObamaCare's paying! WOO-HOO!
    pBx6JEh.gif
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    GEEZ...If they think 150 is obese what is healthy? Right now I'm just trying to get under 168 so I can be in their stupid healthy category ( I'm 5'9")
    Not everyone is meant to weigh 100 pounds

    Go by BF%...it is and always will be a better measure. BMI is for mass populace, not individuals.
  • rockstarginaa
    rockstarginaa Posts: 1,529 Member
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    BMI is flawed. There are better benchmarks to use.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    BMI, the researchers say, is an overly simplistic measure that often misrepresents physical fitness and overall health, especially among older women.

    So wouldn't the solution be to find a different measurement that incorporates fitness and other health markers, not to lower the BMI obesity standard? Those researchers are dumb.
    Nearly 4 in 10 adults whose BMI places them in the overweight category would be considered obese if their body fat percentage were taken into account, according to the study.

    So use body fat, jack wagons.
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
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    So, based on my height and current lean body mass, once I finish losing this last chunk of fat I'll be officially obese at 21% BF?

    And some woman of the same height who weighs 20 lbs less than me (BMI 3 points lower) but has 30 lbs less lean muscle mass than I have is somehow healthier than I am?

    That makes perfect sense.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
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    BMI should be called "BS"MI because it does not take into account muscle mass, body type, etc. and therefore is grossly inadequate as a tool to gauge obesity.
  • jaz050465
    jaz050465 Posts: 3,508 Member
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    I hear that under Obamacare BMI may be use to determine if you are obese for your rates. Love the govt.
    God I love the National Health Servicevin the UK.

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