Is BMI an accurate measure or total B.S.?

gapeach1279

Just had an angioscreen this morning and one of the the things they "measured" was my BMI (based solely on what I wrote down as my height and weight). I was told a normal BMI for me is between 18.5 and 24.9. My results were 24.32. Automatically, my mnd said, "If my BMI was 0.6 higher, I would be considered overwight, which I know I'm not. It's funny, because the rational side of my brain says, "Let it go, you know you're not overweight.", but the emotional side of my mind says, "You better start running 5 miles a day!"

klaff411

BMI is not an accurate indicator for people who are bodybuilding or heavy exercisers. You would be better off with a clamp test or "skin fold" or a body fat % test based on the navy/army calculation.

I mean some of the guys who are in amazing shape would be considered obese under the standard BMI calcuation.

I think body fat % is far better...esp if your trying to figure out your lean muscle mass.

Rerun201

I call BMI BS. I agree with klaff411, BF% is a better measure of whether or not someone is "obese". Problem is that measuring BF% accurately is not a real exact science at this point. Someone came up with the BMI and, even though many fit military people are being told they have to lose weight or risk being discharged, no one seems to see that it doesn't work for determining anything about a person's fitness. It may correlate with some health markers, but I doubt it is anything that has been fully explored and investigated.

If you aren't running 5 miles a day now, I wouldn't start based on that

dayone987

BMI isn't totally BS. it is/was used by insurance companies to help determine risk of illness and death. It has the benefit of being quick and easy (and cheap) to determine, unlike BF %. Disadvantage is that it doesn't take into account BF% so doesn't apply to very fit people. Overall, I think it's a good starting point.

paperpudding

BMI is a guide or health marker - it is not a bad tool but needs to be taken in context of clinical observation.

A person with a BMI of 35 may be healthy if they are an elite body builder with very high muscle ratio - or they may be unhealthy and obese. Is usually obvious which of these applies when seeing the patient.

Waist measurement is another good indicator and this does not significantly increase with body builder levels of muscle the way it does with excess fat.

kill3rtofu

IMO it's more for sedentary/less active people

LazerMole

BMI is mostly useless on the individual level. For making observations across large populations, though, it's really handy, and exceptionally easy to use.

Let's face it: most people with a BMI that registers "Obese" are not elite bodybuilders.

I agree with most others - a much better test of where you are as an individual is a body fat % test of some sort.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

BMI is BS, I hope they stop using that crap. My life insurance quote went up because they told me I am border line overweight because of BMI. I had to fight a long battle for them to consider BF%. I rather weigh 180 lbs with 12% BF than 170 lbs with 20% BF.

ccrdragon

for anybody who exercises regularly and has a reasonable amount of muscle on their body, BMI is total crap. The BMI scale was written to fit people who have little to no extra muscle on their bodies and as such should not be applied to the general population.

As a perfect example of how flawed the BMI scale is, Michael Jordon - one of the greatest basketball players ever who played with a BF% way below 10 - was obese at the height of his playing career according to the numbers in the BMI charts. Obese is an indication that he was 30% over ideal body weight according to the charts... you draw your own conclusions from that...

The other problem with the BMI charts is that they were 'down-sized' a few years back because to many people were fitting into the non-overweight categories and the people who make a living from the 'fat farms' were in danger of losing a TON of money because people were no longer getting hysterical about the epidemic of obesity in this country.

Now, don't get me wrong - we do have a serious problem with obesity in this country, but this little 'tool' that the govt developed is flawed at it's very basis and should be completely revamped...

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

IMO it's more for sedentary/less active people

It also depends on the build of a body. People can be sedentary and have low BF%.

gapeach1279

Thank you all so much for your feedback!

212019156

BMI is okay for trending in large populations but at the individual level it is BS. Body composition is where it is at if you work out.

RGv2

<<<< Obese by BMI.

bachampion04

BMI is the world scale of obesity but its not THE measurement for obseity. Everybody's physical makeup ranges completely and one scale cannot accurately scale for every person. Per the scale i will be obese for the rest of my life but look at my pics and im sure you will disagree with everyone else lol

I use it just to see what my possible BMI is until i can get some tape measurements.

- James

allbarrett

BMI is a start. Another good measure for health (not fitness) is waist to height ratio. That one actually gives an idea of how much body fat is being stored in the torso, which is an indicator for a number of health concerns.

f1redshoes

According to BMI, I'm ever so slightly underweight. It doesn't take into account that I have a ridiculously tiny frame! Thankfully, any doctors I run into for various things seem quite happy to actually LOOK at me and take all that muscle into account, rather than judge based on BMI.

Non-medical people can be a bit harsh, if they ever find out my weight, but I just whip out an arm and all that muscle soon shuts them up!

rbear713

<

---

Yup. Im obese too. To be at a "normal" weight for my height I'd need to lose another 50 - 55 lbs....

Last week, my BMI calculator told me I was heavier than 83% of all people my height/age/gender.... I think this was supposed to scare me... but it didn't. I kinda dig bein heavy!

SideSteel

This is just an observation:

BMI is a general guideline that is going to be reasonable for most people.

It will likely be off for bodybuilders and possibly other athletes.

The part I find interesting is that the population that it's less accurate in, is the population that doesn't need to worry about it to begin with.

I recall thinking it was crap when I first started lifting. The truth is that I was also overweight and overfat and it was accurate for me. I just didn't want to accept it.

_John_

I'm in the population where it's not very applicable to me. I'm about 12% body fat at "obese" according to BMI.

_crafty_

This is just an observation:

BMI is a general guideline that is going to be reasonable for most people.

It will likely be off for bodybuilders and possibly other athletes.

The part I find interesting is that the population that it's less accurate in, is the population that doesn't need to worry about it to begin with.

I recall thinking it was crap when I first started lifting. The truth is that I was also overweight and overfat and it was accurate for me. I just didn't want to accept it.

:flowerforyou:

peleroja

This is just an observation:

BMI is a general guideline that is going to be reasonable for most people.

It will likely be off for bodybuilders and possibly other athletes.

The part I find interesting is that the population that it's less accurate in, is the population that doesn't need to worry about it to begin with.

I recall thinking it was crap when I first started lifting. The truth is that I was also overweight and overfat and it was accurate for me. I just didn't want to accept it.

Looking at your photos, I wouldn't say you look on the border of overweight. However, SideSteel has a point- usually the people saying "it's crap! I'm not overweight!" are not bodybuilders and athletes. Those that ARE bodybuilders and serious athletes are correct in that they are heavily muscled and have a great, healthy body fat percentage that BMI doesn't reflect (like a couple of posters on this thread.) However, most of the people I personally have seen on MFP squawking about BMI being nonsense are people who also insist they are "big-boned"...and quite honestly, I do think that it's an excuse a lot of the time.

This isn't directed at you or even at any one in particular on this thread. It's just a general trend I personally have noticed. But if you're worried, get your body fat % tested and go by that instead.