Which measure is most accurate?

crunchymommy

This is interesting to me. I am a woman with more of an "apple" shape - I have skinny legs but gain weight in my abdomen and upper body. I have lost 12 pounds now and am within my healthy weight range for the first time in a decade and a half. Today I took some measurements and did some calculations. Here's what I got:

Height: 5' 5.5"
Weight 145 lbs.

BMI: 23.8 - healthy range - yay!
Handheld body fat calculator from the grocery store: 35.9% - obese - boo!
Online body fat calculator (measure hips, thighs, calves and enter values) at healthcentral.com: 27% - average range - ok
Waist to height ratio: 54.96 - seriously overweight (one category down from obese)

The way I understand it, the waist to height ratio is the most accurate health predictor, so though I'm feeling great and looking better, I've still got a ways to go. Anyone else come up with widely varying results from different measurements?

RodgerBuckley

It's only numbers! All the medical 'experts' out there, along with all the financial 'experts' in the world, and all Politicians use figures to suit whatever makes them look good - regardless of whether or not their figures bear any resemblance to reality.

Look at it this way.

You take a tape measure, it will tell you how round you are at any point - thigh, calf, waist, hips, chest(bust), neck, arms etc. Inside, you'll KNOW how you feel. Outside, you'll KNOW how you look. So why bother wasting time with BMI this and BMR that?

I'm 5'4" and I weigh approximately 79Kg or so. Put all that into an 'experts' calculator and I'm probably Obese. The reality is that I'm quite broad across the chest and shoulders, got a decent pair of legs, and according to my Doc, I'm fine and I'm healthy. I'm overweight, but I'm not going to get hung up on someone else's figures.

I'll weigh myself periodically to see if my weight is heading in the right direction, but even then I don't bother too much about the poundage. The tape measure is my best tool for checking how I'm really doing. I know how I feel, and at present I feel (and look) fat. I'll get it down, but I won't be stressing myself over which calculation to use