How much do you go by BMI?

astralweeks82

Forgive me if I am bouncing around here but I want to sort of lay it all out.

So, I have basically been bouncing around the same 3-4lbs for a few months now. I upped my calories a bit a few times, and am now at 1550 plus about half of my exercise calories (3-4 days a week, I have a HRM on my GPS watch for my runs, bike riding, etc). When I was about 25 years old, I got down to 137lbs (I am now 31), so I know my current goal of 140lbs shouldn't be unrealistic. I am 5' 3" and BMI tells me 140lbs is the MOST I can weigh to be considered in a healthy weight range, so I thought it was a good goal. Thing is, I can't seem to get below 149 (once), and am essentially hovering around 151-153lbs. I know I am in the home stretch, and I've lost a LOT of weight already. I honestly don't hate the way I look and feel, and despite lose skin I have still managed to get to my goal clothing size (8, might be able to get into some 6's).

I feel HEALTHY and STRONG. I know I need to incorporate strength training to work more on body comp, but that elusive 140 is still bugging me, as much as I am TRYING to tell myself over and over that it's JUST a number. How much faith do you put in BMI? I just wish I could know I am medically considered a healthy weight. Knowing that, despite losing over 140lbs I am STILL considered overweight, albeit not by much, is somewhat discouraging mentally. even though I feel great physically. I know I could probably do more to shed those last few pounds but I guess the question is, how important is it really?

I told you I would be bouncing around a lot! Basically, how important is that number, and your BMI, to you? What if you're at your goal clothing size and great shape? Would you let that scale number go or is it the most important factor? Thanks for being patient with me :flowerforyou:

jdhcm2006

I don't put much faith into it at all. Nothing in this world is one size fits all and that includes that BMI chart.

jemhh

I use it as a kind of milestone but I don't really rely on it for anything. By that I mean that at some point it will be nice to see that I am within the healthy BMI range but I don't focus on it a whole lot. Kind of like my healthy weight range. I am still a few pounds above it and will do a little dance when I get there. But in all honesty if I were stay the same weight and my ab fat just disappeared, I would be happier than if my scale showed that I was in the right weight range.

saskie78

I don't pay attention to my BMI. I have a sense of what a good weight is for me and I try to get/stay there. I do put some stock in body fat percentage. The only way I have of tracking that is a bathroom scale that measures it, which is not super accurate, BUT the trend of that scale is important to me. Often, my weight stays the same but my body fat percentage goes down. I count that as the biggest sign of progress.

I don't have a ton of personal experience with weight loss (congrats on yours! your story is an inspiring one), but I read a lot about nutrition and exercise and all signs seem to point to two things for breaking through a plateau: intensity and strength training. If you aren't already, maybe try adding one day a week of interval training and a small amount of strength training?

Best of luck and again, congrats on your progress!

vismal

With my current physique I am considered overweight according to BMI (27.1). The last 2 years at my employee health screening I lost points due to being "overweight". I get so pissed. Last year as the lady was giving me the mandatory talk about weight loss counseling, I started laughing at her. I was indeed in much better shape then she was but her bmi was probably "normal". Anyone who is muscular, or even has a larger frame runs the risk of being overweight according to BMI even if they have normal (or in my case low) body fat percentage. BMI is decent for the general population but worthless for athletes. BMI should not be the end all be all indicator of healthy lifestyle but one of many numbers used to assess it. I would put things like body fat %, height to waist ratio, blood lipid panel, blood pressure, etc all above BMI when assessing one's "health".

MsBetteDavis

I pretty much ignore BMI. I think it's something that's very tricky to calculate and even when you do, it's often completely off, so what's the point? If I feel healthy and I look healthy, and I weigh a good amount for my age/height, then I don't care.

lemurcat12

I don't pay attention to it (except that I plan to celebrate when I break into the healthy zone) since I know that for me I'm better well below the top limit of my BMI. If you think that might not be so for you, maybe have your body fat tested, as that's a better way to determine on an individual level whether you need to lose fat.

But I'd also not drive yourself crazy chasing a particular number. I believe the evidence is that being overweight but not obese (especially like 25-27ish) and fit is not really bad for your health, especially if you aren't an apple and can pass the waist to height test without problem.

Beyond that, if you've been losing weight for a while, it might be a good time to take a break and maintain for a while and then see if you feel like losing more later.

cherrylf

I lost 150lbs 5 years ago and had/have a great deal of excess skin. You have to take that into consideration when you are looking at your BMI. Until you get it removed you are going to have to factor that in. There is no way to loose that, it can be tightened with time and work in the gym. Congratulations on your weightloss. Be happy with yourself and don't stress about the BMI. Like the poster above, my trainer is consider overweight. If he has an ounce of fat on him I can't see it.

Cherryl

shabaity

My doctor said BMI with your body structure is a joke ignore it. I'm really short but really well endowed so I'm inclined to agree. BMI for my height is like 120 is the start of normal at 140 I look top heavy. Work with your doctor on a weight that is healthy for you in specific.

bwogilvie

BMI was developed in the 19th century to assess populations, not individuals. For some people, it's a useful individual measure, but for others, including many if not most weightlifters, it's more or less useless. Health care professionals who focus on BMI alone are idiots – or, more likely, they're following a screening protocol that an idiotic bureaucracy insists be applied to everyone.

It's more important to focus on strength, stamina, and how you feel.

poohstixx

I just had this conversation with my boyfriend last night. I think it can be a good tool for an estimate, of what a healthly weight might be. And that is all it is...a tool. Is it accurate for everyone? No. I don't believe it is and I think most doctor's would agree. If you are several pounds above your range, does that mean you're not healthy? No. To me the way I feel and look and the activity I can do is what matters. If I was at the bottom or even middle of my BMI range, I'd look like a skeleton. Seriously. I am tall and have a large bone structure. Some people just aren't built to fit into a calculation.

astralweeks82

But I'd also not drive yourself crazy chasing a particular number. I believe the evidence is that being overweight but not obese (especially like 25-27ish) and fit is not really bad for your health, especially if you aren't an apple and can pass the waist to height test without problem.

Good point. My waist-hip ratio is in a healthy range, I should have pointed that out. I am much more pear shape.

Beyond that, if you've been losing weight for a while, it might be a good time to take a break and maintain for a while and then see if you feel like losing more later.

This is sort of why I'm asking. I have been at this a year and a half. I'm maintaining mostly anyway so maybe I should just sort of try that for a while...

Swiftlet66

Not much... Is just a standard. I go by what I like to see in the mirror. Like everyone else said, bmi isn't really accurate in determining health for many individuals and it varies by ethnicity and countries even. It's a general number applied as a standard because other more accurate ways to measure "health" like body fat is either way too expensive or simply too difficult to use on everyone in a healthcare setting.

timbrom

I think it's good on the low end (if your BMI is under 18.5, then you probably should go eat a sandwich). There are a lot of people in the "Overweight" range who are plenty healthy enough. Pretty much any guy with any appreciable muscle mass is going to be at least in the overweight range, and quite a few woman who are healthy with low body fat percentages are also going to be there. There have also been some studies that show that people in the "Overweight" range actually live the longest, even longer than those in the "good" range of 18.5-24.9.

liekewheeless

I've read a couple of treads like this lately.

BMI is a good indicator for an average person. BUT.. your waist measurement is much more important when it comes to health.
Having excess fat in that area is an indicator of health risks. For women it's anything over 35" and for men 40".

bergpa

I've paid attention to my BMI as a sort of mile marker while I'm losing weight but I wouldn't let it define my ultimate goal. Being in a size 8 is awesome, so don't beat yourself up over other numbers.

meridianova

i put absolutely zero stock in the BMI charts. they were originally developed to determine the fitness levels of entire populations, and were created back when society was far more active (farm work, hard industrial labor) than we are now. and since it's meant to measure large populations, it's incredibly inaccurate (and unfair) to judge someone's fitness merely by their height and weight.

let's face it... professional atheletes with large amounts of muscle and very low bodyfat percentages show up as obese on the BMI charts. nobody in their right mind would consider The Rock obese!

the charts are also subject to change. in 1998 millions of people went to bed with a "normal" BMI range, and woke up the next morning as "overweight", or "overweight" and then "obese", simply because the NIH changed the ranges. did that suddenly change each person's health? or their actual risk factors? of course not.

i skirt right up to the line of "morbidly obese". yet those figures don't take into account my muscle mass, my absurdly large frame, and ignore the fact that my bloodwork is excellent, my cholesterol ratios are stellar, and i show no risk of diabetes. yet so many doctors get their noses stuck in that framework and start panicking "ZOMG yer gonna DIE!!!" i'll be the first to admit that i'm overweight, but i'll also swear to my dying day that trying to get down to a weight that would be within the "normal" range would be devastating, both mentally and physically.

marissanik

Healthy BMI for a female my age who is 5'6 can be anywhere from 130-154lbs. I am 155 currently and still considered not to be in a healthy weight range. I don't take it to heart because I certainly don't look like I'm in an unhealthy weight range and how much difference does 1lb make?? How much does 5lb make? I would love to get in that healthy range but I don't stress it.

aethre

I hate all this BMI crap.

The thing is, BMI is a tool that is not being used for the purpose it was designed. It was designed by a statistician, not a dietician. It's a major case of using a hammer to put in a screw.

My start weight was on the edge of 'obese'. My ideal weight is on the edge of 'overweight'. But I have weighed less than that, and it did not look good on me. I'm short and broad and a bit of a hobbit. However, with a BMI of 28.9 (near to obese) my hip-waist ratio is 0.8 (edge of 'good').

There's a lot more to go on than random ratios that don't take other things into account.....

Now if somebody could come up with a cheap and easy way to reliably check my body fat percentage, I'd appreciate it! XD

astralweeks82

I appreciate everyone's comments. I honestly know BMI wasn't the be all end all in weight loss, but medically it seems to be the one thing doctors use, erroneously or otherwise, to measure health and it's frustrating. I am training for a 10K and half marathon, I run a lot. I am active, I feel the best I've ever felt. My waist-hip ratio is good, my BP is perfect, my resting heart rate is fantastic, all my blood work is good. I know I am healthy. So I guess that's why I was asking about that number, for me it's the final thing I feel like I "must" do, even though logically I know it's not all that important.

A good example of what I mean - I was 140lbs before when I was able to finally get into a size 8. This time around, because I was running and exercising on top of a calorie deficit, I got into that size a full 20lbs heavier. I know I am healthier now than I was at my lowest adult weight of 137 because I got there before by eating 1200 calories and no exercise, while now I am active and eat more and healthier (not just diet food). I just wish I could shake the feeling that I "must" be 140 to be healthy when I already AM healthy...

IllustratedxGirl

Grain of salt

KROBfitgirl29

I consider the BMI method to be completely outdated and irrelevant now.

Oneironaut

I think it can be a useful tool as long as you're not too muscular. I looked at BMI charts when picking out my goal weight for this cut. I'm still going primarily by how I look, but having a numerical goal is nice too.

Kalikel

BMI is wonderful for people who are overweight or underweight. It gives them a good indication of where they stand.

The bodybuilders go on and on about how ridiculous it is. My son is into that and those kids have their own world of health information, some correct, some not. They aren't wrong on BMI. It will tell the very muscular that they're overweight when they have no extra fat.

But for most people, it's not far off.

If you are happy and the doctor is happy, don't worry about the BMI. It's just a number.

I, personally, did the dance of ecstatic joy when I moved from obese to overweight. I may leap into the air like that MFP logo person when I leave overweight. I'll be walking around telling strangers, "I'm not overweight! I have a healthy BMI." But it is just a number and doesn't mean much.

MinimalistShoeAddict

Congratulations on your weight loss! I am glad you are feeling healthy and strong. For the record, I think bodyfat % is much more useful than BMI for individuals. Unfortunately it is also much harder to measure accurately.

As others have pointed out athletes in certain sports naturally have a higher BMI so some people have an "overweight" BMI yet are very healthy.

In this list of female gold medal winners there are 2 overweight and 2 obese women according to BMI scales:
http://www.runnersworld.com/womens-running/bmis-of-champions-womens-edition

There are even more champion male athletes in the overweight and obese categories:
http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/bmis-champions

Of course average BMI depends on your sport of choice. In some sports (shot put, weight lifting), lots of muscle is important, in others (endurance sports, etc) it is helpful to remain lean.

Most of us are not built like Lebron James (NBA) or Valerie Adams (shot put) but it is important to note that perfectly healthy people with a BMI over 24.9 exist.

WalkingAlong

I consider the BMI method to be completely outdated and irrelevant now.

This person has deleted her account but I have a feeling she's one of the people who could stand to take BMI more seriously. I think a lot of young women use "BMI is a joke" to justify their underweight goal weights.

That's where I think BMI is very useful, to let people striving for some Hollywood/magazine ideal that it's not a realistic or a healthy goal.

And the other extreme, less common here--People who are clearly overfat but choose to not see it have some raw data.

OP- I think it's for sure not a black and white thing, where under your overweight BMI you're 'healthy' and above it you're not. It's all a continuum. You are healthy now. If you want to stop losing, that's probably fine. Would you be healthiER 10-15 lbs. lighter? Maybe. There is always a healthier state out there, though. Nice work on that weight loss!

MKEgal

I have basically been bouncing around the same 3-4lbs for a few months now. I upped my calories a bit a few times, and am now at 1550 plus about half of my exercise calories
... I am 5' 3" and BMI tells me 140lbs is the MOST I can weigh to be considered in a healthy weight range, so I thought it was a good goal. Thing is, I can't seem to get below 149 (once), and am essentially hovering around 151-153lbs.

If you're eating over 1500 cal per day, it's no wonder you're hovering at 150 lb.
If you want to weigh 140, eat no more than 1400 cal per day, & ignore "net" or exercise calories completely. That's what my doctor told me to do. (10 x healthy goal weight in order to lose weight to get there, as well as ignoring exercise calories)

I just wish I could shake the feeling that I "must" be 140 to be healthy when I already AM healthy

Yes, it sounds like you are healthy. You're also overweight.
The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

How much faith do you put in BMI?
how important is that number, and your BMI, to you?

Unless someone is freakishly muscular (competitive bodybuilder) or has unusually dense bones, it's a pretty good rule of thumb.
It's based on health measures of large populations.
I used BMI to determine a healthy goal weight (I'm aiming for at least 5 lb under the top end of the green range) as well as goal calories for the day (10 x healthy goal weight).

I think it's something that's very tricky to calculate and even when you do, it's often completely off

No, it's really easy to calculate.
Go to the menu bar & click on "apps", then click on "BMI".

your waist measurement is much more important when it comes to health.
Having excess fat in that area is an indicator of health risks. For women it's anything over 35" and for men 40".

For most average people it's a good rule of thumb, but it's treating a 4'6" woman the same as a 6'2" woman.
At 6'2", having a 36" waist might be too small, and at 4'6" having a 35" waist is probably way too much intrabdominal fat.
It's the same as saying a competitive bodybuilder has to be in the green range for his height - the outliers show that it's not right for everyone.

scb515

For me, BMI is important - my original goal was to get down to just under 25. However, I'm not a super sporty person, so it's an appropriate measure for me.

Knowing I am officially a "healthy weight" keeps me focused. I want to maintain in 20 to 24.9 for the rest of my life. A lot closer to 24.9, but that's still in the right ballpark.

shawndimantha

I use BMI as a general guideline because my doctor generally puts it in my chart, but also consider body fat %, which is harder to measure. The only time I do this is at the gym with that handheld device, but then they try to get me to sign up for trainer sessions...

What other numbers motivate you?

I've looked back at my Facebook images over the past few years and it has been really motivating to me at the progress I have made, particularly my face images.

I came across some research that fairly accurately ties face images to BMI / body fat %. I'm curious what you would do if you had a tool that tracked your BMI / body fat % from analyzing at you face photos on Facebook / Instagram / etc? Would it motivate you to exercise more / eat better / focus more on weight loss?

blankiefinder

I don't worry about BMI, just how my clothes fit

7aneena

I use BMI as a general guideline because my doctor generally puts it in my chart, but also consider body fat %, which is harder to measure. The only time I do this is at the gym with that handheld device, but then they try to get me to sign up for trainer sessions...

What other numbers motivate you?

I've looked back at my Facebook images over the past few years and it has been really motivating to me at the progress I have made, particularly my face images.

I came across some research that fairly accurately ties face images to BMI / body fat %. I'm curious what you would do if you had a tool that tracked your BMI / body fat % from analyzing at you face photos on Facebook / Instagram / etc? Would it motivate you to exercise more / eat better / focus more on weight loss?

Unfortunately doctors care about BMI, did you know a plastic surgeon is ethically bound from performing surgery to anyone above BMI 29?
Another easy way that is actually linked to health risk is waist to hip ratio, I don't remember the number but I think for women risk of heart disease increases if the ration is 0.8 or above