THE BMI

Iceprincessk25

I see a lot of people on here get really choked over what their BMI is and totally negate the amazing successes that they have done in getting healthy. THe BMI kind of reminds me of the scale.......THE DEVIL. :bigsmile:

The BMI was created in the 1800's by a Belgian polymath named Adolphe Quetelet. My beef with the BMI is that it does not take into account age, gender, or muscle mass. Nor does it distinguish between lean body mass and fat mass. I have had some students in my sports medicine classes that are heavily muscled athletes and according to the BMI they are overweight/obese when they clearly are not. It drives me insane.

It is not the end all be all of your health. It's just a simple and QUICK tool. It is not a diagnostic tool nor is it the gold standard of determining your overall health. You should take in a number of things to fully evaluate your health risks such as measurements of body fat percentage, diet history, exercise patterns, and family history. The the number is good to know but don't let it rule over everything.

Iceprincessk25

I see a lot of people on here get really choked over what their BMI is and totally negate the amazing successes that they have done in getting healthy. THe BMI kind of reminds me of the scale.......THE DEVIL. :bigsmile:

The BMI was created in the 1800's by a Belgian polymath named Adolphe Quetelet. My beef with the BMI is that it does not take into account age, gender, or muscle mass. Nor does it distinguish between lean body mass and fat mass. I have had some students in my sports medicine classes that are heavily muscled athletes and according to the BMI they are overweight/obese when they clearly are not. It drives me insane.

It is not the end all be all of your health. It's just a simple and QUICK tool. It is not a diagnostic tool nor is it the gold standard of determining your overall health. You should take in a number of things to fully evaluate your health risks such as measurements of body fat percentage, diet history, exercise patterns, and family history. The the number is good to know but don't let it rule over everything.

Dave198lbs

whenever I see BMI
my finely tuned brain says
bowel movement international

I could care less about BMI....if I listened to only that...then I weigh too much
it doesnt ask how many pull ups I can do or how many push ups I can do or anything real

scrap it I say

boom

done

mszSHOGAN

Well said! :drinker:

Nich0le

My feeling is that you will know when you are at a healthy weight when you feel healthy. As a bonus you will most likely look healthy too

Iceprincessk25

Just today I saw a post from someone on MFP and she was distraught over her BMI saying she was still overweight when she has lost some ridiculously HUGE amout of weight. She should be SOOOO proud of herself for that feat. Not upset.

The look on my female softball high school students face when she calculated her BMI and saw that it said she was overweight broke my heart. It just makes me mad.

Iceprincessk25

whenever I see BMI
my finely tuned brain says
bowel movement international

I could care less about BMI....if I listened to only that...then I weigh too much
it doesnt ask how many pull ups I can do or how many push ups I can do or anything real

scrap it I say

boom

done

Not everyone has your evolved brain Dave.

LuckyLeprechaun

Just today I saw a post from someone on MFP and she was distraught over her BMI saying she was still overweight when she has lost some ridiculously HUGE amout of weight. She should be SOOOO proud of herself for that feat. Not upset.

but being upset gains more attention

Frost

My friend TJ loads soda cases on pallets filling orders for one of the big soda companies. She has biceps that would mak Arnold Schwarzeneger look twice. She got on our WiiFit and according to her BMI she's over weight. She is so buff. She really has no weight to lose. I think the BMI scale can be harmful.

msarro

BMI is sooo yesterday.
VO2MAX is where its at. Get that up to the 95th percentile and you could weigh 800 lbs and still be the healthiest person alive.

Frost

Just today I saw a post from someone on MFP and she was distraught over her BMI saying she was still overweight when she has lost some ridiculously HUGE amout of weight. She should be SOOOO proud of herself for that feat. Not upset.

but being upset gains more attention

:laugh: Oh no you didn't! :laugh:

Iceprincessk25

My friend TJ loads soda cases on pallets filling orders for one of the big soda companies. She has biceps that would mak Arnold Schwarzeneger look twice. She got on our WiiFit and according to her BMI she's over weight. She is so buff. She really has no weight to lose. I think the BMI scale can be harmful.

That is exactly what I am talking about.

Dave198lbs

whenever I see BMI
my finely tuned brain says
bowel movement international

I could care less about BMI....if I listened to only that...then I weigh too much
it doesnt ask how many pull ups I can do or how many push ups I can do or anything real

scrap it I say

boom

done

Not everyone has your evolved brain Dave.

give me a week more

LuckyLeprechaun

Just today I saw a post from someone on MFP and she was distraught over her BMI saying she was still overweight when she has lost some ridiculously HUGE amout of weight. She should be SOOOO proud of herself for that feat. Not upset.

but being upset gains more attention

:laugh: Oh no you didn't! :laugh:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

SHBoss1673

BMI has it's place, you're right, it's not for the athletic build, nor is it even remotely accurate for the pregnant. But for the obese, it is a good way to generally track progress. I stress though, that it shouldn't be the ONLY way you track progress, it should be one of a few that you use.

I find Body Fat % to be a much more usable number. No matter what you weigh, get your body fat down to a decent level, and you'll be doing ok.

VO2 Max is good too, but it's difficult to get accurately, and for those who don't push themselves aerobically, it won't change very much until you start to exercise with a little more vigor.

A combination of BMI, the scale (over the long term), Body Fat %, body fat to lean tissue ratio, size measurements, and general feeling of health should all be used when measuring your health. Without using a variety of tools, you can fall into the trap of obsessing over the wrong things.

Iceprincessk25

BMI has it's place, you're right, it's not for the athletic build, nor is it even remotely accurate for the pregnant. But for the obese, it is a good way to generally track progress. I stress though, that it shouldn't be the ONLY way you track progress, it should be one of a few that you use.

I find Body Fat % to be a much more usable number. No matter what you weigh, get your body fat down to a decent level, and you'll be doing ok.

VO2 Max is good too, but it's difficult to get accurately, and for those who don't push themselves aerobically, it won't change very much until you start to exercise with a little more vigor.

A combination of BMI, the scale (over the long term), Body Fat %, body fat to lean tissue ratio, size measurements, and general feeling of health should all be used when measuring your health. Without using a variety of tools, you can fall into the trap of obsessing over the wrong things.

WORD!!! :drinker:

korenac

Here is the flip side to this BMI conundrum. I'm 5' 10" and when I started MFP, I weighed 170 which is still within a 'healthy' BMI range. However, two weeks ago, when I had a body composition done by a to reveal my fat percentage, muscle percentage, etc., it turns out that I'm 37% fat which is outside of the healthy range. Does that make me a skinny fat girl?

And what exactly does that say about the BMI? I think some of the comments on this topic by other MFP members have been correct. BMI is only a facet of the whole weight/weight loss/overall physical health picture.

Iceprincessk25

They're findings of people that LOOK skinny but are actually on the high side of body fat %. Totally possible.

Dave198lbs

Here is the flip side to this BMI conundrum. I'm 5' 10" and when I started MFP, I weighed 170 which is still within a 'healthy' BMI range. However, two weeks ago, when I had a body composition done by a to reveal my fat percentage, muscle percentage, etc., it turns out that I'm 37% fat which is outside of the healthy range. Does that make me a skinny fat girl?

And what exactly does that say about the BMI? I think some of the comments on this topic by other MFP members have been correct. BMI is only a facet of the whole weight/weight loss/overall physical health picture.

I am tellin ya

SCRAP BMI

DUMP IT

BOOM

DONE

BMI is worhtless in the real world....its for books and crap tv diets to scare people

am I clear on my position LOL

Iceprincessk25

Here is the flip side to this BMI conundrum. I'm 5' 10" and when I started MFP, I weighed 170 which is still within a 'healthy' BMI range. However, two weeks ago, when I had a body composition done by a to reveal my fat percentage, muscle percentage, etc., it turns out that I'm 37% fat which is outside of the healthy range. Does that make me a skinny fat girl?

And what exactly does that say about the BMI? I think some of the comments on this topic by other MFP members have been correct. BMI is only a facet of the whole weight/weight loss/overall physical health picture.

I am tellin ya

SCRAP BMI

DUMP IT

BOOM

DONE

BMI is worhtless in the real world....its for books and crap tv diets to scare people

am I clear on my position LOL

Yeah know.....we spent 20 billion pages on your little rant about people whinning about over eating. Quit trying to stomp out mine!!! :bigsmile:

SHBoss1673

Here is the flip side to this BMI conundrum. I'm 5' 10" and when I started MFP, I weighed 170 which is still within a 'healthy' BMI range. However, two weeks ago, when I had a body composition done by a to reveal my fat percentage, muscle percentage, etc., it turns out that I'm 37% fat which is outside of the healthy range. Does that make me a skinny fat girl?

And what exactly does that say about the BMI? I think some of the comments on this topic by other MFP members have been correct. BMI is only a facet of the whole weight/weight loss/overall physical health picture.

I am tellin ya

SCRAP BMI

DUMP IT

BOOM

DONE

BMI is worhtless in the real world....its for books and crap tv diets to scare people

am I clear on my position LOL

Clear? Sure, but you're wrong Dave, sorry guy, you are. BMI has real world applications, it's a misunderstood statistic, people use it too much, but that doesn't mean it's worthless. It's like the win loss record for pitchers in baseball, doesn't mean as much in the abstract because you can win 13 to 10 but if you just look at win/loss, it looks good. All I'm saying is, if you understand WHAT BMI is, and what it's measuring, then you can apply it to real world situations as a tool. Not THE tool, but one of many.

Give you a good example.
For someone with no other medical conditions who is obese or morbidly obese, and has a height in the average range, and who wasn't someone with an overly high amount of muscle in their teens and 20's, you can use BMI as a general guideline for how big of a calorie deficit your body can sustain. This is a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule, but it works pretty well, and as they traverse the BMI range, this guideline can be a great way of staying within a range of calories, it's a starting point, not a goal.

singfree

What is the end game for most people? Looking good naked or in their "skinny" jeans or bikini. If you eat well and exercise, then just look in the mirror. Like what you see? Good. Keep going! I have too many friends who are slaves to the scale and BMI. It is only a source of frustration for them. I try to reason with them, but to no avail.

Violet_Mist

I don't pay attention to my BMI. I am going to go by how I want to look and feel and what size clothing I fit into. If my BMI doesn't like it, tough!