BMI is a lie

wendybird5

Found this article from 2009 about what BMI was originally intended for versus its current use:

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2009/07/beyond_bmi.html

"[Ancel Keys - creator of the BMI] had never intended for the BMI to be used in this way. His original paper warned against using the body mass index for individual diagnoses, since the equation ignores variables like a patient's gender or age, which affect how BMI relates to health. It's one thing to estimate the average percent body fat for large groups with diverse builds, Keys argued, but quite another to slap a number and label on someone without regard for these factors."

Use your body fat percentage instead to determine a more appropriate goal weight.

ErikasOperation150

I have always wonder about this, thank you for sharing.

csheltra26

Great post - and very truthful. I work with a gal who is clearly in great shape, pretty muscular naturally. She was told by the nurses she was Obese according to the BMI chart - she could maybe lose 10 pounds but Obese? Phooey to that...

kbodnaruk

at my last GYN appointment my nurse told me I was morbidly obese - needless to say after a mild verbal discussion I left crying. I knew I was fat, I knew they had written on my OB chart to have my baby that I was Obese but I had just had a baby 3 months earlier and was trying to adjust and then she throws in the MORBIDLY obese part - which just tore at my heart strings. Now I am determined to lose weight so when I go back to see her I can think in my mind (not my mouth) that she is the fat one....not me!

bcattoes

BMI is a population based measurement, and measures weight only, not health. But, while muscular men with low BF may register as overweight by BMI, it is rare for women to have an unhealthy BMI and a healthy BF%.

Though even if your BMI is healthy, if your waist circumference is too high you can still have increased risk of disease.

firstsip

The cake is a lie.

RunDoozer

BMI is a population based measurement, and measures weight only, not health. But, while muscular men with low BF may register as overweight by BMI, it is rare for women to have an unhealthy BMI and a healthy BF%.

Though even if your BMI is healthy, if your waist circumference is too high you can still have increased risk of disease.

This. Even when I'm at my goal weight I am still considered obese. It doesn't take body composition into account.

Jacwhite22

BMI makes me cry myself to sleep every night.

whierd

As the article touches on, BMI is a metric best suited for estimating the waistlines of an entire population. When applied to the individual, it fails miserably because it doesn't take into account frame type, lean muscle mass, or bodyfat percentage. It is awful that doctors and insurance companies use such a flawed methodology.

Jersey_Devil

i hardly look at the scale and BMI. I mostly go by body fat%. BMI doesn't take into account water weight, how much of your weight is muscle, fat, etc...

nguk123

On the other hand, BMI statistics have been gathered for segmented populations, i.e. male , female, different age brackets.
Did the author know that ?

Jxnsmma

What is the ideal range on body fat%?

kristen6022

It's not a lie. Unless you have a large amount of muscle mass and a very low BF%, BMI is a good range of weight we should be in. My range is 135-179 for normal. I'm 147 and happy as a clam with how I look and my blood test numbers are fantastic. Better than the average 21 year. I think it's a good indicator of where you should be if you are the average person. I think BF is a better indicator - but unless you are able to test that accurately, BMI is easier since everyone has access to scales.

CortneyHicks20

Yep.... I'm 5'9" 215lbs and pretty healthy. But my BMI says i'm obese!!!

Mokey41

BMI isn't accurate for everyone, some people are more muscular and it throws it off but for the average population there aren't that many special snowflakes out there that it isn't at least an indication of where you fall in line with the general population. No one wants to hear that they're obese or morbidly obese but BMI isn't so far off that it should be completely disregarded. Our perceptions of our size and body composition are often very skewed from what the world really sees. My favourite statement is "I carry my weight well".

i64X

The cake is a lie.

Awesome. :-)

bcattoes

There is no one single test to measure healthy weight. BF% alone can be just as bad on an individual basis.

Just as a healthy muscular man with low BF% may register as obese BMI, an sickly anorexic woman with an unhealthily low BMI may have a BF% of an athlete.

farsteve

I think I read somewhere that most of the running backs in the NFL are obese based solely on BMI.

iowachapman

There are alot of healthy looking people posting on this topic, my doc recently just said I am morbid obese, granted I realize I am not slim jim, but I find it odd that I can do 1 mile jog in 9 minute 20 seconds, typically do 3.1 miles in 33 minutes, with a best of 28 minutes. Not too shabby for someone who is morbid obese in my opinion. The BMI is horribly jacked, my arms, shoulders, legs show no fat, only around my torso and my waist is 40, neck 18, even when I got down to 207 my waist was 40, neck was 17. There is a Navy calculator that would probably be more accurate as it takes into account age, waist neck for me and then also hips for women. Seems many doctors are stuck on old school mentality of looking at just a scale vs getting more factual data.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm

simonbeal11

BMI is a joke. I am 5'10 and I have recently got my weight down from 230lbs to 207 lbs and I felt well.
I have to starve to get to 196lbs. According to BMI I should weigh between 126lbs-146lbs.
I last weighed the bottom figure when I was about 12 years old.

bcattoes

BMI is a joke. I am 5'10 and I have recently got my weight down from 230lbs to 207 lbs and I felt well.
I have to starve to get to 196lbs. According to BMI I should weigh between 126lbs-146lbs.
I last weighed the bottom figure when I was about 12 years old.

How you feel has nothing to do with whether your weight is the healthy range. Statistically you are at an increased risk of disease at your current weight.

iowachapman

Need to make it clear ones weight is not always a indicator of ones health, there are thin people at perfect weight who have WAY HIGH cholesterol and blood pressure, and they do no exercise and eat out all the time.

Just like recently the diabetic foundation wanted to have diabetics with a A1C under 6, so the docs were shoving more and more meds at the patients trying to push their A1C numbers down, what they found was that do to over medicating the side affects were causing MORE damage than the benefit of trying to force down glucose levels under 6. So they changed that rule to say that a A1C of 6 is good and doctors would stop pushing more drugs onto the patients that were having other adverse side affects.

I rarely get colds, and very very rarely do I get the flu, i refuse to take the flu shot... so how does my health equate to bad yet there are thin healthy people who get sick all the time and get the flu year after year.. those are not all indicators but again dont judge ones health based on their weight, my wife's grandmother is severely obese and is in her 90s and she diabetic to boot.. she still can walk around. This doesnt mean we should not care about weight, just means heavy does not equate to horrible health.