BMI?

spreag
spreag Posts: 47 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
what is everyone's obsession with their BMI? it literally means nothing to me.
For example a person who may be the most overweight and unhealthy person could have a BMI of 28 or whatever and another person who perhaps is a Rugby player, has a lot of muscle mass, eats the healthiest of diets and is all round a fit person could also have a BMI of 28.

i feel people should stop getting so wound up about a calculator on their computer screen. go see a doctor and they can work out a proper BMI by taking fat pinches and a serious of tests to give you a reliable set of answers and results.

BMI means nothing, unless you know you are extremely unhealthy and have a BMI of something like 40 haha, this is in my opinion.

rant over (:

Replies

  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    Uh, this is a weight loss/health site. BMI is just another tool to use to monitor your health. Don't really know why you would get so upset over what someone else is doing. Plus, why laugh (ha ha) at someone's BMI being over 40. I'm sure there are many here who have that number. Carry on.
  • Arrabindi
    Arrabindi Posts: 169 Member
    Of course BMI is far from perfect, but it's used a lot in society for statistical purposes, and even though it's not the best indicator for every individual, it's not a bad tool. Different body types are already accounted for in that the "healthy bmi" is a range and not an exact number.
    For each person, the body fat % is a better health indicator, but it is more complicated to measure, so BMI is used as sort of a health estimate.
  • Aquarian
    Aquarian Posts: 1,094 Member
    I don't see what you are so upset about. BMI is an indicator of our health, and the disclaimer clearly states that if we have a lot of muscle, our BMI values may not truly reflect our health. If you don't want to use it, then don't. Why rant about others doing something perfectly normal?
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    I wouldn't say it means nothing. It's certainly a blunt tool, that's better applied to populations than individuals. The people that should disregard it the most are probably those who are heavy, but have a low fat percentage. They may come out as overweight or obese on the BMI, but without the increased health risks. For people who aren't very muscular, BMI is a more useful health indicator. (A doctor working out a "proper" BMI, by the way, would still just use height and weight; that's how it works.)

    I agree though that it doesn't tell the whole story and should be used in conjunction with other measurements like body fat percentage and waist/height ratio.
  • spreag
    spreag Posts: 47 Member
    omg people are so rude on here. i'm not saying that my life revolves around how other people care about BMI..jeez.

    im just saying its annoying to see people live by it..
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    omg people are so rude on here. i'm not saying that my life revolves around how other people care about BMI..jeez.

    im just saying its annoying to see people live by it..

    Who has been rude in this thread? :huh:
  • spreag
    spreag Posts: 47 Member
    i have not been rude, I am just saying that I don't think people should be so wrapped up by BMI.

    this site is ridiculous

    also, i was not laughing at people over a bmi of 40.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    It has been criticized from a measurement perspective because muscle is healthy and fat isn't. People like my husband (who is a little overweight) but has a LOT of muscle on him and VERY DENSE bone mass from exercise looks obese according to BMI. Johnny Depp is obese according to BMI, as are many distance runners.

    But for a lot of people it's useful because it makes meaningful predictions (at the population level) of people at risk for different types of health problems.

    FROM A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE: It was designed as a measure of population risk and was not supposed to be used to assess individual risk.

    But I'm still happy to have gotten into the healthy BMI range.
  • SusanLovesToEat
    SusanLovesToEat Posts: 213 Member
    It has been criticized from a measurement perspective because muscle is healthy and fat isn't. People like my husband (who is a little overweight) but has a LOT of muscle on him and VERY DENSE bone mass from exercise looks obese according to BMI. Johnny Depp is obese according to BMI, as are many distance runners.

    But for a lot of people it's useful because it makes meaningful predictions (at the population level) of people at risk for different types of health problems.

    FROM A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE: It was designed as a measure of population risk and was not supposed to be used to assess individual risk.

    But I'm still happy to have gotten into the healthy BMI range.

    Totally agree! I know my BMI is incorrect ( I don't have access to a proper measurement) but certainly not by much. BUT I was over the moon when it went from obese to merely fat! Just another NSV for me...:bigsmile:
  • stagknight
    stagknight Posts: 130 Member
    My problem with BMI is when it is applied to normal young children, who are fit, run round and are by no means overweight. To send out a letter to parents of a 4 or 5 year old child saying they are obese is ridiculous.

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