Your take on BMI

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  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
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    Here's my take on it. The sort of people who criticise it don't need to worry about their BMI. The sort of people who get worried by it need to take heed of the numbers. There are exceptions, of course, who will reply below: ;)
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    BMI might be helpful for someone who is completely inactive and needs to see "based on a simple calculation, you are obese" in writing to be motivated to lose weight.

    It's not an accurate measure of health. Just an indicator that you, unformed public, are too massive.
  • Bakkasan
    Bakkasan Posts: 1,027 Member
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    Body fat only.
  • journalistjen
    journalistjen Posts: 265 Member
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    I agree with most people on here. BMI is not preferred. It does not paint an accurate picture of your body composition. Even if I wasn't as overweight as I am now--my BMI will never be great. I'm 6' tall, hour-glass shaped, and I have a decent amount of muscle mass. And I"m female. So if I had to depend on BMI--FML.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    BMI doesn't take my feelings into account
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I think for most people, it's a pretty good measurement. For male athletes and bodybuilders, it is not. For women, it's more often accurate since they don't build muscle like men do. It's much easier for a man to be at a healthy BF% and measure obese/overweight by BMI than for a woman.

    But it's also important to remember that it's only tool for weight, and weight is just one element of health. Even if you have a healthy BMI, it's no guarantee that you are healthy (and vice versa).
  • n0ob
    n0ob Posts: 2,390 Member
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    I like BMI threads, everyone is a massive bodybuilder

    You got a problem brah?
  • arlenem1974
    arlenem1974 Posts: 437 Member
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    at my heaviest I had a BMI of 38.2. Now its 30.2 I'm still considered Obese. I have a scale that measures fat and that says I'm 47 %. No matter what I look at I'm still Obese.
  • Molly_Maguire
    Molly_Maguire Posts: 1,103 Member
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    Depends on your muscle mass. BF% is a far better gauge.

    Agreed. I would focus mainly on bf%. I could give a flying fack for my bmi.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    I use both BMI and BF% in assesing my goals. The way I'm looking at it, I'll most likely end up on the low end of "overweight" on the BMI scale when I reach my goal, as I intend to lose fat and also build muscle. I'm targeting 180-185 at 5'10.5" with 14-17% BF. If I was just going for skinny fat, I'd need to be in the 170 Lb range to be at a "healthy weight." My current BMI is 27.8 (targeting 25.5 - 26) and my BF% is 28.48, so I have some work ahead of me.
  • darloeye
    darloeye Posts: 22
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    Not a fan of it, Can't understand why people use it still.
  • Carolyn_79
    Carolyn_79 Posts: 935 Member
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    I agree it's not accurate for those who lift and are more muscular than say the average person. On another note though, because it's gotten a bad rap in these type of situations, I know a few overweight people at my work who are in denial about being overweight claiming they're not and that BMI is BS. I think it can be a useful tool in the right situation but because it's lost some of its validity, a lot of people hide behind that and are in denial about their weight.
  • LadyZephyr
    LadyZephyr Posts: 286 Member
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    As a woman I ignore BMI - Women have a higher fat percentage, and there's the added weight of breasts, which in my case add aprox. 10 - 14 lbs. BMI is bull****.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Not a fan of it, Can't understand why people use it still.

    http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html#Why
    Why does CDC use BMI to measure overweight and obesity?
    Calculating BMI is one of the best methods for population assessment of overweight and obesity. Because calculation requires only height and weight, it is inexpensive and easy to use for clinicians and for the general public. The use of BMI allows people to compare their own weight status to that of the general population.

    What are some of the other ways to measure obesity? Why doesn't CDC use those to determine overweight and obesity among the general public?
    Other methods to measure body fatness include skinfold thickness measurements (with calipers), underwater weighing, bioelectrical impedance, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and isotope dilution. However, these methods are not always readily available, and they are either expensive or need highly trained personnel. Furthermore, many of these methods can be difficult to standardize across observers or machines, complicating comparisons across studies and time periods.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    As a woman I ignore BMI - Women have a higher fat percentage, and there's the added weight of breasts, which in my case add aprox. 10 - 14 lbs. BMI is bull****.
    Wow, nothing like making excuses to make you feel better. BMI numbers are based on population averages. You aren't the only woman on the planet that has a higher body fat percentage or breasts.

    Bottom line, unless you are a genetic outlier, or a professional athlete (which is probably about 1% of the people on this site,) BMI will be a very accurate gauge of overall health and fitness.
  • PaulW2MD
    PaulW2MD Posts: 44 Member
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    Yes!
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
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    BMI is yet another gubmint "one-size-fits-all "cure" for everything. And we all know how often they are correct.
    According to BMI 100% of NFL, NBA, and MLB players are overweight or obese. Only professional marathoners don't fall into being overweight.
    Most Army airborne are overweight according to BMI.
    At my son's last physical, the nurse didn't wait until he was standing straight to record his 6'4" height and wrote 6'3" instead. That resulted in an "overweight" BMI even though he is thin by any objective standard.
    As for me, I know I'm overweight. I have never had a problem seeing myself as overweight or fat. My problem was seeing myself as fat when I weighed 155 pounds at 6' tall.

    But fear not. The gubmint will find more ways to use BMI against us.
    New employer mandates in the name of improving workforce health will come.
    There is already a push for schools to report a child's BMI on their report cards. My sister already got a report card saying her daughter was obese even though she is not. That just gets her PO'd.
  • snowgrrl83
    snowgrrl83 Posts: 242 Member
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    I'm going to put my 2 cents here.
    People are so blinded by our society, where 60%+ adult population is considered overweight or obese that they think that the overweight look is the "healthy" look.
    What are you, blind? Why is it that someone with a BMI of 21 is considered "too skinny"?

    BMI is accurate for 95%+ of the population... WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
    Stop denying it, you're FAT unless you're a bodybuilder.

    If you're a man with "a bit more muscle" or a woman that has "bigger boobs", and you're BMI is overweight and/or obese, you are what the BMI says you are! Its not lying to you, you aren't at a "healthy" weight, so stop lying to yourself. YOU ARE NOT THE EXCEPTION - you just think you are, because you're so used to seeing fat people around you.

    Now, at the other spectrum of the scale, (and feel free to look this up in all scientific litterature), if you are considered underweight, the BMI scale is even more accurate since the skinnier you are the less bodyfat/muscle you have and the less arbitrary this becomes.

    and no, there is no such thing as being "big boned". Now, stop lying to yourself.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    BMI is yet another gubmint "one-size-fits-all "cure" for everything. And we all know how often they are correct.
    According to BMI 100% of NFL, NBA, and MLB players are overweight or obese. Only professional marathoners don't fall into being overweight.
    Most Army airborne are overweight according to BMI.
    At my son's last physical, the nurse didn't wait until he was standing straight to record his 6'4" height and wrote 6'3" instead. That resulted in an "overweight" BMI even though he is thin by any objective standard.
    As for me, I know I'm overweight. I have never had a problem seeing myself as overweight or fat. My problem was seeing myself as fat when I weighed 155 pounds at 6' tall.

    But fear not. The gubmint will find more ways to use BMI against us.
    New employer mandates in the name of improving workforce health will come.
    There is already a push for schools to report a child's BMI on their report cards. My sister already got a report card saying her daughter was obese even though she is not. That just gets her PO'd.
    BMI is not a government initiative. It's a 200 year old scientific classification.
  • InnerFatGirl
    InnerFatGirl Posts: 2,687 Member
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    Depends on your muscle mass. I don't have much and I don't lift so I know my 159lbs for my 5'5" is overweight, and my 196lbs was definitely obese.

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