Do BMI's seem unrealistic to anyone else?

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  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    I was considered overweight according to BMI in this pic.. BMI is not only a joke but dangerous!! I have seen countless teenage girls on here posting about trying to get under 110-115 lbs because thats where BMI says they should be and they dont have another once of fat to lose looking at their pics.

    88548413.jpg

    many teenage girls SHOULD be 110-115 or below... my girlfriend is 5'2, 27 years old, and still around 110. and that's healthy for her

    *facepalm* Oh yaaaaaaay... a person who knows what teenage and full grown people SHOULD weigh based on nothing but a couple of stats. :noway:

    Fixed it.

    But he called me "hun," so I say have at him anyway.

    yeah that's fair. i have no idea why i did that. i've never called someone hun in my life... nor would i in the demeaning way I did earlier...

    oh the internet... makes us be stupid sometimes. sorry 'bout that.

    'sokay. I got you back like 5 times by now.
  • kcaffee1
    kcaffee1 Posts: 759 Member
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    For some, BMI is completely unrealistic. I am one of those individuals. When I get to around my goal weight, I actually look like I'm in the low to mid 100's but actually weigh in in the mid 200's. This is because of the VERY large bone frame, and dense bone structure. I also tend to have very dense muscles when I'm anywhere close to "in shape", but if I take the measurements for the hip-to-waist ratio along with my actual weight, I always come out well into the mid range, if not top end of over weight. I dread to think what I would look like if I were to actually get down to the "recommended" BMI weight of 160! I, personally, do not think that the anorexic look is a good look for me.

    Every one of these posts is identical. Its pretty indicative of our culture... the self-delusion is incredible.

    I did not say that the BMI was unrealistic for everyone, just for myself. For some (maybe for even most) this is a nice target to shoot at. I do remember my stats when I was at this weight, and my LBM was well down into the healthy ranges. But, when I say dense muscle and large bone structure, I mean just that. Most times, to even get CLOSE to an accurate reading on BMI (according to at least 2 other doctors who have checked) my measurements have to be compared to the MALE BMI table. I was not trying to fan the flames, just stating that the BMI charts are not always the best choice for everyone.

    Right now, I know that I am so far into the obese cagegory on BMI, there IS no reading for it, except "DANGER". But, that's why I'm working on pulling down the over wall weight, and not focusing on BMI. I actually find it personally funny to get a BMI reading, because of where I know my lower limits are. (Granted, if I've lost some of the muscle density due to being a lard butt, instead of an active farmer's child, it may be more accurate. So I'm also NOT ruling it out. I'll be able to tell better when I get closer to goal.)
  • mixedfeelings
    mixedfeelings Posts: 904 Member
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    I was in the same boat as you many years ago. 168lbs would take me in the normal range I actually got down to 144lbs which was in the mid range for my height but I looked awful and scrawny, since then I haven't been that reliant on bmi, I just aim to be just in the normal range now.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
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    Well this is a very long thread, so I honestly didn't take the time to read all the posts, but skimming through them there's one thing that I didn't see mentioned: BMI is a statistical tool used for measuring populations and was NEVER intended to be used for judging individuals. The fact that it's commonly used as such is an incorrect use of the tool. You can argue all day about whether it's correct for you or not, but comparing individuals to this standard and making clinical judgements about them based on this number is not only wrong, it's irresponsible.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    95% of the time, smack dab in the middle of the BMI range is a good place to be for an individual.

    I'm small boned, and have a BMI of 18.5, which is slightly underweight. However, I eat over 2000 calories a day, and the doc says I'm healthy as an ox.
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
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    Every one of these posts is identical. Its pretty indicative of our culture... the self-delusion is incredible.

    I so gotta agree with this. Sure, there might be some very few special snowflakes out there that indeed are big boned. However, chances are, you are not one of them. I even saw a couple of posts in another thread where a woman stated she would feel underweight if she were under 200 lbs.

    Sorry, but no.
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    Just for the sake of not leaving any loose threads (aheheh), I calculated my waist to HEIGHT ratio, and it is also in the healthy range.

    Good for me! I am a statistically healthy individual. :P
  • PaleoChocolateBear
    PaleoChocolateBear Posts: 2,844 Member
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    I think they are really inaccurate I just made a thread about that as well
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
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    Just for the sake of not leaving any loose threads (aheheh), I calculated my waist to HEIGHT ratio, and it is also in the healthy range.

    Good for me! I am a statistically healthy individual. :P

    haha awesome!
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    I have a 63% BMI.
    I'd like to not believe in it........
  • jess6741
    jess6741 Posts: 107 Member
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    I find it really interesting that people seem to be so lax when it comes to being overweight or in the obese category but if someone mentions being at the low end of BMI they get a lot of criticism. I have had people jump down my throat for wanting to lose weight (not on this site but on other calorie counting sites). I'm 5'1.5 and 105 pounds. I'm really small framed so being at the low end of the BMI is perfectly fine for me.
  • tlatrice13
    tlatrice13 Posts: 162 Member
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    My son's school nurse and doctor both say that my son is overweight. This is based solely on his BMI. They say "Well, he doesn't look 'fat' because he's tall." He's 5'6" 147 pounds. The thing is, he has a perfectly flat stomach and wears size 32-34 pants. I just can't see where he's overweight. She says he should weigh 130 pounds. But when he sucks in his stomach you can see the bottom of his rib cage. So I guess I gotta put my kid on a diet. :-(
  • bring7
    bring7 Posts: 13
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    My profile pic is me at 185 which by BMI was overweight for a 43 year old 6'0" male. I don't lift so it's not like I'm packed with muscle to make me overweight and I really don't think I look that bad. The kicker about BMI is that I could drop 50 pounds and still be "normal". That body, minus 50 pounds is not normal, it's emaciated. I think whoever it was that posted that BMI was never meant for what we are using it for was 100% right on.
  • charliemarie923
    charliemarie923 Posts: 275 Member
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    Every one of these posts is identical. Its pretty indicative of our culture... the self-delusion is incredible.

    I so gotta agree with this. Sure, there might be some very few special snowflakes out there that indeed are big boned. However, chances are, you are not one of them. I even saw a couple of posts in another thread where a woman stated she would feel underweight if she were under 200 lbs.

    Sorry, but no.


    This ^^^^
  • bluebear_74
    bluebear_74 Posts: 179
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    I think it works for most people. The only cases would be people with lots of muscle, which most people aren't. I was so happy when I was finally in the "normal" category recently.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    I'd recommend that anyone who thinks a healthy BMI is unrealistic get their body fat percentage tested before saying it's not accurate. "A lot of muscle" with fat on top of it is still unhealthy, you know? I am pretty strong (as a 5'4" woman, I routinely lift full size metal beer kegs at work) yet I know I look overweight at the top of my healthy BMI. I'm currently trying to get to the bottom of mine.

    Body fat percentage will tell you a lot and probably give a reality check...because unless you're a professional athlete or very dedicated weight lifter, you probably do not have that much muscle and that little fat.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
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    My son's school nurse and doctor both say that my son is overweight. This is based solely on his BMI. They say "Well, he doesn't look 'fat' because he's tall." He's 5'6" 147 pounds. The thing is, he has a perfectly flat stomach and wears size 32-34 pants. I just can't see where he's overweight. She says he should weigh 130 pounds. But when he sucks in his stomach you can see the bottom of his rib cage. So I guess I gotta put my kid on a diet. :-(

    50% of parents of overweight kids don't believe their kids are overweight: http://www.naturalnews.com/039512_children_obesity_parents.html

    I'm 5'7" and 132 pounds at 26 years old... is he extremely overweight? no... but... a lil bit.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    People weren't weight-lifting back in the 1800s. I would look skinny at 5'8" 162 lbs 8% body fat. I'll gladly be in between the obese and morbidly obese range and weigh 185 to 190 lbs.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
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    People weren't weight-lifting back in the 1800s. I would look skinny at 5'8" 162 lbs 8% body fat. I'll gladly be in between the obese and morbidly obese range and weigh 185 to 190 lbs.

    fair. but i've never seen an 80, 90, 100 year old who's ripped. :wink:
  • charliemarie923
    charliemarie923 Posts: 275 Member
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    Dont all shout at me...
    How do you know what your body fat % is?
    I have had several sites ask me for this info before anything else and i just have no clue...

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