BMI - how much do you depend on your BMI #

Yooperm35
Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My BMI at 5'2" is 25.29 putting me at 'overweight'. I wear a size 0-4 jeans depending on the brand.
My picture from this morning-

27EF8C7E-D60A-44B3-97A5-FD86309DC836-20992-000010854DDC1394.jpg

Do you think the BMI is a good indication of a healthy weight? I know I have a muffin - top I'm working on it, but what do you think about the standards for the BMI?
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Replies

  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
    BMI is flawed, it doesn't take into account the amount of lean muscle mass you have. A better measurement to look at would be your body fat %.
  • chasetwins
    chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
    BMI is flawed, it doesn't take into account the amount of lean muscle mass you have. A better measurement to look at would be your body fat %.

    I agree!!! Years ago I had lost weight to what I and everyone else thought was..Perfect.. do not lose any more. In fact I was told if I lost more I would look ill however the BMI STILL said I was over weight!!! :/

    Go by body fat % and screw the BMI tables!

    PS
    You look great!!!! :)
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
    BMI is flawed, it doesn't take into account the amount of lean muscle mass you have. A better measurement to look at would be your body fat %.

    Is there a calculator to figure out body fat % ?
  • palmerar
    palmerar Posts: 489 Member
    Best way is to get it measured is professionally but I think you can buy calipers at either GNC or I'm sure amazon just make sure they come with directions.
  • ZyheeMoongazer
    ZyheeMoongazer Posts: 343 Member
    Best way is to get it measured is professionally but I think you can buy calipers at either GNC or I'm sure amazon just make sure they come with directions.

    Agree there are online calculators that ask for your measurements and will give a % but they are highly inaccurate. Calipers are the most accurate, but that accuracy is dependent on the person completing the measurement. A personal trainer should be able to do this correctly for you. The option I use is a body composition scale at my gym. It has some degree of error, but is the most accurate method I have available to me.
  • wibutterflymagic
    wibutterflymagic Posts: 788 Member
    BMI is crap.

    In my opinion, it's because of the BMI charts that people have eating disorders. They are so obsessed with a random # that they can't see with their own eyes that their body looks good.
  • tom_olech
    tom_olech Posts: 139 Member
    BMI is flawed, it doesn't take into account the amount of lean muscle mass you have. A better measurement to look at would be your body fat %.

    Is there a calculator to figure out body fat % ?

    Yup, you just need to have one of two things measured, either the circumference for certain body parts (rough measurement for body fat) or the thickness of skinfolds on ceratin body areas (more accurate)....the gold standard for determining body fat % is to go into a clinic and measure your total oxygen use relative to you weight and height; muscle burns oxygen, fat does not, so from this you can figure out which tissue is muscle and which is fat
  • tom_olech
    tom_olech Posts: 139 Member
    Oh ya, and if you lift weights like me, then BMI is pretty much useless
  • Illona88
    Illona88 Posts: 903 Member
    I use it as a guideline for my goal weight, but will redetermine when I get close to it.
    BMI is very inaccurate, so wouldn't put too much weight on it (pardon the pun).

    Bodyfat % is better, but not everyone has a way of measuring it, so BMI could be good as a vague guideline.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    no.no. just no. bmi is almost as useful as a poke in the eye. When I have a great amount of muscle, and lean, it's going to say I'm overweight. Even if I'm not lean, just look average sized and healthy, it's always going to say I am overweight, when I know I'm not, and feel awesome. It's no more useful than a stack of stats of dead people, which is what it literally was based on many many decades ago.
  • HappilySingle
    HappilySingle Posts: 149 Member
    I don't beleive in BMI. I once was watching a show on eating disorders. They gave the height and weight of the girl who was aneroxic. I looked up her BMI and it put her at slightly overweight!!!
  • paulbuxton
    paulbuxton Posts: 12 Member
    Ignore the BMI, it was never intended to be used by an individual to assess their fitness. It was intended to be used in measuring for a population.

    Based on BMI I will be considered overweight until I get down to 10% bodyfat, and I am not particularly muscular!

    Bodyfat is a better measure, you could also use waist to height ratio, or just look in the mirror!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    BMI is only flawed if you have a lot of lean muscle mass (athletes or body builders) or don't want to believe what it tells you. It's based on a weight to height ratio and your risk of health issues because of that. If you're BMI is overweight then you're carrying too much weight somewhere.

    We got into this discussion last week. It's not how you perceive that you look, it's based on medical issues. You may think you look great at a higher BMI but you will still present with higher health risks because of your weight.
  • turkeyhunter60
    turkeyhunter60 Posts: 319 Member
    Best way is to get it measured is professionally but I think you can buy calipers at either GNC or I'm sure amazon just make sure they come with directions.

    Agree there are online calculators that ask for your measurements and will give a % but they are highly inaccurate. Calipers are the most accurate, but that accuracy is dependent on the person completing the measurement. A personal trainer should be able to do this correctly for you. The option I use is a body composition scale at my gym. It has some degree of error, but is the most accurate method I have available to me.
    this
  • FireEngineRedHead
    FireEngineRedHead Posts: 281 Member
    BMI: 25.2 - very slightly overweight
    (pulse reader thingy)BF%: 28.3% - "average"
    (online calculator)BF% - 28.1% - average

    I perfer BF%, for obvious reasons.

    EDIT:
    I used this site for my BF%. Seems close to accurate for everyone I've tried
    http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm
  • Nutella91
    Nutella91 Posts: 624 Member
    my bmi from 2 months ago put me into severely underweight category. i didn't look underweight.
  • GeoJenna223
    GeoJenna223 Posts: 68 Member
    Don't use BMI, even as a rough indicator. As others have said, it is meant to categorize a population, not an individual.

    At 5'4 and 180 I am at a 30.9 BMI, which still has me categorized as obese.
    My measurements are: 36" B, 31"W, 46"H.
    BF% Calculated with calipers: 28%
    I wear a size 8-10 dress and a size 12 pant
    I would definitely categorize myself as overweight, but not obese.

    You also can't trust BF% calculators. Inputting my B/W/H and neck measurements, my body fat % ranges from a (-3.86%) to 86% depending on the algorithm.

    Better health indicators are your blood pressure, resting heart rate and body fat percentage (measured professionally if possible)
  • diodelcibo
    diodelcibo Posts: 2,564 Member
    My BMI is 31.1... seems totally legit.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    I don't depend on it AT ALL. I do weigh myself once a month, but monitor my body fat and measure myself twice a month. I have 26% body fat and a 28 inch waist (36 chest, 36 hips) -- I am 5'3, 150 pounds making me overweight, but I am in perfect health and wear an 8-10, which is fine with me.

    If you look at the BMI, all that tells you is I need to lose 13 pounds. When I was younger and not ever working out, I weighed 140 pounds -- I wore the same size pants as I do not and my waist was only half an inch smaller -- my body fat was 31%. I was only 3 pounds over the healthy BMI range -- I can tell you for certain I look 100% better now than then.

    I am definitely NOT saying I gained 10 pounds of muscle or anything (I had a baby and that gave me some bigger boobs) -- but my whole body is tighter and I do see definition in my legs, chest, and shoulders when I couldn't previously. I am much better physical shape now in terms of appearance AND fitness.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    My BMI is 31.1... seems totally legit.

    Just because being ripped looks good doesn't mean you're not also at elevated risk for certain diseases compared to someone with a healthy BMI.
  • floodedlungs
    floodedlungs Posts: 22
    I know that BMI isn't always accurate but I do pay quite a lot of attention to it - possibly too much. I'm trying to just focus on how my body looks.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Ignore the BMI, it was never intended to be used by an individual to assess their fitness. It was intended to be used in measuring for a population.

    Based on BMI I will be considered overweight until I get down to 10% bodyfat, and I am not particularly muscular!

    Bodyfat is a better measure, you could also use waist to height ratio, or just look in the mirror!

    This. I'll use it as another reason to hate epidemiology...
  • paulbuxton
    paulbuxton Posts: 12 Member
    BMI is only flawed if you have a lot of lean muscle mass (athletes or body builders) or don't want to believe what it tells you. It's based on a weight to height ratio and your risk of health issues because of that. If you're BMI is overweight then you're carrying too much weight somewhere.

    We got into this discussion last week. It's not how you perceive that you look, it's based on medical issues. You may think you look great at a higher BMI but you will still present with higher health risks because of your weight.

    Sorry but BMI really is useless. As has been said (several times above) it was never intended for individual weight measurements. It was for evaluating populations where differences in frame size and muscularity are averaged out. Whilst I hesitate to use wikipedia as a reference it does cover this quite well.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index
  • casy84
    casy84 Posts: 290 Member
    My BMI is now ~18, but I'm far from looking like a stick. It did make me stop dieting in my quest for the perfect body and start doing some light sports instead. To me it was an indication that my bf% is too high and I must build some muscle
  • endoftheside
    endoftheside Posts: 568 Member
    Your BMI is at the just barely overweight level and you have a little bit of extra fat around the midsection, to me that seems to match up?
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    BMI is only flawed if you have a lot of lean muscle mass (athletes or body builders) or don't want to believe what it tells you. It's based on a weight to height ratio and your risk of health issues because of that. If you're BMI is overweight then you're carrying too much weight somewhere.

    We got into this discussion last week. It's not how you perceive that you look, it's based on medical issues. You may think you look great at a higher BMI but you will still present with higher health risks because of your weight.

    Sorry but BMI really is useless. As has been said (several times above) it was never intended for individual weight measurements. It was for evaluating populations where differences in frame size and muscularity are averaged out. Whilst I hesitate to use wikipedia as a reference it does cover this quite well.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

    nah it's not useless, it's a guideline. does it fit everyone? no. but does it fit most people? yep.

    the majority of people who don't like BMI are the people who are considered "obese" by its scale. shocking? not really. just because you don't like the result, doesn't make the test inaccurate.
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    Your BMI is at the just barely overweight level and you have a little bit of extra fat around the midsection, to me that seems to match up?

    :huh: Are you serious? This is one of the most whacked comments I have ever seen on the forums and I lurk, A LOT.
  • Mr_Bad_Example
    Mr_Bad_Example Posts: 2,403 Member
    Your BMI is at the just barely overweight level and you have a little bit of extra fat around the midsection, to me that seems to match up?

    No, it really doesn't match up. The BMI is quite flawed - and if you think the OP is overweight, you may want to rethink your standards.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    Your BMI is at the just barely overweight level and you have a little bit of extra fat around the midsection, to me that seems to match up?

    No, it really doesn't match up. The BMI is quite flawed - and if you think the OP is overweight, you may want to rethink your standards.

    good lord everyone's gonna get all pissy about a completely benign comment. the OP put her picture up and even SAID she has a muffin top she's trying to lose, yet we jump no this poster for restating what the OP already said?

    she has more weight to lose by her own admission, and she's BARELY in the overweight category. makes sense to me!

    this fake outrage that people are prone to these days is ridiculous. grow a thicker skin.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    BMI is only flawed if you have a lot of lean muscle mass (athletes or body builders) or don't want to believe what it tells you. It's based on a weight to height ratio and your risk of health issues because of that. If you're BMI is overweight then you're carrying too much weight somewhere.

    We got into this discussion last week. It's not how you perceive that you look, it's based on medical issues. You may think you look great at a higher BMI but you will still present with higher health risks because of your weight.

    Sorry but BMI really is useless. As has been said (several times above) it was never intended for individual weight measurements. It was for evaluating populations where differences in frame size and muscularity are averaged out. Whilst I hesitate to use wikipedia as a reference it does cover this quite well.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

    nah it's not useless, it's a guideline. does it fit everyone? no. but does it fit most people? yep.

    the majority of people who don't like BMI are the people who are considered "obese" by its scale. shocking? not really. just because you don't like the result, doesn't make the test inaccurate.

    I see we're doomed to have a love hate relationship...

    I'm easily dismissed because I fall into the BMI category of obese and I don't agree with how it's being used. But, the statistician who developed the equation intended for population analysis. It doesn't translate well to individual use; it can apply some generalizations, but it's not exact.

    It's kind of like using a HRM while lifting weights. The algorithm just wasn't meant to be used that way, and so the calculation is off. You could use it as a rough estimate, but it really just doesn't work well.

    Do I still wonder what my BMI is as I lose weight, sure, but I'm not going to let it define me. I'll ask my doctor to run tests if I'm worried about specific diseases I might be at risk for. I don't think it should be used as it is (in schools for example, kids are being labeled as "fat" based on BMI and parents are being sent letters informing them of such with suggested diet plans).

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