upset about my bmi

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bmuelling07
bmuelling07 Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
So.. I am 5"4 and 206lbs. My BMI is 35 AKA morbidly obese.
Would anyone care to look at my picture and tell me what the heck is morbidly obese about me? It makes me feel horrible. I feel so disgusting after calculating it.. I wish that they would take into consideration a persons body shape. I myself have a lot of muscle and my weight is very well proportioned in my opinion. It just hurts because according to the BMI calculator I am apparently enormous.. :(
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  • reesepieces
    reesepieces Posts: 253 Member
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    Don't be too upset about what society thinks about obese. I am 5'6" and now 219 pounds and considered obese. I know I am not fat or huge, just chunky.
  • brittonymiller
    brittonymiller Posts: 2,061 Member
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    I work at a gym and we were talking about this just last night. The owner, a super healthy and very active person, says her BMI says she is obese. She also said that BMI is bull*&%$. It doesn't take into account your frame or muscle mass. I wouldn't worry about it.
  • bmuelling07
    bmuelling07 Posts: 23
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    yeh.. I heard that actually they keep lowering the weight for the "normal" range. Apparently my normal weight range is between 107lbs and 140lbs. Idk how long it will take for me to get down to 140. The last time I was 140lbs I was 15 and anorexic. I looked SICK at 140lbs.
  • bmuelling07
    bmuelling07 Posts: 23
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    I work at a gym and we were talking about this just last night. The owner, a super healthy and very active person, says her BMI says she is obese. She also said that BMI is bull*&%$. It doesn't take into account your frame or muscle mass. I wouldn't worry about it.

    Yeh.. I know that I am definitely not obese but it's still sort of a kick to the stomach to see that statistically i am huge.
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
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    The thing about BMIs (and the reason I don't give a **** about them) is that they don't take into account a person's muscle mass, bone density, or body frame. Everybody carries their body weight differently, and it's really only a good count for women who are of average height (5'3-5'7ish)...and I don't know about men. I know many athletes (including myself when I had a 6 pack) that were considered "overweight".
  • jmmtaylor
    jmmtaylor Posts: 225
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    Don't feel bad at all. I'm 5'3 and when I started I was 170 pounds and obese. You couldn't tell I didn't even look like I weighed that much. I have finally broken out of the obese category by only losing 10 pounds (well, if I actually was supposed to weigh in today it'd be 10 pounds).
  • lutzsher
    lutzsher Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Anything about 30 pounds over your "healthy and reasonable" high end of your BMI is obese. Im 5'4" and am 177 pounds, still about 3 pounds away from being just "overweight" so here I sit still in the obese clasification.
    Unfortunately at 5'4" when you are over 200 pounds you are obese and looking at a shortened life expectancy, I started out there and have been working hard to change that.
    Instead of being mad at the BMI scale (aka. the "messanger") use that anger to fuel your determination to get to the magical number of 174.8 pounds . . . as that is where you will transition out of obese.
    If I can do it in my 40's with an extremely frenetic job and busy life than Im pretty confident that anyone can accomplish this goal!
  • 00trayn
    00trayn Posts: 1,849 Member
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    I agree, BMI is kinda of crap. A really good way to track your progress is body fat percentage. I've been tracking mine for the past 2 months with a body fat percentage scale ($30 from Bed Bath and Beyond, it's a Weight Watchers scale) and it's a much better indicator. A healthy body fat % is 21-33%. I'm 156 lbs, which is 16 lbs overweight for my height. BUT because of all the workouts and strength training, my body fat percentage is 31.8%, which is HEALTHY! Does it matter that my BMI is 27.5 (overweight)? Nope! Look at my profile pictures. I'm a bit biased, but I don't really think that I look 15 lbs overweight. I look normal. Once I get down to 140, I'll look downright skinny and awesome... haha. I probably won't go more than 5 lbs below that, even if it's barely a healthy weight.
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
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    That's why BMI is a crock of *kitten* and shouldn't even be considered as a legit marker of a persons health. Back in May I was 188 lbs, 14% body fat, but still on the "overweight" range of the BMI. For reference sake, 11 to 19% body fat is considered "healthy" for a male my age.

    Body composition is the only way to determine if you're in a healthy range or not.
  • bmuelling07
    bmuelling07 Posts: 23
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    I'm not saying that I am upset at it because i need to lose a bunch of weight.. I've done it before.. and I can do it again.It's just that I think that our society is so "Black & white" There is NO gray area when it comes to the bmi stats. That is the only thing I am upset
    about. If 140lbs is going to make me "Normal".. then 140lbs it is.
  • Dellie22
    Dellie22 Posts: 167
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    don't worry about your BMI. The more muscle you have, the thinner you are. Your BMI could well be at 35, but you could be fitting into size 6 clothes because you have more muscle. A doctor will always be able to tell if you are ACTUALLY obese, or not. Really, don't worry.
  • ashlee954
    ashlee954 Posts: 1,112 Member
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    I agree with the others in regards to the fact that BMI does not take into account you muscle mass. What is important to understand though is that BMI is not how overweight or obese you LOOK, it is how that weight is going to affect your overall health.
  • Dellie22
    Dellie22 Posts: 167
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    That's why BMI is a crock of *kitten* and shouldn't even be considered as a legit marker of a persons health. Back in May I was 188 lbs, 14% body fat, but still on the "overweight" range of the BMI. For reference sake, 11 to 19% body fat is considered "healthy" for a male my age.

    Body composition is the only way to determine if you're in a healthy range or not.

    That's just what I meant, but put better...
  • HippyGalore
    HippyGalore Posts: 18 Member
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    I think if you had enough muscle to take you all the way from normal to morbidly obese, you would be doing so much weight training that you wouldn't have any doubts about the shape you are in. You need to turn your upset into a positive force for change instead of looking for reassurance that you don't need to do anything. The really reassuring thing is that there are plenty of people here who have been much bigger than you and have turned it around.

    The only reason I am being blunt is that I wish I had started sooner when I was only slightly overweight instead of wasting that time convincing myself I was okay really and then having twice as much to lose.
  • MiloBloom83
    MiloBloom83 Posts: 2,724 Member
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    The "B" in BMI should stand for bullsh*t. Men with a muscular build have a hard time getting into the "healthy " range. I would have to weigh 164 to do that, what i weighed in high school. If i hit my goal weight of 175, i still will not be "heathy" according to BMI, so I'm chosing to ignore it. I couldn't run 7 miles in high school, but now i can. I am the most fit i've been in 20+ years and that is what matters.
  • ka_42
    ka_42 Posts: 720 Member
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    I started out with a BMI of 35 at a weight of 195. I am 5'3" and today I'm 135 lbs and at the end of the normal category. I feel like the BMI scale has held true for me... I was obese. At the weight I am now, I feel like I look like I'm at a normal healthy weight (aside from my belly that is hanging on for dear life). I think for some people, the BMI scale can be a helpful motivator and be accurate as in my case.

    Editing to say--- I'm not now nor was I before very muscular and that's probably why the BMI scale holds true for me.
  • Lithuria
    Lithuria Posts: 132
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    You certainly don't look orbidly obese....if all that weight was not bone mass (you look like you have a large frame to me = more bone weight) and not muscle then it would mean you were morbidly obese health wise, not looks wise.

    To me the best, more accurate way of determining your health is by calculating your body fat percentage or just plain old using a tape measure. Not that it makes a difference to me because I really AM morbidly obese, but if you can get yourself to a gym and get your BFP calculated then maybe it would give you a clearer view of what your overall health is :)
  • Tasha1476
    Tasha1476 Posts: 220
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    When I started my weight loss journey, my BMI was 29.78 (and I was repulsed, I cried and cried). I'm 5'8.5 (well hovering between 5'8 and 5'8.5) and my starting weight was 198. The BMI repulsed me because I was .22 from being considered obese... Though like you (and even looking back on pictures now) I didn't see an "obese" person. Now, 32 lbs down and with a BMI of 25.23 I can see I really had some weight to lose.... But like everyone says, it doesn't take into consideration your muscle or bone structure or anything and it can be very very inaccurate. Don't let it get you down, like 00Trayn says get a body fat percentage scale, it will make you feel TONS better.

    Best of luck
  • Jenks
    Jenks Posts: 349
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    I work at a gym and we were talking about this just last night. The owner, a super healthy and very active person, says her BMI says she is obese. She also said that BMI is bull*&%$. It doesn't take into account your frame or muscle mass. I wouldn't worry about it.

    My Doctor feels the same way...he told me not to even look at it.
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    BMI shouldn't be the only indicator of your success. For me, it falls in line - I am 5'3 1/2 and started at 147.6. I was about 2-3 pounds overweight (for the first time ever) when I started here. I'm small framed, but I'm fairly muscular and that weight did not look good on me. Now I'm 121.6 and a size 2 with a BMI of 21.2. I'm much healthier, fitter and my muscles are even more well defined.

    I see a lot of people on here discredit BMI by saying they'll look "sick" when they get there. For some people it's true, but it's not true across the board. I think people get lazy and want to believe that an overweight BMI is the healthiest they can be because they were obese or even more overweight initially - and some change is better than no change.

    First focus on your food choices, then focus on your fitness...then look at your weight/BMI/BF%.

    And be wary of BF percentages that come from scales. They're just a guess at best - I mean, I'd love to believe I'm 16% body fat, but I'm fairly certain that's not true.

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