BMI

Nasty77
Nasty77 Posts: 9
edited September 22 in Motivation and Support
What is the correct BMI for me who is a thick girl? You cannot seriously believe that me being 5'8 who's been benching 235lbs, expect to be 164.4 according to the BMI. In my case I do have more muscles than fat! So that mean, I can tone up and still look good but BMI expects me to be 164.4lbs, are you serious?


This is my problem I do not look big but the scale says I am and my BMI says I am very obese......really! I wish I can lose my arms and my thighs. My stomach does not really stick out. I do have the right body parts that are very full and do justice to who I am but I'm still consider BIG! Why is that?

Replies

  • ahbach2005
    ahbach2005 Posts: 119
    You need to do a bmi calculator that takes all your measurements into account

    thighs, chest, shoulders etc

    Otherwise it is is way off

    I have a big chest and wide shoulders

    My nephew almost got kicked out of the military and he used to power lift

    ry to use a method that takes measurements into account
  • Jbonar
    Jbonar Posts: 29 Member
    BMI is not as useful for the very athletic/muscular. You should have your body fat % measured and go by that more than BMI.
  • FlashBang
    FlashBang Posts: 136
    Be careful, one of the lies I lived with for a long time was, "I am big framed and therefore not really overweight." Muscular people do, however, have to fudge up on the BMI. Find you a trainer who can evaluate your actual body make up. Someone who is good with calipers can nearly nail your body fat percentage. Hydrostatic weighing is better, not by much, but harder to find. What you need to know is your body fat percentage. Those scales that do this for you are useless, mine gives me a different percentage everyday and it is wildly different. I am an endurance athlete so my ideal weight will end up being under the BMI, I am actually shedding some muscle to get this done. Be healthy, we are pulling for you to reach your goals.
  • NatalieBrooke88
    NatalieBrooke88 Posts: 240 Member
    BMI is USELESS. Body fat percentage is all that really matters...

    :)
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
    Like some have echoed, BMI is a useless measurement created a long time ago, and should not even be in use today. You're body fat percentage is what's important.

    When I was at my lowest last June @ 189 lbs, my BF% was 13% which is the low end of the "normal" range for my age, which meant if I had 0% BF (which is not possible), I'd still weigh 164 lbs which is barely in the "heathly" range of BMI. I'm 5'10" btw.

    I'm also training for endurance races but I would never sacrifice muscle mass for it as it's not what I do for a living, so weighing 20-30 lbs less which would equate to maybe 10-15 mins less in a long Ironman race (using the same power output) is simply not worth the benefit of the extra lean mass.
  • runs4zen
    runs4zen Posts: 769 Member
    there is a very accurate BMI calculator right on this site under the tools tab. I've never really understood the BMI calculation importance but my WLS uses it as a measure of health.
  • FrenchMob
    FrenchMob Posts: 1,167 Member
    there is a very accurate BMI calculator right on this site under the tools tab. I've never really understood the BMI calculation importance but my WLS uses it as a measure of health.

    There's no BMI calculator that isn't accurate. It's a ratio of height & weight...can't get it wrong. But the bottomline is, any BMI calculator is worthless to determine someones health status.
  • runs4zen
    runs4zen Posts: 769 Member
    there is a very accurate BMI calculator right on this site under the tools tab. I've never really understood the BMI calculation importance but my WLS uses it as a measure of health.

    There's no BMI calculator that isn't accurate. It's a ratio of height & weight...can't get it wrong. But the bottomline is, any BMI calculator is worthless to determine someones health status.

    That may be so for athletic purposes or fat ratios, etc. I don't know since I haven't spent much time using BMI calculators in that manner. That said, many folks use them for other things such as health and life insurance companies to determine coverage issues, doctors, etc. My point being, they must have a purpose, I'm just not sure what. So, her original question was what I was commenting on--whether there is an accurate measurement. There is an accurate one--like you say, it's a ratio. The worth of a BMI calculation, as I indirectly said, escapes me. Thus, I agree with you-- I was only giving her a source if she still wanted to use it.
  • aurorathunder
    aurorathunder Posts: 11
    BMI calculators may be accurate, but they don't take all aspects of health into account. It's an outdated tool that was once used to determine someone's health. For someone who doesn't work out it can give you a general idea, but for someone who does it can be very misleading.

    I am an extremely active person, and I will admit that I am carrying a few extra pounds. However, I am also very muscular and according to the BMI calculators I am on the border for being overweight. If you were to look at my body fat percentage you would see that I'm not remotely close to being overweight.
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