What's up with the BMI??

BMI is a generic rating, created by the insurance industry, that is calculated using ONLY your height and weight. It does not factor in things like bone density, frame size & muscle mass.

A much better method of determining overall fitness & health is to calculate your Body Fat Percentage.

I checked the Body Mass Index and it said I need to be at 159 lbs. or lower at 5'7'' and 166. So I have to lose at least 7 more pounds to get to 159 lbs. But I seemed to have hit a plateau and cannot lose more weight, I'm like skinny but still have an inch I got to lose around my mid-section. Is that the 7 pounds I need to lose or what because I dont know where on my body I'm gonna lose more weight!

P.S.- A friend of mine is in really good shape, and he says that according to the BMI he is overweight when he is just really buff. So how important or accurate is the BMI???

Not very important and not very accurate.

The BMI is overrated. According to it, this handsome fella is obese:


you think he cares about his BMI?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149807,00.html

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/bmiathletes.php

The BMI is overrated. According to it, this handsome fella is obese:


you think he cares about his BMI?

he obviously wouldn't. however if someone stood next to him with the exact same height and weight but visible excess fat then yeah BMI is doing it's job as just a simple tool. that's all BMI is. A simple tool. it's unfortunate though that far too many use it as an entire determinant of health such as insurance companies in the US

What I'm trying to say is stop focusing on BMI & numbers. BMI is inaccurate. Heck, it's likely your bathroom scale is innacurate! Shocking, I know. Focus on how you feel physically, and keep trying to improve on that daily

I do understand where the OP is coming from though. I weigh about 168 and at 5ft 8 I'm about 5lbs overweight. I'm extremely fit but it bugs me that my body's having such a hard time shifting those few lbs to get my down to normal weight. Argh!

I very much doubt there are many people on the boards that are that muscular that bmi doesnt apply to them like the athlete in the picture

Yes, I think people on here need to keep this in mind. When you're starting out on MFP, and looking for a goal weight, I don't think it helps when people tell you BMI is bullsh*t and you should aim higher. The great majority of people on this website (myself included) will never have enough muscle for their BMI to say they're "overweight" when really they're healthy. That mentality lets people accept being overweight with the excuse that "I have a lot of muscle/big bones."

BMI is by no means perfect, but it will give you a good starting point for a target weight range for a person with average (not above average) muscle mass.

Measuring obesity simply by factors of height and weight is completely unreliable. And it isn't like we don't have any other choices than using an outdated, unreliable and horribly generic measure to determine whether or not we are overweight. BMI has fallen out of favor not simply because it fails to account for the people with an enormous amount of muscle like the athlete pictured above, but also because it misreads a much too high percentage of the rest of us. And yes, some of us just might post here at MFP.
How about measuring your body fat percentage instead? And in terms of what kind of impact the BMI is BS message might have of some folks here, well, I think it's probably best to suggest the most accurate tools that we know of and let the rest take care of itself.