Body Fat or BMI?

Options
2»

Replies

  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    Options
    I was measured by a trainer and competitive bodybuilder. He used the caliper method several places....he flat out told me I will never be a healthy BMI.....

    That makes no sense-as you lose weight your bmi will go down. At some point it will enter the normal/healthy range. Is he telling you that you won't lose weight? If you get your weight down to to 134lbs, you'll be at the high point of a normal/healthy bmi. That's a 61lb loss and is very doable. That guy is full of woo :p

    He didnt mean i wouldnt lose weight, he meant with my body composition i will always read high on the BMI chart. He told me that my goal should be to not lose any or very little LBM bc its really hard to gain it back.....so focus on high protein diet/weight lifting etc.....

    Yeah, he's full of woo :p
  • annaskiski
    annaskiski Posts: 1,212 Member
    Options
    My doctor told me that BMI is not useful for anyone athletic. Many athletes have BMIs in the obese range, due to muscle mass.

    Body fat percentage is a more accurate picture of your body comp, though this is more complicated to measure yourself. The solution is to pick a method (whether scale, caliper, etc) and then watch the trend. The actual number is less important than the fact that it is decreasing.
  • DebzNuDa
    DebzNuDa Posts: 252 Member
    Options
    Hornsby wrote: »
    I was measured by a trainer and competitive bodybuilder. He used the caliper method several places....he flat out told me I will never be a healthy BMI.....

    Calipers are pretty dicey and rely heavily on the skill of the person taking the measurements. I wouldn't put too much faith in those numbers. Just focus on dropping the lbs right now. There is a long road ahead and no need to complicate it right now with something that really doesn't matter at this point.

    Just my opinion.

    ^^This
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    BMI is the greatest example of special snowflake syndrome. It's applicable to the overwhelming majority of individuals, but anyone who's overweight likes to whine about its inaccuracies as if they are elite athletes.

    BMI is a proven metric which in medical research is linked to health. It's the Gold standard.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Options
    segacs wrote: »
    I was measured by a trainer and competitive bodybuilder. He used the caliper method several places....he flat out told me I will never be a healthy BMI.....

    Bro-science.

    Trainers and competitive bodybuilders aren't scientifically proven to be any more accurate with calipers than anyone else. They just think they are.

    ^ This.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    I was measured by a trainer and competitive bodybuilder. He used the caliper method several places....he flat out told me I will never be a healthy BMI.....

    That makes no sense-as you lose weight your bmi will go down. At some point it will enter the normal/healthy range. Is he telling you that you won't lose weight? If you get your weight down to to 134lbs, you'll be at the high point of a normal/healthy bmi. That's a 61lb loss and is very doable. That guy is full of woo :p

    He didnt mean i wouldnt lose weight, he meant with my body composition i will always read high on the BMI chart. He told me that my goal should be to not lose any or very little LBM bc its really hard to gain it back.....so focus on high protein diet/weight lifting etc.....

    There's no choice to make, though. These things won't hurt you (although really high protein is unnecessary) and will help even if you end up with a lower weight. The numbers he has are likely wrong, but maintaining your lean mass, whatever it is, is a good thing.

    If he says don't have a deficit or don't do cardio (assuming you enjoy it), then I'd question, but eating protein and strength training are great.
  • 53welshlady
    53welshlady Posts: 138 Member
    Options
    Why don't you just go by what you see in the mirror? If you see rolls of fat that you don't want, then carry on losing. If you have no more spare fat but want to see your muscles show through more, then carry on losing. If you are happy with the way you look, then try and maintain.

    Maybe this is too simple....
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is the greatest example of special snowflake syndrome. It's applicable to the overwhelming majority of individuals, but anyone who's overweight likes to whine about its inaccuracies as if they are elite athletes.

    BMI is a proven metric which in medical research is linked to health. It's the Gold standard.

    Actually no it's not.

    The origins of BMI came from the 1800's and design to disperse food during lean times...so it's neither of what you indicate.

    However OP that trainer is wrong...

    I never thought based on my bone structure etc that I would ever get to a "healthy" BMI...guess what here I am

    5 ft 7...150lbs BMI of 23.49...bodyfat not too sure but my LBM is probably right around 113-120lbs...I lift heavy do a fair bit of cardio and quite firm.

    As I said at first don't use either of them...use them both plus tape measure, scale weight and clothing size along with the mirror and how you feel.

    There is no one number that can define a healthy weight/good weight for you.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    @SezxyStef you are not a special snowflake. You can pretend otherwise but BMI IS a research-proven validated standard. I'm on mobile and can't search pubmed for you, but the Harvard school of Medicine corroborates my statement.

    http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/obesity-definition-full-story/
  • portugaline
    portugaline Posts: 95 Member
    Options
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.
  • portugaline
    portugaline Posts: 95 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.

    I know many athletes that use MFP, and most that don't use it log there foods somewhere else.

    And even for the regular user is not accurate, you can have 2 people with the same weight and height, BMI score will be the same, but one can be looking fat and the other lean at the same weight. is a guideline.

    But for most of people will work well as guideline to lose weight pretty well
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited May 2015
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    @SezxyStef you are not a special snowflake. You can pretend otherwise but BMI IS a research-proven validated standard. I'm on mobile and can't search pubmed for you, but the Harvard school of Medicine corroborates my statement.

    http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/obesity-definition-full-story/

    did you not read my post and if you did read it did you get it? I said I thought I wouldn't ever be at a healthy bmi because of bone structure but here I am....wow esp since I know I am not a "special snowflake"...but you are special.

    http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/weight-loss/bmi4.htm
    The History of BMI
    Using a formula to calculate obesity is not a new concept. In the nineteenth century, a Belgian statistician named Adolphe Quetelet came up with the Quetelet Index of Obesity, which measured obesity by dividing a person's weight (in kilograms) by the square of his or her height (in inches).

    Formula: w/h2

    Before 1980, doctors generally used weight-for-height tables -- one for men and one for women -- that included ranges of body weights for each inch of height. These tables were limited because they were based on weight alone, rather than body composition. BMI became an international standard for obesity measurement in the 1980s. The public learned about BMI the late 1990s, when the government launched an initiative to encourage healthy eating and exercise.

    In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold for BMI 27.8 to 25 to match international guidelines. The move added 30 million Americans who were previously in the "healthy weight" category to the "overweight" category. Today, the NIH advises doctors and their patients to include BMI in a complete assessment of a person's body size and overall health.

    This last bolded part is what I said...it is not the "GOLD STANDARD" it is part and parcel to an overall assessment for health.
  • Zedeff
    Zedeff Posts: 651 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.

    But for most of people will work well as guideline to lose weight pretty well

    Bottom line right here.
  • jlturner386
    jlturner386 Posts: 65 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.

    I know many athletes that use MFP, and most that don't use it log there foods somewhere else.

    And even for the regular user is not accurate, you can have 2 people with the same weight and height, BMI score will be the same, but one can be looking fat and the other lean at the same weight. is a guideline.

    But for most of people will work well as guideline to lose weight pretty well

    I 100% agree with the same height/weight looking completely different statement. I know I have a lot of weight to lose, but when I tell people I need to lose 60lbs to be a normal weight, they look at me like I have lost my mind......people assume I weigh about 155 to 165. I have NEVER had someone guess even close.

    That being said, as of right now my goal weight is 160. That is 35lbs. I plan to evaluate once I hit that goal.

  • portugaline
    portugaline Posts: 95 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.

    I know many athletes that use MFP, and most that don't use it log there foods somewhere else.

    And even for the regular user is not accurate, you can have 2 people with the same weight and height, BMI score will be the same, but one can be looking fat and the other lean at the same weight. is a guideline.

    But for most of people will work well as guideline to lose weight pretty well

    I 100% agree with the same height/weight looking completely different statement. I know I have a lot of weight to lose, but when I tell people I need to lose 60lbs to be a normal weight, they look at me like I have lost my mind......people assume I weigh about 155 to 165. I have NEVER had someone guess even close.

    That being said, as of right now my goal weight is 160. That is 35lbs. I plan to evaluate once I hit that goal.

    if you are thinking about being fat or no, you should pay attention to BF% and what you look like in the mirror, not the score on BMI.

    if you just care about weight, and doesn't care how this weight looks like on you, then use BMI..
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    Zedeff wrote: »
    BMI is not accurate for athletes or for some one looking for body composition...

    Using BMI you can easily have an athlete result saying he is overweight when he is ripped and cut.

    How many super fit elite athletes are obese and need an app to teach them to lose weight?

    This concept doesn't apply to the MFP user base.

    I know many athletes that use MFP, and most that don't use it log there foods somewhere else.

    And even for the regular user is not accurate, you can have 2 people with the same weight and height, BMI score will be the same, but one can be looking fat and the other lean at the same weight. is a guideline.

    But for most of people will work well as guideline to lose weight pretty well

    I 100% agree with the same height/weight looking completely different statement. I know I have a lot of weight to lose, but when I tell people I need to lose 60lbs to be a normal weight, they look at me like I have lost my mind......people assume I weigh about 155 to 165. I have NEVER had someone guess even close.

    That being said, as of right now my goal weight is 160. That is 35lbs. I plan to evaluate once I hit that goal.

    That is probably a good plan. Just ensure you are getting in enough protein and doing some resistance training and don't have too big of a deficit as you will lose too much muscle...which is not good.

    As well I can relate to people not believing I weigh what I weigh...151 atm and people don't believe me...they expect me to say 120-130...

  • jlturner386
    jlturner386 Posts: 65 Member
    Options
    I 100% agree with the same height/weight looking completely different statement. I know I have a lot of weight to lose, but when I tell people I need to lose 60lbs to be a normal weight, they look at me like I have lost my mind......people assume I weigh about 155 to 165. I have NEVER had someone guess even close.

    That being said, as of right now my goal weight is 160. That is 35lbs. I plan to evaluate once I hit that goal.

    [/quote]

    if you are thinking about being fat or no, you should pay attention to BF% and what you look like in the mirror, not the score on BMI.

    if you just care about weight, and doesn't care how this weight looks like on you, then use BMI..[/quote]

    You are right.....I want to look so good at my goal weight people couldnt guess my weight :) How I feel is the most important part :)