Thanks for this. My company has a wellness program, and to take advantage of some of the benefits you have to get an assessment from an outside company that they use. If you don't meet all the requirements (blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, etc), you get a coach assigned to you. When I had my assessment, my bloodwork was great, my BP was great, but since I am technically still "overweight" they had to assign a coach for me. I am healthier than most people, but BMI charts say I am not. I think that's crazy! I brought this up to the nurse who was helping me and she said they are considering not using BMI as part of their assessment criteria any more because it's not a good indicator of good health.

Aztec4Life wrote: »

Bmi is really bad for bariatric patients because of all the excess skin after we lose weight. I probably have 20 lbs of it.

That was another issue I brought up. I asked how my extra skin, probably 10-20 lbs of it, factored into it. I kind of got a blank look.

BMI is a good measure for populations, but not necessarily for individuals. I have a 34" waist, spend an hour a day in the gym, my BP and cholesterol levels are terrific, and I weigh less than I did playing high school football 38 years ago. But I'm a barrel chested, short legged stumpy kind of guy who's still borderline obese/overweight according to the BMI chart. And yes, I've lost 155 pounds, so there's some extra skin on my frame as well. So I still track my BMI, along with other measurements, but it's not a real good indicator of my individual health, it's not a measure of my body fat.

Imo, it's a useless measurement for some populations (like bariatric patients).

One problem with medical charts is that some medical professionals spend more time studying them, instead of looking at the patient! I relate this to the example where a heart monitor is showing a heart rate, but the patient has no pulse and is turning blue (this can happen!) If you don't ever look at the patient, depending on machines (or charts) for information, is bad medicine, imo!

garber6th wrote: »

Thanks for this. My company has a wellness program, and to take advantage of some of the benefits you have to get an assessment from an outside company that they use. If you don't meet all the requirements (blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, etc), you get a coach assigned to you. When I had my assessment, my bloodwork was great, my BP was great, but since I am technically still "overweight" they had to assign a coach for me. I am healthier than most people, but BMI charts say I am not. I think that's crazy! I brought this up to the nurse who was helping me and she said they are considering not using BMI as part of their assessment criteria any more because it's not a good indicator of good health.

We have a similar wellness program, but they don't base it on weight, thankfully. Everything is based on bloodwork and assessment. Last year, before my surgery, I was assigned 8 care coordination visits for the year. This year (back in September), I was told not to worry about coming back and that my levels were all "disgustingly healthy." I specifically asked if BMI was a factor and although they said it was one of the trigger items, you had to show so many before you were considered at moderate or high risk. They based their qualifications on the Heart Attack Risk Assessment (how likely you are to have a heart attack within the next 10 years). Mine was 0.04% (not 4%. 0.04%). So they SO weren't worried about my overweight BMI.

I'm struggling now with the BMI battle. I'm down to 142 and feel like I'm at a fairly healthy weight. I have a couple of small poochy fat areas I'm going to continue working on, but mostly, I'm looking and feeling good. My goal is 130, which puts me in the very top of BMI for my height (5'1", medium-to-large frame). But honestly, if I were to lose more than that, I'd be looking kind of skeletal. I lost a friend due to complications from anorexia about 20 years ago and I get scared about what would happen if I get past that point and can't make myself stop losing. At the same time, I don't want to use that fear to rationalize not being at a truly healthy weight. So.... the BMI stuff really isn't helpful in figuring out where I truly need to be. It's a truly mental battle.