Is BMI really BS?

The BMI scale is benefiting OP. While she is in the healthy range, she is also aware that she would be ok losing some and that gaining more than a bit would probably not be optimal for her health. It can't make the decision about good or bad for appearance. No scale can do that, because attractiveness will always be somewhat subjective. OP can choose to stay right where she is, lose some and still be healthy, or gain a bit and still be healthy. There's a lot of room in there for her to decide what she thinks is the most attractive and where she feels her healthiest. It can't do her thinking for her, but that doesn't mean it's useless to her.

Many people have distorted images of what they look like. Our minds often don't perceive gradual changes very well. People I know very well look the same weight to me pretty much all the time. The person I'm thinking of the most, I've seen at a BMI of 20 and a BMI of 27. He always looks the same to me. I can tell the difference in my weight with pictures, but honestly, not so much in the mirror most of the time. The BMI is useful for me in that way. It doesn't make my decisions for me, though. I can't think of one measure that can do that, 100% of the time for 100% of people.

The BMI scale is a little generous with me at the upper range of normal, if I go by pictures and how fit I feel. On the other hand, the lower end is physically very uncomfortable for me. Both numbers are in the healthy range. How do I know where I fit? I use my brain to put together all the factors instead of just one.

It's a pretty decent range. There are cutoffs in all areas of life. If I commit a crime the day before I turn 18, am I really more responsible the next day than I was a few hours earlier? We draw lines and use them for a general idea of where to be. (If I'm 17, I know I'm close enough to the age of legal culpability to be more concerned than if I were 13. On the other hand, if I were a judge, I'd be more inclined to give a young 18 more of a break than someone older. That's not enough information for anyone, including me, to know what I'd really do. But it puts me in the ballpark.)

Besides, it's a measure of mass, not fat. I'm not sure I buy that someone who carries vastly more muscle than the BMI scale predicts is necessarily without risk from the extra weight, just because it's from muscle and not fat.

So, everyone around me has been telling me not to look at numbers but instead how I feel. I don't like that I am on the heavier side of "healthy" and I'm close to being "overweight":brokenheart: . I've lost ten pounds and I want to lose another ten because it will put me at a much healthier looking BMI. Is this a good idea?
It's difficult because I don't dislike my body (that much) and I know some of my weight is muscle. Not a lot of it but I certainly have some tone in my legs. My mums telling me to keep loosing weight but my friends think it's unnecessary.
Do you think I should improve my BMI or is it all BS?

There is quite a bit of controversy over BMI. Body weight compromises muscle, bone and water, and body fat. B.M.I. alone is not a exact measure of how fat a person may be. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was Mr. Universe, his B.M.I. indicated that he was obese but he was hardly fat. You may want to do some research on the BMI.

Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

As normal Joanne your missing the point. BMI was not designed to be used on People like athletes or body builders. It is a guide for well average people

Let me throw something else into the mix: I would argue that the BMI is too generous for those who are on the short side. I am 5'2.5" and mine is 22.5. But in my opinion, I don't need to be any larger! This is the upper limit for me. I have looked at the new BMI calculations, which modify for those who are shorter or taller. It seems more accurate to me.

To the OP, if you are judging by appearance, you look great. You are not skinny, but your avatar looks slim and attractive to me. Of course we all have parts we'd like to change, and I understand that. But I think the BMI is more for health evaluation than for appearance. As I said above, in my opinion, if I weighed what the BMI said I could, I would not like the way I look. But I would likely be a HEALTHY weight. So take it as just one evaluation of success.

Just use it as one piece of the total picture and don't obsess about it.

If something is a piece of the total picture then it has a place in the total picture

As soon as you start to add other indicators like BF, the BMI is redundant

If you have your weight, your body fat, and your height - what does BMI add to that? Nothing

You either use BMI on it's own - in which case it's vague, inaccurate, often misleading and generalist.... or you use better indicators and dispense with the BMI

If you're happy to have a very rough, very simplistic indicator of whether you are overweight, that might or might not be correct, then fine.

BMI is BS sometimes, but statically, it's good.

I think the BMI scale is too generous. I am 187 cm and weigh 69 kilos and im really not skinny now. I look healthy i hear people say. But according to the scale it would still be within normal weight down to 65 (my goal)...but also if i weigh 87 kilos (!).. 18 kilos more than now?! Id be a barn door!

_Zardoz_ wrote: »

So, everyone around me has been telling me not to look at numbers but instead how I feel. I don't like that I am on the heavier side of "healthy" and I'm close to being "overweight":brokenheart: . I've lost ten pounds and I want to lose another ten because it will put me at a much healthier looking BMI. Is this a good idea?
It's difficult because I don't dislike my body (that much) and I know some of my weight is muscle. Not a lot of it but I certainly have some tone in my legs. My mums telling me to keep loosing weight but my friends think it's unnecessary.
Do you think I should improve my BMI or is it all BS?

There is quite a bit of controversy over BMI. Body weight compromises muscle, bone and water, and body fat. B.M.I. alone is not a exact measure of how fat a person may be. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was Mr. Universe, his B.M.I. indicated that he was obese but he was hardly fat. You may want to do some research on the BMI.

Joanne Moniz
The Skinny on Obesity Group

As normal Joanne your missing the point. BMI was not designed to be used on People like athletes or body builders. It is a guide for well average people

My BMI is 25, just in the overweight category at 6' 184lbs. I guess I'm not average because I know that my body-fat is under 15%.

Agree though, it's a good scale for anyone who has an average amount of muscle mass.

1saturn wrote: »

So 2 months ago I was considered "overweight"...sorry I have to laugh...at 160lbs..in a size 5/6...not overweight...

Clothing sizes is about the worse marker available when determining appropriate weight.

Almost all clothes in the US are vanity sized, and women's clothing has absolutely no regulations or standards. A 5/6 today can be so vanity sized that it was a 10-12, or higher, in decades past. Even men's clothes no longer follow the actual inches printed on the waist sizes. Hell I have two pairs of jeans from the 90s in a size 36 that are smaller than some size 33s today.

The mirror and your health markers are the best standard, clothing size the absolute worse.

BMI doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle so it's certainly massively flawed

Pick any muscly athlete and BMI will say they are overweight

eg. Running back Adrian Peterson

And yet how much of the general population has a body built like a professional running back?

Okay, but how am I supposed to know what to follow? My waist to hip ratio is excellent and my waist to height ratio implies I am too thin. So with all the "science" conflicting itself what now?

Saturn, from your profile picture you look great! Keep up the good work. I like the BMI as a barometer of how I am controlling my weight. I am 5'8 and weight 162. I am finally in the "normal bmi" range and I feel good about myself. My pants are loose and I feel better about myself. I used the BMI as a tool to help me get to a better place. I always here people complaining about the BMI system. For me personally, its a useful tool. Find out what your top weight can be according to the BMI chart and then strive to be one pound under the "over weight" level. Then you don't have to worry about it

All the debating about BMIs validity aside, I didn't see it mentioned but it may have been...

The OP is a little confused. She says she is in a healthy BMI. Just because you are closer to overweight doesn't make you "less" than "normal" than the person that falls smack dab in the middle of "normal". Normal is normal. It's a range for a reason.

It really is about your health first and asthetics second. If your doctor says you're at a healthy weight when you're standing in front of him/her then you're good there. If you're happy with the way you look overall maybe just exercise to tone all over and stay where you are weight wise.
It's really about what YOU want.
My two cents: if that's you in the photo you look fantastic!!

RllyGudTweetr wrote: »

I think the only people on the planet to whom you should listen regarding your weight loss goals are your doctor, and the person in your mirror, but that's just me.

I can't stress this enough

What is BS is using BMI to penalize individuals via health insurance premiums.

BMI Does Not Measure Health (LA Times Feb 4, 2016)

Timmmy40 wrote: »

BMI is BS! According to the calculator I am 31.7 or Obese. I am 5' 9" and my weight is 215lbs. I haven't been Obese for over a year now. The calculator can give a general figure, but it does not take into account body composition. At 190 the calculator has me at being overweight and at 28.1. I have to be 169 lbs to be considered in the normal range. My lean body mass is 179 lbs. Not going to happen.

Serious question. Is this post a joke?

Wow, what a lively topic!

I think BMI is a great guideline. We use it quite often in the hospital to decide how medications should be dose-adjusted. (i.e. some medications should have their doses adjusted beyond typical ranges if someone falls in the obese category, underweight, etc.) It's a great tool that is applicable to most people.

I think ultimately when it comes to weight loss, you need to figure out where YOU feel best. For me personally, my "normal" BMI range is from 111 lbs to 149 lbs. That's a wide range! That's not to say that I don't feel or look great at 155 lbs, but at that size I would be able to stand to lose a few lbs of fat. That's all- I think we get hung up on being defined as "overweight" or "obese" and we go on the defensive instead of saying "I look great, I feel great, I could stand to lose more but I'm okay with where I am".

This discussion reminds me of when I lived in East Asia when I was younger. When I came back to the U.S. I will never forget the shock I felt when I got off the airplane and looked over the balcony of the walkway I was on. Below me was a sea of fat people! I had grown so accustomed to seeing most people at a lower healthy weight that I was astonished. I went to school and saw friends I had always thought were quite thin and remember thinking "yeah, they could probably stand to lose 20 more lbs"... Now I know that's a jerk way of thinking, but my perception of "normal" was completely different.

Of course, I became morbidly obese myself, and my perceptions of normal adjusted to the American standard, but I really do think that in many countries, our idea of a "normal healthy" weight is ever creeping upward. What we consider "normal" at first glance today would likely have been considered overweight or fat in our grandparents' age. Our eyes often deceive us. I liked the comment about how many people are spurred to start their weight loss journey after seeing pictures of themselves. I know that I am currently obese, but often I look in the mirror and don't see an obese person. Then I catch myself in a store window or in a picture and I go "oh, yeah, wow. I guess I'm still pretty big..."

If you fall in the overweight category of the BMI chart and you feel great, then don't sweat it. Yes, you could probably stand to lose more, but that's not what's important. Don't get upset or offended or try and throw the idea of BMI out the window or try to categorize yourself as a special outlier... you're letting yourself be affected by a label. Like everything else, it's a great guideline but not an end-all be-all. I definitely use it, along with body fat %, body measurements, dress size, number on the scale, how I feel and how I think I look. Together they give me a great picture of how I'm doing. No, not a single one of those measurements is going to define me on their own.

Holy 2 year old necro thread, Batman!!!!