Don't look as heavy as I weigh??

From what I'd read before, it was only the Japanese who needed a separate BMI scale because poor health outcomes came at lower BMIs, but other Asians didn't have the same issues. Has there been more research or are people expanding the Japanese research to include all Asians? Or is this not research based?

I think the way we see excess weight can also be related to ethnic background and norms. A Korean pupil once heard me mention losing weight and said he bet I weighed 55kg, I guess because this is a typical, objectively fairly low weight, that teenagers he knew were trying to lose weight from, but I think I was nearer 65kg at the time.

Cultural backroung plays a big part on how people understand heavy / light weight. That being said I think most people are not able to estimate other people's weight.

I hear it all the time, even from my doctors. It's crazy. I don't take it as a compliment anymore.

Why are you telling everyone what you weigh?

I have some input on this actually, though I'm not sure if it is 100% accurate. It may give you something to google though. Here goes:

I have a Chinese daughter and I was looking up something about age of first period in Asians and whether it was different than Caucasians. That led to this whole interesting search of articles about growth and development in Asians and Caucasians. It seems that in Caucasians, 90-100 lbs is kind of a magic weight for when girls get their first period. So, I was trying to figure out if the same is true for Asians. (We are trying to guess at her height potential and have no family history on her. We adopted her as a baby.) What I read in my search is that Asians carry more fat as visceral fat around their organs that you can't see than Caucasians. Ours tends to be more visible. So, an Asian person who weighs 150# will look smaller than a Caucasian person weighing 150# who is the same height. So, I didn't know there was an Asian BMI chart but that makes sense. Visceral fat is more dangerous. So, it would make sense that Asians would want to stay at a lower BMI if what I read is true and accurate.

Hope this helps you some.

Yes. I even had a mini-argument with a medical professional once: I mentioned that I knew it would be healthier for me to lose weight, she said I wasn't overweight, and I told her to calculate my BMI (which was then just over the line into the obese range).

There can be lots of reasons for this. In my case, I speculate it had to do with weight distribution. While I wasn't extra muscle-y, I was very active. Therefore, I didn't have the sort of doughy appearance that many older, overweight women have. In addition, I have a very narrow-hipped bone structure, so the fat around my hips/thighs/waist didn't look like as much as it actually was.

For me, only my doctor's opinion mattered, and only my opinion drove the goal. Everything else was just chit-chat.

kanaada wrote: »

I don't know but everyone says I don't look as heavy as I weigh which makes me wonder why is that so? I am overweight with a bmi of 23.5(following Asian bmi standard) but nobody believes me when I told them so. I researched on how muscles weigh more than fats but I don't think my muscles are so "heavy" to out me in the overweight category. So guys, have anyone said the same thing to you too?

Yes, but then I have a large frame. If you have a medium frame and everyone around you has a small frame, this could be a consideration for you as well. http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp

Alluminati wrote: »

What does it matter in the long run? What matters is what YOU think of you. That being said, it could be a cultural thing, a context thing or body fat distribution thing.

This!