14.5 bmi is this too low?
Options
Replies
-
You are a nice looking young man, btw. I agree with paperpudding. One of my 3 sons is built like you. He is 6' and weighs 142 and has difficulty gaining.paperpudding wrote: »In the photo you appear underweight but not emaciated.
I agree with checking on a second scale in case your scale settings are wrong.
However the issue is not so much what your weight is but the sudden unexplained weight loss - you really need to find and treat the underlying cause of this.
My son can eat a lot and is very active. But he loses easily and is very healthy otherwise. We were concerned at one point, and my dad thought he had anorexia. But he wasn't trying to br thin.
I have a brother who is 6'3" and weighed 145 pounds for a long time. He filled out later on in life.
On the other hand, OP, if you were already trim and dropped weight for no reason, please tell your mom. Moms have ways of getting appointments. I found that young people are often not taken seriously.
My uncle dropped weight quickly and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. But you mentioned that you feel healthy?
If you have a busy job you might be burning more calories than you are used to. You could ask your parents to help you out and stock some more food for you. Can you cook for yourself?
Get screened for health issues just to be sure there are no medical issues. They might say to supplement with protein shakes or Ensure or something. None of us can armchair advise you. We can only make guesses. Your physician can take a look and screen you.4 -
had an endocrinologist tell my severly underweight 34 year old boyfriend with osteoperosis that this was normal and just his build! GI doc looked into it further and found out he had EPI Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiancy! its baicaly your pancreas doesnt produce enough enzmyes to digest your food and you slowly starve to death from malabsorbtion. if you have a lot of loose soft stools I would get checked for this or some other malabsorbtion disorder. the GI did a stool fat test. they test for that because it wil show up as not being digested.1
-
Hi Rogue, I read you are 20, It can be tough for many of us putting our foot down with doctors receptionists, some are dragons, trained to protect doctors from time wasters. Its tough when you are away from family, assumption.
Please if you are close enough, walk into that doctors practice and just tell them over the desk, you need to be seen because of this unexplained weight loss. I would doubt very much that they can refuse you. All the very best.
Yeah. I would go up to the receptionist, explain the issues, and then would "camp out" in the waiting room with my son until looked at if I was his mom.1 -
Your BMI is calculated as 14.9
Your weight is at a very low level; in our view, it may lead to serious health problems. By classification of the WHO, you are "underweight".
Your Smart Body Mass Index: This assessment is based on the newly developed Smart Body Mass Index (SBMI). Its ideal range is between 30/70 and 39/70.
Your SBMI is 6/70 or "6 points out of 70".
Things that you may want to discuss with your doctor: **It is important to know whether a serious disease or deliberate weight loss has caused the emaciation. Whatever the case, medical help is advisable.**
Possible causes:
Eating disorders: anorexia, bulimia
Slimming caused by a disease
Possible measures:
Set a weight target <<as in try to gain weight... now, not tomorrow>>
Nutritional <<as in eat more... now, not tomorrow>>
Psychological: coaching, therapy <<as in if this is caused by your own action, or inaction, it's time to sort things out>>
Disease-specific therapy <<as in you may have a physical ailment. Time to find out if you are diabetic or have developed some other disease. Your doctor ordered some tests. Sounds like a fasting glucose test.... How about in the meanwhile you maybe check with a pharmacy whether they can give you some blood sugar level strips or a tester with some free strips and some instructions on how to self test your blood sugar levels after meals or what have you (sometimes they have free promos for these testers in my neck of the woods). If the strips indicate that you are diabetic (or that your glucose is high after meals or for extended periods of time) maybe someone better versed in this can give you advise as to how to start eating to avoid ending in even more trouble while you wait for your doctor to get off his *kitten* and prescribe. And I would also keep in the back of my mind where the nearest A&E is and how to get there in case I needed to get there ASAP while everyone else is scratching their *kittens* and singing "call us again tomorrow"!>> << WTF? UK Medical System: you've lost a few respect points on this one!>>
Important to know: This feedback can only be based on the inevitably limited extent of the data that you have entered here.
This data has been evaluated by comparing it with the results of the most comprehensive study published so far on the BMI and its associated health risks.
<<The above is commented output using the smartbmi calculator at http://www.smartbmicalculator.com/ and inputs of 20 yo male, 6ft 1", 112.5lbs, non asian>>
The results and comments above can only give you an estimate that applies to all men at 20 years of age with a body mass index of 14.9, as a statistical group.
****They are non-personal.****** <<they are based on averages; it could be that you're not "average">>
***** They should never replace medical advice******* <---- The, based on your description, apparently not very concerned physician, is, to date, the only competent professional who has put forth an opinion.
Let me repeat that.
The ONLY competent professional who has put forth an opinion is your doctor!
He or she has both the knowledge and the insurance coverage to put forth that opinion. And presumably, he or she had access to your medical history, and examined you in person.
The internet in general and me in particular... aren't competent professionals and haven't gone through your medical history and examined you in person.4 -
Traveler120 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »
..............Traveler120 wrote: »paperpudding wrote: »Traveler120 wrote: »What a bizarre thread! Why is everyone hyperventilating about this guy? Looking at his pic, he doesn't look sickly, he's just underweight. If he's able to walk at his job for 5 hrs every day (which with low intake explains his weight loss), then he's not sick enough to need a trip to the ER, or an emergency dr's appointment. He simply needs to eat more food if he wants to gain weight. The end!
I disagree that he simply needs to eat more food - someone young who has sudden unexplained weight loss does not simply need to eat more food - he needs to find out the underlying cause of this as it can be a symptom of serious illnesses.
..........
He already explained that he walks for hours at work and the sample diet he described doesn't sound like much so he's just likely simply in a massive deficit given his height and active job.
And he may have recently started his job, we don't know, he doesn't say. Plus, he says he's always been skinny. So adding lots of activity while eating the same way you've always eaten=weightloss. I once lost 20 lbs in 2 months doing a warehouse job and I wasn't even deliberately trying to lose.
If he's unable to eat or if he eats more and fails to gain weight, THEN I'd say go see a doc. Until then, there's nothing to see here, it's just a guy not eating enough calories. The only mystery is why this is not obvious to him.
New job, more activity or not - one doesnt suddenly lose 2 stone (or 28 pounds) in 2 months.
Especially not from a starting BMI of already underweight..............
Why not? More activity=more deficit=weightloss. It's not that hard. That's a deficit of ~1600 calories/day. At 6'1" with a very active job, his TDEE is conceivably near 3000. To get that deficit, All he has to do is eat around 1500/day which is likely since he said one of his meals was 400-500. So you see, still not a medical mystery needing a battery of tests. Just an extra sandwich....or ten.
Yes it is that hard - it just doesnt work that way IRL
People dont just lose 28 lb i n 2 months without trying to, from an already underweight starting point, unless there is something wrong.
Even if they increase their activity, if they havent conciously changed their eating habits ie they are not trying to lose weight and are not suddenly in a famine situation or too broke to buy food or whatever - ie it is unexplained - then they tend to eat more to compensate for the increased activity.
Why do you think people say increasing exercise alone wont lose weight - unless you also check what you are eating? because the natural thing is to eat more to that new activity level.
as PP quoted from the mayo clinic - and I think you will find this is standard medical advice.
Sudden unexplained weight loss is a symptom in type 1 diabetes, hyperthroidism, chronic infection, malignancies, coeliac disease, crohns disease etc etc.
OP may have none of these - but at the very least, it needs to be investigated.
Fortunately OP has taken this on board and is seeing a Dr who has ordered some preliminary investigations.
3 -
I would imagine OP has been ordered tests for several things - fasting glucose for diabetes one of them -but highly likely CRP (for chronic infections) iron studies, Thyroid function, coeliac disease etc - is not neccesary to fast for all of these - but of course if he is doing one fasting blood test, they will take all the rest at the same time.0
-
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »a bmi of 15 for a 20 yo individual meets UK guidelines for involuntary hospitalization under the mental health act (sectioning).
Thus a doctor would be unlikely to be unconcerned when it comes to such a 20 yo individual.
However, a younger person, who for example shot up a few inches in height a month or two ago, might present less of a concern.
Most of us here are not well versed at the guidelines for younger people. The people at spark teens on the other hand.... are!
I too, as is obvious from my previous answer, assumed the US spelling of cheque was being used and was wondering about the poster's drug consumption!!!
exactly Im not buying the doctor was unconcerned...
Again, those doctors unfortunately exist on masse here. I had lots of similar experience. Friends had them. I suppose it's because doctors only have 10 minutes to speak to a patient. There's no time for proper diagnosis, no time to find out what's wrong. And if it's too complicated then better send the patient away.0 -
Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »a bmi of 15 for a 20 yo individual meets UK guidelines for involuntary hospitalization under the mental health act (sectioning).
Thus a doctor would be unlikely to be unconcerned when it comes to such a 20 yo individual.
However, a younger person, who for example shot up a few inches in height a month or two ago, might present less of a concern.
Most of us here are not well versed at the guidelines for younger people. The people at spark teens on the other hand.... are!
I too, as is obvious from my previous answer, assumed the US spelling of cheque was being used and was wondering about the poster's drug consumption!!!
exactly Im not buying the doctor was unconcerned...
Again, those doctors unfortunately exist on masse here. I had lots of similar experience. Friends had them. I suppose it's because doctors only have 10 minutes to speak to a patient. There's no time for proper diagnosis, no time to find out what's wrong. And if it's too complicated then better send the patient away.
Ha, yeah. Instead of deciding on inhalers to treat my adult-onset asthma (after being hospitalised), one doctor said, "get rid of your cat." Refused point blank to consider anything else. The cat had been with us for 7 years by that point, so... no. Other doctor prescribed inhalers, done, I'm still alive and living with the cat.
OP I would get a second opinion at the very least, in case your doctor is fobbing you off.3 -
You're an adult and you don't know how to call up a doctor and get an appointment?! Sorry, but this just screams that something is wrong. What's more, I'm sure that you know that your BMI is too low; you only need to google it to find that out. I'm not a doctor by any means, but I'll give you my two cents.
I myself am down to a BMI of 15.2 and I've been begging for medical help for the past few months. Ended up being in the hospital last week so that they could try to determine what the problem is. I feel totally awful at this weight - lethargic, moody, hard to concentrate, etc. I cannot do my normal exercise program right now, just too difficult. In my opinion, when something is medically wrong, this his what you feel like at a really low weight.
You seem, from your post, to believe you're doing OK; apologies is I have misconstrued anything. That seems to me that you might have more of a psychological issue going on - maybe something like anorexia. Only you can know. Anorexics may deny to everyone that they have this is less, but deep down, they know. I've had quite a few anorexic friends and they all have admitted that once they start recovery. If this is what is going on with you, again, no one but you can know, you need to find the strength to help yourself before you get I'll. People who are anorexic can feel fairly "normal" - until they crash.
If you research on BMI, you'll find interesting statistics. Like a BMI of 12 can be fatal to both men and women. So whether or not your issue is more medical or more psychological (and I guarantee you, you have both medical and psychological issues going on regardless of the cause of your weight loss), get to a doctor. If you have to be seen by an APRN to get in earlier, then do that. You need to have a physical, blood work, and EKG done ASAP to ensure that harm is not happening to your body right now.
4 -
kristikitter wrote: »Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »a bmi of 15 for a 20 yo individual meets UK guidelines for involuntary hospitalization under the mental health act (sectioning).
Thus a doctor would be unlikely to be unconcerned when it comes to such a 20 yo individual.
However, a younger person, who for example shot up a few inches in height a month or two ago, might present less of a concern.
Most of us here are not well versed at the guidelines for younger people. The people at spark teens on the other hand.... are!
I too, as is obvious from my previous answer, assumed the US spelling of cheque was being used and was wondering about the poster's drug consumption!!!
exactly Im not buying the doctor was unconcerned...
Again, those doctors unfortunately exist on masse here. I had lots of similar experience. Friends had them. I suppose it's because doctors only have 10 minutes to speak to a patient. There's no time for proper diagnosis, no time to find out what's wrong. And if it's too complicated then better send the patient away.
Ha, yeah. Instead of deciding on inhalers to treat my adult-onset asthma (after being hospitalised), one doctor said, "get rid of your cat." Refused point blank to consider anything else. The cat had been with us for 7 years by that point, so... no. Other doctor prescribed inhalers, done, I'm still alive and living with the cat.
OP I would get a second opinion at the very least, in case your doctor is fobbing you off.
My previous GP refused to prescribe an inhaler because the asthma diagnosis was done abroad, and clearly my breathing problem was only in my head. She'd not prescribe one until I was seen by a specialist - but, she added, there was no reason to give me a referral to a specialist. Which, btw here takes about 7 months anyway. Great to be sent home with acute asthma and only an expired inhaler on a Friday afternoon. I spent pretty much all of Saturday in A&E just to get the prescription.
I would wait with the second opinion until after the blood test. I'm surprised he'll have to wait until next Friday, but maybe the area is so rural that they only do early morning tests one day a week. My practice, which is fairly rural only does on two days per week.
Anyway, second opinion: If the GP says everything is normal and the TO is healthy then I would seek out a second opinion. The issue is that a GP cannot possible run every blood test available. However, some doctors tend to think their choice of tests is the right one. Everything on this small selection of tests is ok: the patient surely cannot be sick.
TO: also request a printout of your results and keep them. Always nice to have. If you want to you can post them here with reference ranges. Plus, doctors have a tendency to say that everything is ok if a test is just within the reference range. That's just not true. You're not healthy if a value is just within the range and suddenly get sick once you get outside that range. It's a gradual thing and depends a lot on the person as well. Plus the reference ranges for for example thyroid, vitamin B12, ferritin and lots of other things are far too wide in the UK and don't catch people actually being sick due to that if you're dealing with a doctor who only looks at blood results and not at the patient.0 -
Yeah, strange thread. OP asks if he is too skinny. Gets 200 "yes"es. Ignores that.
Unintentional weight loss is not quite the same as unexpected weight loss. OP is hardly eating, and on his feet all day, no surprise he is thin. I'm surprised he doesn't look sick, and seems to feel and function just fine, with those stats.
As often is the case, I can't tell what is true and fake in here, if this is just trolling or attention seeking, or eating disorder or some other illness.4 -
With regards to weight loss: TO, get a food scale and log everything you eat in grams for a couple of days. Take this along to the GP. If you are undereating then certainly psychological help would be in place. But if you are eating sufficiently then this will show the doctor that something is very wrong and needs further investigation. Be proactive, show proof that something is wrong.
I'm writing this because I've been there as well. I was losing weight like crazy (well, about 2.5kg per month) without trying. I did feel absolutely miserable though. After months of running to doctors I recorded all I ate to show that I was not trying to lose weight. One doctor finally did the right blood test and found out I had pernicious anaemia. The macrocytic red bloodcells you'd expect were offset by being low in iron as well, which can cause smaller red blood cells. Anyway, once on B12 shots for about two weeks the weight loss slowed down and then stopped.1 -
Some posters seem to be missing the update that OP has now been to a doctor and is having some preliminary investigations done.
OP hasn't ignored the replies and the doctor hasn't fobbed him off.6 -
Since malaborption was mentioned... OP, have you had any, um, digestive issues you've noticed when you lost the weight rapidly?
I know when I experienced a similar drop in weight I had frequent bathroom visits going on at the same time. My loss was due to celiac disease. The poster upthread mentioned EPI. That would cause a similar urgency.
If this is the case, please make sure your doctor is aware of this.1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »You have major body dysmorphia if you don't see yourself as very underweight at BMI 14.5.
Or OPs scales are wrong and he isn't actually so under weight as I can't believe for a second that there are no noticable signs of OP having a BMI of 14.5
Depending on where my scales are in my flat I can be 40 lbs lighter.0 -
Unless you're auditioning for a remake of The Machinist, eat something.2
-
TavistockToad wrote: »singingflutelady wrote: »You have major body dysmorphia if you don't see yourself as very underweight at BMI 14.5.
Or OPs scales are wrong and he isn't actually so under weight as I can't believe for a second that there are no noticable signs of OP having a BMI of 14.5
Depending on where my scales are in my flat I can be 40 lbs lighter.
His GP weighed him. Allegedly. So this is kind of a moot point.1 -
So now I know what at least one of the drivers licenses in the U.K. looks like. Cool!
OP, I was curious, have you started eating a lot more calories yet?2 -
Your full of s**t mate. A BMI of 15 is classed as severely underweight. Why is everyone still entertaining this clown?? He has some serious mental health issues. It seems to me he's just craving the attention..
0 -
RogueDeer5 wrote: »Calories wise I don't know but I eat a big bowl of cereal for breakfast then either a chicken wrap (about 400 to 500 or so calories) or a peanut butter wrap then for dinner usually a bowl of pasta I don't really snack and only drink water
It sounds like you are an Ectomorph. You eat well and you reach your calorie intake. It's simply hard for your body type to put on weight.
Go to a doctor and ask what the best way to gain weight is because you do need to gain. Staying underweight will cause harm to your body.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 911 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions