Do you care about your BMI?

gabbyo23
gabbyo23 Posts: 100 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm just curious as to everyone else's take on this.

My bmi tells me I am overweight. I have lost 3 stone 4lbs, I were a UK size 14 - fits loose. I could certainly be smaller I could be a 12 or a "perfect 10", but I'm smaller than the average UK woman. So I continue to pursue a healthy bmi and hold a it up as the holy grail of weight loss.

Recently I took a diet break over Xmas. I have posted about it before because I continue to struggle with getting back on track. I have actually lost another 5lbs since Xmas...God knows how...stress probably!! But I havn't been doing very well at sticking to a deficit.

It's so frustrating because I'm just 5lbs away from a healthy bmi, but every day I mess up.

Why?

Why can't I do it all of a sudden? Maybe it's because whatever bmi tells me, I think I look OK now. I feel good. I don't have that desperate need to lose a billion pounds.

So I'm just wondering if anyone else felt ok about switching to maintenance even though they are technically "overweight"?
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Replies

  • hekla90
    hekla90 Posts: 595 Member
    5 lbs probably isn't gonna make a huge health difference. Last year, I weighed 87 lbs and my bmi was 15.4- that does make a health difference. This year I struggled and managed to gain 9 lbs which brought me to a bmi of 17 still a bit underweight but I feel dramatically better and know once I manage to gain a bit more I'll feel back to normal. Before last year I maintained a slightly underweight bmi and felt great, ate around 1700-2000 calories a day and was in the best shape of my life. If you feel good, like how you look, are eating nutritionally sound, I wouldn't stress about 5 lbs. I think it's definitely possible to be 5 lbs overweight but still be healthy especially with a larger bone structure.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    BMI is not a perfect measure. It is a guide based on averages and I think some people will fall just outside it on either end and be perfectly healthy. If both yourself and your doctor are happy with your weight that is more important.

    I personally look at my BMI, and now SBMI, but focus more on body fat percentage and how I feel.
  • Emily3907
    Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
    No. I think that the BMI chart may be a good gauge, but not the end all be all of health. I know that my family doctor has veered away from BMI as priority and is starting to take other things into consideration beyond BMI like labwork, waist/height measurements, etc. as markers for health.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    When I started using this site a year ago, it asked me to tell my goal weight. That was the first time I actually gave thought to a definite number, so in my ignorance I asked the BMI chart for the middle of the healthy range for a man my height. That became my goal for weight loss. I don't stress about it. I just have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, stay in a calorie deficit and weigh daily to see if I'm making progress over time.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I use BMI as one measure and BF% the other. I'm overweight as per BMI, but I'm at a healthy BF%...if I was overweight by BMI and also over fat in RE to BF%, that would be an issue. At the high end of BMI (174 Lbs), I'm pretty lean...like around 10-12%...at 180 which is where I usually am, I'm somewhere between 12-15% BF but overweight as per BMI. Right now I'm a little fatter 'cuz winter and coming off an injury, but still at a healthy BF%.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    nope I don't.

    Just like I don't give a flying fart about the scale or the size of my jeans...they are all just numbers that are well stupid...

    I go by how my clothing looks, fits, feels and how I feel when I look in the mirror.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited January 2017
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    I treat BMI as the broad side of the barn. If you are overweight it is a good starting point to aim at. If you are at a healthy weight and fitness level then use something else.

    That's pretty much the way I see it and have used it.

    Once I got to within 5-10 pounds of the top of my BMI range, my focus moved more to body fat levels than straight weight. Up until that point I really did just need to be dropping weight, because I knew that I in no way had enough muscle to justify how much I weighed.

    I tend to think that people who wholly dismiss BMI due to the fact that they are heavily muscled and above the healthy range only say so in order to brag about their muscle mass.
  • andrea4736
    andrea4736 Posts: 211 Member
    Ehhhhh, I try not to pay too much attention to it. Going simply by height and weight doesn't seem at all accurate to me. I can have the same BMI as someone because we have the same height and weight and I can wear 3 sizes smaller than them due to having muscle tone.
  • newbie3122
    newbie3122 Posts: 480 Member
    BMI doesn't take into account bone/muscle mass, water, etc. I don't really use BMI, but according to it, I'm obese :'(
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
    edited January 2017
    Since starting this whole process I've used BMI as a guideline to make sure I'm at a healthy weight that's not to high or to low. It's one of the tools my doctor uses as well and it's also the marker my husband's company uses in determining our health insurance costs (those with higher bmi's pay more in premiums). I think for most people (excluding athletes and body builders etc), it's a pretty good guideline. It also has a fairly wide weight range within the healthy parameters, to take into considerations things like bone/muscle mass/frame sizing/body shape and also personal aesthetic preferences.
  • jayjay_90
    jayjay_90 Posts: 83 Member
    I use it as a good benchmark for where I should be, but ultimately I'm focusing more on how I feel than what the number says after I put my stats in. I find when I'm sitting in the "healthy BMI" range for my height, that is pretty much where I feel comfortable - anything above and I start feeling sludgy haha.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    I care a little bit--enough to know that a healthy weight for me starts at the top end of my normal BMI and that is how I set my goal weight. I think I will always be on the heavier side of normal because even at my fittest I was always kind of bigger. That used to bother me when I was younger, but bothers me exactly zero percent now.
  • ashliedelgado
    ashliedelgado Posts: 814 Member
    I used it to find my first goal weight. 145 is the upper end of healthy for my height, and I plan to gauge how I feel from there.

    I did rejoice last year when I saw that my doctors computer classified me as overweight, and not obese. I walked out fist pumping haha.

    But ultimately for me it was just a tool to pick my first goal.
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
    Everyone's different, and my "healthy weight" happens to be smack in the middle of the healthy BMI range, but if I were built differently, I might be at a healthy weight at a higher weight and above the range. I can't tell you how many women I know from the gym who to me look absolutely healthy and perfect but weigh 30-40 lbs more than me, no rolls, no flab.
  • akmomof7
    akmomof7 Posts: 162 Member
    I definitely wanted to be at a healthy (aka normal ) bmi. I think for women, it is pretty accurate as far as classifying us as overweight. Now that I am in the healthy range, currently 23bmi, it doesn't really concern me. But, I have always thought of myself as large framed and I am finding that belief tested as I still have loads of fat I can lose.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Nope. I've been "obese" since I was 15 yet am leaner than average. BMI doesn't work for tall, short or well muscled people.
  • ShammersPink
    ShammersPink Posts: 215 Member
    I think it fairly unlikely that most normal women will be at their healthiest outside of the prescribed range. Where you fall within it will depend on your body type.

    But it could be that you just don't find it worth the hassle to lose those last few lb - no-one has a perfectly ideal lifestyle in every respect. Maybe there are more important things for you, if you feel good and look good.

    Some large well-muscled men will certainly fall above BMI25 at a sensible BF%
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
    I care about it in so far that I'm still a good chunk outside what's considered healthy. My goal is to reach healthy and then reevaluate there.

    For me it's a good guideline of where I should be going as I'm so totally not an outlier, even if I'd love to believe I am... :tongue:
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  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    If I get to 5 lbs from the top healthy weight for my height I probably wouldn't stress about it and be okay maintaining there.
    I do know I felt and looked my best toward the middle healthy bmi in the past so that is where I am aiming. I don't have to be a paricular number but do want to get as close to that healthy range as I can.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
    With only five pounds to go, it could be your deficit is too high. It should be set to a half a pound a week with so few pounds to lose.

    I do go by BMI but it's because I really have no reason not to fall in the healthy weight range for a woman of my height. I'm not incredibly muscular (nor do I ever plan to be). I have a larger frame, but nothing fantastical. I plan to stay in the high end of the healthy weight range for my height.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    I pay attention to it enough to want to be in the range for my height, which I am on the high end of it which works fine for me. Now, I'm trying to shave a few more pounds (I gained about 5 over the holidays) and then I'm going back to recomping b/c I want to lose fat and keep or gain a bit of muscle mass.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    I worry more about my belly measurement as that comes with more health problems, I'm technically (just) in a healthy bmi of 25 atm but the measurement around my belly (taken where your bellybutton is not the slimmest part/dress waist) is over the healthy range of 32" for a women (according to the british heart foundation). If you don't store all your weight around your middrift like me and are a pear or hourglass figure you're probably fine. I however as an apple don't feel like I'm at a healthy weight even though my BMI says I technically am, as another poster says BMI is a rough guide based on averages if you feel healthy and are happy then no need to aim for that number. Hope that helps. :)
  • hellobaconplease
    hellobaconplease Posts: 108 Member
    edited January 2017
    I don't overly care - I mean, I don't want to be in any of the obese categories. I want to get down to "overweight" and I'll be pleased.

    My husband is 5'6"/168cm tall, weight varies between 161-174lbs/73-79kg which is overweight for his height, but he does olympic weightlifting almost every day and has a fairly decent amount of muscle. He's got fat too, sure, but I wouldn't say a huge amount. There is a small bit he can pinch on his tummy and hips, that's about it. I look at this picture of him and don't think "oh god, he's so overweight!" BMI 26.6 in this picture.

    DSC_0891_zps61bd14dd.jpg

    I would love to be "overweight" but from being more muscular than most women tend to be. I'd be more than happy with that. I know how hard that it is to build muscle as a woman though.
  • ShammersPink
    ShammersPink Posts: 215 Member
    animatorswearbras wrote: »
    I worry more about my belly measurement as that comes with more health problems, I'm technically (just) in a healthy bmi of 25 atm but the measurement around my belly (taken where your bellybutton is not the slimmest part/dress waist) is over the healthy range of 32" for a women (according to the british heart foundation). If you don't store all your weight around your middrift like me and are a pear or hourglass figure you're probably fine. I however as an apple don't feel like I'm at a healthy weight even though my BMI says I technically am

    Yes, that's a good point. But I think the 32" waist figure is an example of the over-simplification of health guidelines. It'd be relatively stout on a 5' woman, but not unreasonable on a 5' 10" woman. Waist:Height ratio is probably a better measure, along with Waist:Hip ratio.

    If those are both okay, then you probably aren't carrying most of your weight as visceral fat.
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