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Is every single body in the world intended to be within the so-called healthy BMI range?

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Replies

  • Tabbycat00
    Tabbycat00 Posts: 146 Member
    I have a BMI of 17 (underweight) but body fat of 22%. Had a baby, everything “womanly” comes at the same time every month...pretty sure this is just the way God made me. I think it’s a guide, but everyone is different.
  • Anon2018
    Anon2018 Posts: 139 Member
    edited November 2017
    I don't really understand how anyone can claim they are incorrectly categorized or not when the definitions have no meaning besides the one defined by the BMI calculator. So, as an individual, if your BMI is in the "overweight" range, it means, categorically, that you are carrying a certain amount of weight per square inch of your body. It does not say whether that weight is fat, muscle, bone, or boob (i.e. fat that you can't necessarily control with diet). It's an indicator of increased risk of certain health populations for a population, but in an individual not necessarily, that's how statistics work.

    The words happen to be emotionally loaded, so people take umbrage at them, but they don't actually mean anything objective. They make people feel like they can visually diagnose the categories. Would I, personally, be more healthy at a lower weight? Maybe, maybe not. That's not what it's for. I'm BMI obese right now. I'm extremely short, which is another population that the BMI doesn't work great for, but I wear a size 8 pants and a size small shirt. My waist is 28 inches. All of my numbers are perfect and I've never had a weight related health issue (I'm currently at 155 and I'm 4'11", for context). Am I "incorrectly categorized"? Well, that's impossible to define. I don't like the label or feel like I fit into that population (though I admit certainly that I AM overweight/overfat). At my thinnest I was 125 which is RIGHT on the cusp, so the days I woke up 127 I was technically overweight, but I was wearing a size 2/XS with a 26 inch waist. It just doesn't work for individuals. If the labels were below average, average, above average, and well above average would people take so much personal offense at them?

    BTW, my boyfriend is also overweight, at 5'7" and 180 pounds. He is very muscular, has <10% body fat, and has a visible 6 pack. He's not an OMG body builder, just a reasonably fit/athletic guy. So, us shorties get shafted, but just because the label puts us in a group that is more likely to have health problems doesn't have any relationship to us as individuals.
  • czmiles926
    czmiles926 Posts: 130 Member
    My bmi has always hovered on the border between underweight and normal. At the moment my bmi is 17.3. People seem to arguing that there's nothing wrong with being a little over the healthy bmi range so by that logic there's nothing wrong with being a little under the healthy bmi range.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
    czmiles926 wrote: »
    My bmi has always hovered on the border between underweight and normal. At the moment my bmi is 17.3. People seem to arguing that there's nothing wrong with being a little over the healthy bmi range so by that logic there's nothing wrong with being a little under the healthy bmi range.

    As a female you're at much greater health risk being underweight/underfat than overweight/overfat. But just because you're underweight doesn't necessarily that you're underfat.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    I'm overweight, I know I'm overweight, not by a lot compared with where I started but according to the NHS BMI calculator I need to lose another 10lb to get in to the healthy weight category.

    But the rest of the world struggles to believe that I need to lose that weight, including the nurse I saw for my asthma check last week who described me as athletic. I do have a lot of excess skin, no idea how much but it's got to be more than 5lb worth and I do appear to have more than average muscle mass, although that is just by appearance and the fact that I do/have work/ed hard to maintain my muscle mass and grow a little while losing some fat in the last few months.

    According to my scales (which I know are not accurate) my bf is <30% and steadily dropping (I believe the scales more that its dropping as I'm losing inches without losing pounds) and my health markers such as resting heart rate (40) and blood pressure (105/60) are considered pretty good. Oh and I'm a UK 10/12 which is another reason some people don't believe I'm overweight.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    firef1y72 wrote: »
    I'm overweight, I know I'm overweight, not by a lot compared with where I started but according to the NHS BMI calculator I need to lose another 10lb to get in to the healthy weight category.

    But the rest of the world struggles to believe that I need to lose that weight, including the nurse I saw for my asthma check last week who described me as athletic. I do have a lot of excess skin, no idea how much but it's got to be more than 5lb worth and I do appear to have more than average muscle mass, although that is just by appearance and the fact that I do/have work/ed hard to maintain my muscle mass and grow a little while losing some fat in the last few months.

    According to my scales (which I know are not accurate) my bf is <30% and steadily dropping (I believe the scales more that its dropping as I'm losing inches without losing pounds) and my health markers such as resting heart rate (40) and blood pressure (105/60) are considered pretty good. Oh and I'm a UK 10/12 which is another reason some people don't believe I'm overweight.

    I think that you have done tremendous in your efforts and the 10lbs to get you out of the overweight category is something I am sure you will accomplish.

    But thinking about it this way too...if you were 10lbs underweight it would matter...10lbs is actually quite a bit when you put it in perspective.

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    and I wouldn't assume you are building much muscle unless you are doing heavy weights and eating enough...and since you are losing weight chances are no you are not gainign muscle.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    firef1y72 wrote: »
    I'm overweight, I know I'm overweight, not by a lot compared with where I started but according to the NHS BMI calculator I need to lose another 10lb to get in to the healthy weight category.

    But the rest of the world struggles to believe that I need to lose that weight, including the nurse I saw for my asthma check last week who described me as athletic. I do have a lot of excess skin, no idea how much but it's got to be more than 5lb worth and I do appear to have more than average muscle mass, although that is just by appearance and the fact that I do/have work/ed hard to maintain my muscle mass and grow a little while losing some fat in the last few months.

    According to my scales (which I know are not accurate) my bf is <30% and steadily dropping (I believe the scales more that its dropping as I'm losing inches without losing pounds) and my health markers such as resting heart rate (40) and blood pressure (105/60) are considered pretty good. Oh and I'm a UK 10/12 which is another reason some people don't believe I'm overweight.

    Does it bother you that other people don't think you need to lose weight? Do you question whether you should?

    My take on this is that probably everyone COULD be within the healthy weight zone as currently defined (which is hardly set in stone or not open to debate, as it's about risks and exactly where a particular individual has the least risk will be variable and depend on other things). The better question is if everyone SHOULD or NEEDS TO be in the healthy weight zone. Last time I went to the doctor when overweight I was similar to you -- not very overweight, BMI of 26, in great shape (I was running and doing other exercise a lot, training for a multi-day biking event and half marathons, doing strength training), and had great test results (my test results were actually fine when I was fat too, but they were better). My doctor said "you are technically overweight but not by much, and obviously very fit and in good health, it's probably nothing to worry about." (This contrasts with when I went to the doctor when obese and even though my tests were fine she told me I should lose weight.)

    I told her I knew I was a little overweight and planning to lose more. She asked me what my goal was, and I said 120 (which is about BMI 21), and she said "that's great" and asked me some questions about diet (I assume to make sure I was not overdoing it or developing issues or just that I had a healthy diet, beats me) and ended up seeming happy. We also talked about MFP a bit, since I told her I'd used it and she approved.

    Anyway, I don't really think that having a stable weight of around 26 BMI is something to worry about if one is healthy and fit and so on, although on average risks might be less for people with BMI 22. For me, the issue is that my weight is no more stable at 26 than 21-22, and I have vanity and athletic reasons for preferring to be 120 vs. 145. But at 145 plenty of people would say I don't NEED to lose weight and that's true, although it's still valid for me to think I want to or even that I should.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    firef1y72 wrote: »
    I'm overweight, I know I'm overweight, not by a lot compared with where I started but according to the NHS BMI calculator I need to lose another 10lb to get in to the healthy weight category.

    But the rest of the world struggles to believe that I need to lose that weight, including the nurse I saw for my asthma check last week who described me as athletic. I do have a lot of excess skin, no idea how much but it's got to be more than 5lb worth and I do appear to have more than average muscle mass, although that is just by appearance and the fact that I do/have work/ed hard to maintain my muscle mass and grow a little while losing some fat in the last few months.

    According to my scales (which I know are not accurate) my bf is <30% and steadily dropping (I believe the scales more that its dropping as I'm losing inches without losing pounds) and my health markers such as resting heart rate (40) and blood pressure (105/60) are considered pretty good. Oh and I'm a UK 10/12 which is another reason some people don't believe I'm overweight.

    Does it bother you that other people don't think you need to lose weight? Do you question whether you should?

    My take on this is that probably everyone COULD be within the healthy weight zone as currently defined (which is hardly set in stone or not open to debate, as it's about risks and exactly where a particular individual has the least risk will be variable and depend on other things). The better question is if everyone SHOULD or NEEDS TO be in the healthy weight zone. Last time I went to the doctor when overweight I was similar to you -- not very overweight, BMI of 26, in great shape (I was running and doing other exercise a lot, training for a multi-day biking event and half marathons, doing strength training), and had great test results (my test results were actually fine when I was fat too, but they were better). My doctor said "you are technically overweight but not by much, and obviously very fit and in good health, it's probably nothing to worry about." (This contrasts with when I went to the doctor when obese and even though my tests were fine she told me I should lose weight.)

    I told her I knew I was a little overweight and planning to lose more. She asked me what my goal was, and I said 120 (which is about BMI 21), and she said "that's great" and asked me some questions about diet (I assume to make sure I was not overdoing it or developing issues or just that I had a healthy diet, beats me) and ended up seeming happy. We also talked about MFP a bit, since I told her I'd used it and she approved.

    Anyway, I don't really think that having a stable weight of around 26 BMI is something to worry about if one is healthy and fit and so on, although on average risks might be less for people with BMI 22. For me, the issue is that my weight is no more stable at 26 than 21-22, and I have vanity and athletic reasons for preferring to be 120 vs. 145. But at 145 plenty of people would say I don't NEED to lose weight and that's true, although it's still valid for me to think I want to or even that I should.

    Agreed...

    my goal was 165...that put me at 26 BMI too...cause I thought I couldn't get lower...

    when I got there I didn't look like I was overweight either...until I got naked and there was a tire around my middle...

    so I got down to 155...then 145 and 145 (at my height) is 24...I give myself a range...140-150

    I could go lower but eh...husband prefers me that way and I am good with that too.

    I think too at some point we as a society are biased and don't really know what "healthy" looks like any more...sometimes because we are overweight and if we tell someone else they are we have to admit it about ourselves or that the norm is now bigger...

    who knows.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    SezxyStef wrote: »



    and I wouldn't assume you are building much muscle unless you are doing heavy weights and eating enough...and since you are losing weight chances are no you are not gainign muscle.

    I've not been losing weight for just over 3 months now and for a few months before that had slowed the loss down to less than 0.5lb/week. Plus I do lift heavy, for me, following 5/3/1 and make small progress every month (deadlifting and squatting well above bodyweight, not so good on upper body) along with extra upper body work (my legs and butt are good but chest/back/shoulders needed/still need work). Lost 5cm off my vitals in that 3 months without a change in weight (+/-2lb).

    Oh and before anyone says anything, I know it's not a huge amount of muscle, but hopefully it's something.

  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »

    Does it bother you that other people don't think you need to lose weight? Do you question whether you should?

    I haven't been this size (10/12) in around 9years and last time I was I was around a stone lighter, so I do sometimes wonder if I should really be trying to lose or should concentrate on being happy in my own skin and my fitness goals and if any more weight drops off then that'd be a bonus. But it does get to me a bit when people say that I'm tiny when I still see myself as I was 1 or even 2 years ago.

    My take on this is that probably everyone COULD be within the healthy weight zone as currently defined (which is hardly set in stone or not open to debate, as it's about risks and exactly where a particular individual has the least risk will be variable and depend on other things). The better question is if everyone SHOULD or NEEDS TO be in the healthy weight zone. Last time I went to the doctor when overweight I was similar to you -- not very overweight, BMI of 26, in great shape (I was running and doing other exercise a lot, training for a multi-day biking event and half marathons, doing strength training), and had great test results (my test results were actually fine when I was fat too, but they were better). My doctor said "you are technically overweight but not by much, and obviously very fit and in good health, it's probably nothing to worry about." (This contrasts with when I went to the doctor when obese and even though my tests were fine she told me I should lose weight.)

    The nurse was pretty much the same with me last week, never been described as athletic before even when I was a "healthy" weight. I run, weight train and really enjoy high intensity classes and PT sessions.

    I told her I knew I was a little overweight and planning to lose more. She asked me what my goal was, and I said 120 (which is about BMI 21), and she said "that's great" and asked me some questions about diet (I assume to make sure I was not overdoing it or developing issues or just that I had a healthy diet, beats me) and ended up seeming happy. We also talked about MFP a bit, since I told her I'd used it and she approved.

    Anyway, I don't really think that having a stable weight of around 26 BMI is something to worry about if one is healthy and fit and so on, although on average risks might be less for people with BMI 22. For me, the issue is that my weight is no more stable at 26 than 21-22, and I have vanity and athletic reasons for preferring to be 120 vs. 145. But at 145 plenty of people would say I don't NEED to lose weight and that's true, although it's still valid for me to think I want to or even that I should.
    I've managed to keep my weight stable for 3 months, which isn't long in the scheme of things but has been an education in itself. Yes I would like to get down to around 134lb (which is a stone away) and as things stand the plan is to go back in to weight loss mode, working with my PT for around 3 months in the new year and see where I am after that, hopefully at the 134lb and ready to maintain again for a while

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    firef1y72 wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »



    and I wouldn't assume you are building much muscle unless you are doing heavy weights and eating enough...and since you are losing weight chances are no you are not gainign muscle.

    I've not been losing weight for just over 3 months now and for a few months before that had slowed the loss down to less than 0.5lb/week. Plus I do lift heavy, for me, following 5/3/1 and make small progress every month (deadlifting and squatting well above bodyweight, not so good on upper body) along with extra upper body work (my legs and butt are good but chest/back/shoulders needed/still need work). Lost 5cm off my vitals in that 3 months without a change in weight (+/-2lb).

    Oh and before anyone says anything, I know it's not a huge amount of muscle, but hopefully it's something.

    again sorry you aren't building muscle if you are eating in a deficit and/or losing weight even 1/2 a week is 250 a day deficit.

    You are not obese and not new to lifting esp if you are doing 5/3/1

    don't confuse building muscle with strength...

    what you are doing is maintaining existing muscle the best you can...not all of it but a lot of it which is great.
  • fishgutzy
    fishgutzy Posts: 2,807 Member
    NO. BMI was actually never intended to be applied to individuals. It was used to for population comparison.
    Ever visit China? low wages and high process for anything but rice and vegetables makes for generally much thinner, bordering on anorexic population. More so in rural China than in the cities.
    Imagine how much less interesting personal sports would be if all players had to be in the normal or lower BMI range. Most are overweight or obese by BMI. LINEMEN are morbidly obese per BMI.
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,493 Member
    Tabbycat00 wrote: »
    I have a BMI of 17 (underweight) but body fat of 22%. Had a baby, everything “womanly” comes at the same time every month...pretty sure this is just the way God made me. I think it’s a guide, but everyone is different.

    What brought you guys to this site? Always wonder when people who have been underweight their whole lives why they are on a site like this (if they aren't trying to gain) and what brought them here. Is it because you didn't want to gain weight?
    czmiles926 wrote: »
    My bmi has always hovered on the border between underweight and normal. At the moment my bmi is 17.3. People seem to arguing that there's nothing wrong with being a little over the healthy bmi range so by that logic there's nothing wrong with being a little under the healthy bmi range.

  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    NO. BMI was actually never intended to be applied to individuals. It was used to for population comparison.
    Ever visit China? low wages and high process for anything but rice and vegetables makes for generally much thinner, bordering on anorexic population. More so in rural China than in the cities.
    Imagine how much less interesting personal sports would be if all players had to be in the normal or lower BMI range. Most are overweight or obese by BMI. LINEMEN are morbidly obese per BMI.

    It would be like it already is in cycling, swimming, and basketball.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,216 Member
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    NO. BMI was actually never intended to be applied to individuals. It was used to for population comparison.
    Ever visit China? low wages and high process for anything but rice and vegetables makes for generally much thinner, bordering on anorexic population. More so in rural China than in the cities.
    Imagine how much less interesting personal sports would be if all players had to be in the normal or lower BMI range. Most are overweight or obese by BMI. LINEMEN are morbidly obese per BMI.

    ... depends on where in China you visit. My wife is Chinese and is short and stocky. Her entire family is short and stocky as is a significant portion of the people from where she is from in Guangzhou. The same could be said of Macau where her mother is from. She calls her build a "peasant's build" and has pointed out to me in San Francisco, in Chinatown that a significant portion of even that population is built that way - although I assume you could blame that on western excess. The "borderline anorexic" builds you see in mainland China, especially with women is intentional. Chinese prize thin, along with other eastern traits, like paleness to a much greater extent than Western culture and it's quite intentional. Not to mention that the bone structure of the typical Asian is a lot smaller than European stock. ;)

    ... and then you have Asian outliers like me, at 6'1 and 240. I assure you though, it's also quite intentional. :)

  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    NO. BMI was actually never intended to be applied to individuals. It was used to for population comparison.
    Ever visit China? low wages and high process for anything but rice and vegetables makes for generally much thinner, bordering on anorexic population. More so in rural China than in the cities.
    Imagine how much less interesting personal sports would be if all players had to be in the normal or lower BMI range. Most are overweight or obese by BMI. LINEMEN are morbidly obese per BMI.

    It would be like it already is in cycling, swimming, and basketball.

    Yes, NFL linemen are probably morbidly obese by BMI... and they're still probably not super healthy, either... Kind of brings up a chicken versus the egg debate--are they large because they're linemen, or did they become linemen because they're large? It's not like most ex-linemen are aging gracefully...
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    fishgutzy wrote: »
    NO. BMI was actually never intended to be applied to individuals. It was used to for population comparison.
    Ever visit China? low wages and high process for anything but rice and vegetables makes for generally much thinner, bordering on anorexic population. More so in rural China than in the cities.
    Imagine how much less interesting personal sports would be if all players had to be in the normal or lower BMI range. Most are overweight or obese by BMI. LINEMEN are morbidly obese per BMI.

    It would be like it already is in cycling, swimming, and basketball.

    Or Football (the real one), baseball, most weight classes in any martial art or weight lifting or 90% of sports at the olympics.
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Tabbycat00 wrote: »
    I have a BMI of 17 (underweight) but body fat of 22%. Had a baby, everything “womanly” comes at the same time every month...pretty sure this is just the way God made me. I think it’s a guide, but everyone is different.

    What brought you guys to this site? Always wonder when people who have been underweight their whole lives why they are on a site like this (if they aren't trying to gain) and what brought them here. Is it because you didn't want to gain weight?
    czmiles926 wrote: »
    My bmi has always hovered on the border between underweight and normal. At the moment my bmi is 17.3. People seem to arguing that there's nothing wrong with being a little over the healthy bmi range so by that logic there's nothing wrong with being a little under the healthy bmi range.

    I've been at my college graduation weight +/- 10 pounds for 40 years. I had a nutrient deficiency and use the app to track certain nutrients.