BMI for Weight Loss Goal?

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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,189 Member
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    purpleannex wrote: »
    I'm continually astonished at how few people understand BMI. If you think your heart can tell the difference between carrying 50lbs extra muscle or 50lbs extra fat, then enjoy your heart attack!

    Do very tall people have shorter lifespans, or better hearts?

    I don't have data, but I'm very skeptical that very muscular people (who've not abused dangerous supplements) who have good CV fitness are more likely to have heart attacks than less muscular people with similar CV fitness. Do you have data to support your contention, since you're making the claim?

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,189 Member
    edited January 2018
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    purpleannex wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »

    ...ahhh.. so you think a 1lt engine can power a 40 ton truck...

    Fair enough, good luck! Lol

    The pounds involved aren't so dramatically different. Fifty pounds of extra muscle? Crazy rare. Fifty pounds of extra fat? Dead common. What characteristics (or lifestyles) typically accompany either one? I even granted equal CV fitness, which is unlikely in reality.

    Regardless of that: You made the claim. Support it with something more than a metaphor.

    ETA: I'm entirely willing to accept your thesis, even though it's counter to my expectations. I like to learn new things, sincerely.
  • ryenday
    ryenday Posts: 1,540 Member
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    I am struggling with this myself. My BMI is 26.22 (overweight by ~9 pounds). My waist to height ratio is 43.8 (close to the slender end of healthy. Body fat percentage (caliper method) 24%. Clothes size small except pants size 8 or medium.

    I think I look Ok, even good if I dress carefully. I cringe every time I check my newly calculated calorie allotment plunge downward as I lose more weight.

    I decided I’ll get my body (ever so slowly) down to the top of my recommended BMI just in case to qualify for an insurance discount or employee health initiative if I ever need to. Further body changes will have to be recomp or bust. I want every piddling calorie I can have. Someone else can enjoy the bikini body a lower BMI may bring. I’ll have a baked potato thank you.
  • LynnJ9
    LynnJ9 Posts: 414 Member
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    What is the waist to height ratio? And how do you calculate your body fat. I have a scale that supposedly calculates it, but I think it just uses some formula of my weight and height.
  • jasondwightpowell
    jasondwightpowell Posts: 40 Member
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    I find BMI to be an antiquated method of measuring body fat. It is only based on someone's height and weight and does not take anything else into perspective.

    You could be obese according to BMI, yet have a great physique, be under 10% BF and look great.

    You can use it as a tool but keep this in mind - If BMI Is The Test Of Health, Many Pro Athletes Would Flunk. Yes, some are overweight but many are muscular and fit and are still considered obese.
  • MarkusDarwath
    MarkusDarwath Posts: 393 Member
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    jasondwightpowell wrote: »
    You could be obese according to BMI, yet have a great physique, be under 10% BF and look great.

    The flip side to this is that one can also be "healthy" according to BMI but have an unhealthy body fat percentage due to a low Lean Body Mass. This is actually even more common than the "obese" athlete, especially among older people.

    Aside from the fact that BMI is proxy data and doesn't actually measure anything with a direct impact on health, there's also a flaw in the formula that causes it to scale incorrectly with height. Tall people are more prone to flag as "overweight" when at a healthy body composition, and lean short people are more likely to show as underweight, in comparison to those in the average height range.
    When BMI is used in large population studies, as intended, the height scaling flaw tends to balance out and doesn't drastically skew the overall results, because those types of studies deal with averages, and the average person is... average. (The math flaw does become apparent in certain populations, such as Tongans and Samoans, because aside from tending toward heavier builds in general, the average height for those peoples is greater than the global average.)

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    neiltillbrook wrote: »
    For as long as I can remember I've always been a big guy. The last time I can remember being the same weight as I am now I was 16 years old. In fact, I probably weight a little less now than I did when I was 16.

    Now, it doesn't end there. At 14st I feel as though I have more energy, my clothes fit better and, really, I just feel better about myself in general. However, the question is now "How much more am I planning on losing?" The fact is I don't know.

    According to my BMI I should be 11st 6lb to be slap-bang in the middle of a healthy weight for a guy who's 30 years old and 6ft tall. But that seems a bit low to me. It means I still have 36lb to lose this year.

    I'm not complaining at the amount of weight still to lose, but I'm curious as to how everyone else judges their goal?

    The high end of BMI is a decent enough starting point. For myself, my typical maintenance weight is about 180 Lbs at 5'10" which is about 6 Lbs over weight as per BMI, but it's pretty irrelevant because at that weight I'm at a perfectly healthy 12-15% BF.

    Really though, this is something you access and re-access along the way...I personally take a lot more stock in my body composition and the way I look in the mirror and BF% than I do a particular number on the scale.

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