Does everyone still use the bmi scale??

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Replies

  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    An update to my post up thread: this morning (after an aggravating stall) the scale registered a 2 pound loss, which puts me at a BMI of 25!! While I’m happy to have achieved (finally) the top of “normal”, I most definitely have fat left to lose. But this sure feels good :smile:

    Congrats on your weight loss success but you need to know that 25 is NOT the top of the "normal" BMI range. 25 is the "bottom" of the "overweight" range and 24.9 is the "top" of the "normal" range.

    Sorry to be the one to burst you bubble but on the plus side this means that you are really close to achieving your goal. Just another # or 2 will do it.

    Good luck!

    Can't work out if this post is supposed to be funny if you are really serious ..

    Surely nobody thinks their BMI status, ie whether it is in overweight range or healthy range, differs between being 24.9 and 25.

    Everyone's weight fluctuates slightly anyway - do you think people vary in whether they are healthy or overweight depending on which side of ledger a lb or two puts them.

    * shakes head*

    No, but making goal or not making goal is pretty black and white; close to goal isn't good enough for some of us that used BMI to set the goal.

    I started my fitness journey at BMI 19, currently in the 24s. Can't wait until I hit 25.

    Interesting; I was referring to losing below it, but the last pound will be just as important to you to get above it.

    I know you did. I'm looking forward to being muscled and "overweight" to supposedly decrease my life expectancy.

    It is about odds, not certainty for everyone in the group. people in the 23 to 24.9 range have the highest average remaining life span. It isn't much less for 22 or 25 and it is still just an average, which means a lot of people will live longer, some much longer. 25 is significantly better than 19.

    But my point was/is that if 25+ is your goal , then the last pound to get at or above 25 is important to you.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    I feel like I triggered this last bit of discussion about “accuracy” because I stupidly rounded the BMI number in my post. I’ve known for *months* where I had to get to be considered normal BMI, and why I typed it as 25 and not 24.9 I cant tell you. You would think I’d get a milestone that was so important to me correct!
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I don't pay much attention to BMI. But I know, no matter how much muscle I build, I will never be 25+ for my stats and as lean as I want to be. It just won't happen for me and my frame. Right now I am 21.6... but probably 22-23 will be my happy place.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    seska422 wrote: »
    sgt1372 wrote: »
    An update to my post up thread: this morning (after an aggravating stall) the scale registered a 2 pound loss, which puts me at a BMI of 25!! While I’m happy to have achieved (finally) the top of “normal”, I most definitely have fat left to lose. But this sure feels good :smile:

    Congrats on your weight loss success but you need to know that 25 is NOT the top of the "normal" BMI range. 25 is the "bottom" of the "overweight" range and 24.9 is the "top" of the "normal" range.

    Sorry to be the one to burst you bubble but on the plus side this means that you are really close to achieving your goal. Just another # or 2 will do it.

    Good luck!

    Can't work out if this post is supposed to be funny if you are really serious ..

    Surely nobody thinks their BMI status, ie whether it is in overweight range or healthy range, differs between being 24.9 and 25.

    Everyone's weight fluctuates slightly anyway - do you think people vary in whether they are healthy or overweight depending on which side of ledger a lb or two puts them.

    * shakes head*
    The BMI range does differ there by definition. 24.9 is in the normal range, 25 is in the overweight range. There needs to be a cutoff somewhere and that's the spot. The individual's health doesn't magically differ by crossing over that point but their BMI range does differ. BMI is rigid and that's one of the complaints about it.

    If your health insurance company gives a discount for being in the normal BMI range, that last pound makes the difference.


    Sure, for health insurance purposes, if they are that particular - different country here where that doesnt apply to me, so no experience of that.
    and of course there has to be an official cut off point as there is in all guidelines.

    But key word is guidelines - to think the difference in real life or in meeting personal goals matters between 24.9 and 25 seems misunderstanding of guidelines to me and applying them far too rigidly.

    So just coming close to meeting your goals should be good enough? If your goals aren't rigid, why have them at all? The point of having specific measurable goals is to remove subjectivity. I used to think I was in pretty good shape 10-15 pounds overweight. I really wasn't.

    They don't wave the checkered flag just because someone is close to the finish line. It's a line you have to cross.

    Well, 10 - 15 lb overweight isnt going to be a difference of one tenth on BMI is it?

    to me, yes, your goals should take into account real life common sense flexibility.
    Goals do not have to be rigidly precise to be worth having at all

    The actual difference in health etc between 24.9 and 25 is nothing.

    My goal was to lose about 10kg and is now to maintain my weight at about 62 kg which is about a BMI of 23.

    My weight fluctuates slightly but it hasnt fluctuated more than 3 kg - ie 1.5 either side of goal - in 4 years though.
    and I do that by consuming, on average. a net amount of about 1710 calories, might be more or less, I dont measure everything to the last gram

    I don't aim to always be exactly 62kg or exactly a BMI of 23. 22.9 or whatever is fine

    Real life - it isnt rigid or exact.

    You are missing the point. My goal was not to be exactly 24.9. My goal was to get below 25 and stay there. When I was at 25.0, I had not made goal yet. Sure, I felt pretty good and knew I was progressing and would soon make goal, but I didn't pretend I had made goal just because I was close. I am maintaining down around 24 and it bounces around a little but stays below 25. That's real life - you can set goals and decide to really make them and not just accept being close. You do you, but that's not how I roll.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    aresvallis wrote: »
    OP, nobody should use BMI for weight loss goals. It's been decried for years now as inaccurate.

    BMI isn't inaccurate, it's just not as hard and fast as people think it to be. Though unscientifically, I would argue that more of us conform to the BMI range than do not conform. A surprising number of people claim to be exceptions to the norm and it's likely that they're not all correct.

    There's a study out there somewhere which determined that something like 12% of men and 5% of women were "obese" according to BMI without actually being obese according to bodyfat percentage. I'm saying this from memory so it may be off. Does anyone else remember the study or have a link to it?
  • mburgess458
    mburgess458 Posts: 480 Member
    edited June 2018
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    aresvallis wrote: »
    OP, nobody should use BMI for weight loss goals. It's been decried for years now as inaccurate.

    BMI isn't inaccurate, it's just not as hard and fast as people think it to be. Though unscientifically, I would argue that more of us conform to the BMI range than do not conform. A surprising number of people claim to be exceptions to the norm and it's likely that they're not all correct.

    There's a study out there somewhere which determined that something like 12% of men and 5% of women were "obese" according to BMI without actually being obese according to bodyfat percentage. I'm saying this from memory so it may be off. Does anyone else remember the study or have a link to it?

    So in other words roughly 88% to 95% of the time BMI was correct, right?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited June 2018
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    aresvallis wrote: »
    OP, nobody should use BMI for weight loss goals. It's been decried for years now as inaccurate.

    BMI isn't inaccurate, it's just not as hard and fast as people think it to be. Though unscientifically, I would argue that more of us conform to the BMI range than do not conform. A surprising number of people claim to be exceptions to the norm and it's likely that they're not all correct.

    There's a study out there somewhere which determined that something like 12% of men and 5% of women were "obese" according to BMI without actually being obese according to bodyfat percentage. I'm saying this from memory so it may be off. Does anyone else remember the study or have a link to it?

    So in other words roughly 88% to 95% of the time BMI was correct, right?

    No...it's far more rare for someone to be obese per BMI but still lean. It's not particularly rare for a male who works out regularly to be slightly overweight per BMI, particularly if they're at a healthy BF% but not super lean.

    There's a big difference between being lean and a few Lbs overweight per BMI and obese and lean per BMI.
  • aresvallis
    aresvallis Posts: 30 Member

    Your robe confuses me! Being fat doesn't make your arms longer. Trust me, I should know... so your height should have accurately determined the length of your sleeves, regardless of your waist circumference. Blame this one on people who don't understand how to make clothing, not BMI!


    I actually made clothing for a living for like ten years. Never said it did made your arms longer! What I said is that it was hanging half a foot beyond my fingers. It's kinda like when kids play dress up, the shoulder seam hangs way below where it's supposed to and their tiny arms are swimming in sleeve. Same principle. What happens is you have to account for the extra shoulder space larger people need when grading a pattern up. When the shoulders of a garment are made to encompass someone much larger than you, sleeves tend to hang lower because the shoulder seam is wider than your shoulders.

    It's the BMI sizing they were using, and it was made for someone much, much larger than I was at the time; there's oodles of cloth around the shoulder, arms, and the neck opening is huge. The BMI is inaccurate because it fails to consider muscle mass, and I tend to have a lot from running/cycling et ctr, because that was the way I got around for a decade and a half.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    aresvallis wrote: »
    OP, nobody should use BMI for weight loss goals. It's been decried for years now as inaccurate.

    BMI isn't inaccurate, it's just not as hard and fast as people think it to be. Though unscientifically, I would argue that more of us conform to the BMI range than do not conform. A surprising number of people claim to be exceptions to the norm and it's likely that they're not all correct.

    There's a study out there somewhere which determined that something like 12% of men and 5% of women were "obese" according to BMI without actually being obese according to bodyfat percentage. I'm saying this from memory so it may be off. Does anyone else remember the study or have a link to it?

    So in other words roughly 88% to 95% of the time BMI was correct, right?

    No...it's far more rare for someone to be obese per BMI but still lean. It's not particularly rare for a male who works out regularly to be slightly overweight per BMI, particularly if they're at a healthy BF% but not super lean.

    There's a big difference between being lean and a few Lbs overweight per BMI and obese and lean per BMI.
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    aresvallis wrote: »
    OP, nobody should use BMI for weight loss goals. It's been decried for years now as inaccurate.

    BMI isn't inaccurate, it's just not as hard and fast as people think it to be. Though unscientifically, I would argue that more of us conform to the BMI range than do not conform. A surprising number of people claim to be exceptions to the norm and it's likely that they're not all correct.

    There's a study out there somewhere which determined that something like 12% of men and 5% of women were "obese" according to BMI without actually being obese according to bodyfat percentage. I'm saying this from memory so it may be off. Does anyone else remember the study or have a link to it?

    So in other words roughly 88% to 95% of the time BMI was correct, right?

    No...it's far more rare for someone to be obese per BMI but still lean. It's not particularly rare for a male who works out regularly to be slightly overweight per BMI, particularly if they're at a healthy BF% but not super lean.

    There's a big difference between being lean and a few Lbs overweight per BMI and obese and lean per BMI.

    Yes - which is what I said before - young muscular sporty men - not body builders or elite sportsman, just regular young muscular sporty men - can have BMI's of slightly over the official range and still be healthy and not over fat despite being officially over weight.

    I suspect the 12% of men quoted in post upthread reflects this.
    Although I agree, such men are generally "overweight" according to a BMI of around 27 - the BMI isnt high enough to be obese.
    They are slightly over the official range not 5+ points over (30 being official start of obese)

    Up to each of us, or our doctors or whoever is assessing our health status, to use common sense about whether this is likely to apply to us

    As I said before - unlikely to apply to me as a middle aged non-muscular non-sporty woman - so a BMI of 23 is healthy for me.

  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    aresvallis wrote: »

    Your robe confuses me! Being fat doesn't make your arms longer. Trust me, I should know... so your height should have accurately determined the length of your sleeves, regardless of your waist circumference. Blame this one on people who don't understand how to make clothing, not BMI!


    I actually made clothing for a living for like ten years. Never said it did made your arms longer! What I said is that it was hanging half a foot beyond my fingers. It's kinda like when kids play dress up, the shoulder seam hangs way below where it's supposed to and their tiny arms are swimming in sleeve. Same principle. What happens is you have to account for the extra shoulder space larger people need when grading a pattern up. When the shoulders of a garment are made to encompass someone much larger than you, sleeves tend to hang lower because the shoulder seam is wider than your shoulders.

    It's the BMI sizing they were using, and it was made for someone much, much larger than I was at the time; there's oodles of cloth around the shoulder, arms, and the neck opening is huge. The BMI is inaccurate because it fails to consider muscle mass, and I tend to have a lot from running/cycling et ctr, because that was the way I got around for a decade and a half.

    That doesn't make any sense. Look at the chart below. Just using it, a person at any height from 5'0" to 6'4" can have a BMI between 19 and 26. They can't use BMI to size clothes unless they also have height.

    57d291cadd0895c6308b46b0-750-580.png
  • MichelleLaree13
    MichelleLaree13 Posts: 865 Member
    I use BMI as a guideline. BMI compares height and weight only. I prefer to use body tape measurements and weight. When I work out a lot, my height and weight may stay the same but I can lose 3 inches off my hips. I tried body fat calipers but it is really hard to use them by myself.