BMI

rafreedman
rafreedman Posts: 1 Member
edited December 4 in Health and Weight Loss
As a trainer I find BMI too general - its just meant as a guide not an absolute- I like tracking body fat % & lean muscle mass much better

Replies

  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    BMI is meant as a general measure. It's purpose is for macro information about groups and populations, not so much for individuals. That being said, it works well on an individual level as well for most people. People who are very fit or very underfit may not match up well with BMI, but for most everyone else, BMI will give them a pretty accurate reading of where they stand with regards to their weight. I find it to be pretty accurate for myself personally.

    I also think more often than not, people who dislike BMI as a measure do so because they don't like what it is telling them. BMI may be telling them that they are overweight/obese when they don't feel like they are. But most of the time BMI will be right about that an the person will be wrong.

    I don't "feel" 50 pounds overweight, but that's what BMI says, and when I got my bodyfat read by an InBody 570 machine, it said more or less the same thing as well.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    Many people may know how to calculate BMI, but fewer have any idea about Body Fat %. I certainly don't know.
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