Waist/Height ratio vs. BMI.

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SeanD2407
SeanD2407 Posts: 139 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm on the shorter side of things for a guy. 5"6. Age 30. Fluctuating between 152-158lbs depending on eating habits of a particular day. Currently have my self set at a .5lb a week deficit, but its usually less than that as I allow some wiggle room for logging errors. Strength to weight ratio is pretty above average i'd say as I can do 15 body weight pull ups and double that amount in chin ups.

According to my BMI I as classified as overweight. (barely but still overweight). The healthy range bugs me because it misleads me into thinking in order to be in the middle of the healthy BMI range, I should be 140-145lbs.. 10-15 pounds seems like a lot for me. I don't want to lose muscle.

My waist side is 31 inches. (i measure exactly an inch above my belly button at my slimmest point) So I can fit into 30 inch jeans, or 32 inch dress pants with a belt. Those are some of the smallest sizes that are easy to find in almost any men's section as far as waist circumference. That alone you would think

I just want an opinion on which one you think I should focus on more for what I should focus on more?
My goals are mainly just to continue lowering body fat and lose love handles. (wont affect my waist size since my handles tend to be on my lower back) but since I can't target spot weight loss, maybe I will lose another inch or so in my waist first. Who knows.

I'm already feeling comfortable at this size, just want to long term lose love handles with a small deficit. Bit of a ramble for a simple question, but waist size vs. bmi? Which is the better indicator of health?

Replies

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,637 Member
    edited June 2020
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    Was going to write exactly the above!

    You've just answered your own question.

    When you lose the love handles slowly you will end up within the normal range and then all your predictors will say that your weight is not a major factor in any health concerns that pop up.

    Not having weight as a contributing factor to health concerns doesn't mean that no concerns will pop up.

    Being at a specific point in the range doesn't confer more or less health benefits to any one individual. The top, middle, or bottom could be equally wrong for any one of us.

    But when most of us are in the right spot for ourselves, we will be somewhere in the range

    And yes a small deficit is entirely possible says someone who dropped 11lbs.... in 52 weeks at the tail end of a larger weight loss.

    By the way, and apparently without affecting the population level predictive ability of the waist to height equation if measured elsewhere (something I'm trying to wrap my own brain around), waist--in most detailed definitions-- seems to be considered as the half way point between the top of the iliac crest and lowest rib, parallel to the floor (with mirror to confirm) at end of a normal exhalation.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    I always chime in with my reminder that BMI is just your weight in kg divided by your height in meters squared. A lot of people don't know that because they use an online calculator or table, but it's that simple. It has been compared with various risk factors, which makes it useful, but, as @sijomial says, it is a population average with a very wide range. A lot of fit people will be at the top of the BMI range, and you must be pretty fit if you can do 30 chin ups! In other words, no medical professional would ever tell you to lose weight on the basis of your current BMI.
  • SeanD2407
    SeanD2407 Posts: 139 Member
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    Right but being on the far end of the range, puts you literally one "bad" meal away from being considered overweight again. Which isn't a comfortable spot to be in.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,454 Member
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    SeanD2407 wrote: »
    Right but being on the far end of the range, puts you literally one "bad" meal away from being considered overweight again. Which isn't a comfortable spot to be in.

    If you can handle your body weight for 15 pull-up/30 chin-ups you would be considered an outlier by most for BMI. You have a decent amount of muscle to be able to do that and the fact that you have such a small waist is another confirmation.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,166 Member
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    SeanD2407 wrote: »
    Right but being on the far end of the range, puts you literally one "bad" meal away from being considered overweight again. Which isn't a comfortable spot to be in.

    If your body configuration is fine (i.e., not overfat), why would an overweight BMI bother you? It's a screening metric, not an individualized and universal goal.

    I get that some people need to reduce BMI because a few insurance companies are dumb, but I think those thresholds are sometimes higher than just the bottom of the overweight category. If you're in doubt, ask your doctor for an independent assessment of how appropriate the weight is for you, in health terms.

    And . . . one bad meal: Really? Sure, it's possible to eat 3500 calories (above and beyond maintenance) in one meal: I've done it, though for me it takes effort ;) . If it's a sudden and rare thing, I find I rarely gain the whole expected pound of fat. Sure the scale will likely be up much more than one pound the next day, but that's from extra carbs (and associated water retention), extra sodium (ditto), and higher than average temporary digestive system contents. All that nonsense drops off, for me, in a couple days or so, and any real fat gain is only then obvious. And it's never been anything dramatic, from one day.

    For fun, see, for example: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope

    I'm about your height (5'5"), but way lighter (about 130 pounds), 34 years older (64), and 100% more female, so I'm sure my TDEE must be lower than yours, besides.

    There's nothing magical to individuals about the BMI value. Most people will be able to find a healthy weight somewhere in the range, but a noticeably minority can't/won't (from memory, I think the number is around 20%, but I may be misremembering). Your doctor can probably help you figure out whether it's accurate for you, or not. Or you could go get a DEXA or dunk to get a decent body fat percentage estimate.

    Best wishes!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Just to reiterate what's already been said, but so many people misunderstand all these metrics. No one metric, like BMI or waist/hip ratio or Bf%, singularly determines your overall health. They should all be taken as a whole and combined with how you feel and what your blood work shows. If most of your metrics are good and you feel well, one outlier metric doesn't make you unhealthy.

    For example, my cholesterol came up high on my last blood work. But I'm a healthy weight, I'm active and feeling well, my waist/hip ratio and blood pressure are good, and the rest of my blood work was in range, so my doctor was unconcerned.

    All of that to say, what everyone else said is spot on. If you're honestly concerned, make an appt for a physical once it's safe and prudent to do so and get a professional opinion. But it sounds like you understand why you might not fit into the avg statistical ranges used for BMI, and you don't have any other reason to think your weight is a health problem, so don't overthink it!
  • Hanibanani2020
    Hanibanani2020 Posts: 523 Member
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    BMI is a useful scale but uses averages. There will always be individuals who don’t fit well within the bell curve. My Friend is in the mid overweight category according to the BMI but she is very well-muscled and exceedingly fit with a very acceptable body fat score. Use the bmi as part of an entire health and fitness assessment rather than the only measurement to base your entire body on.
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    BMI is a scale and an advisory tool on population level, ie if most of the population falls in the overweight or obese category, there’s a public health problem. It does NOT mean that every single person in those categories has a health problem.

    I’ve taken a few InBody body composition scans in my lifetime. The scan calculates your ideal weight by taking your lean mass (bones, muscles, organs etc) and adding a healthy fat percentage to that. My ”ideal weight” according to that test would put me in the overweight category.

    I have a friend who has a master’s degree in sports sciences and currently works as a health coach for a fertility clinic (helping moms-to-be with their health). She told me that on an individual level BMI is pretty much irrelevant, and if you want to focus on a single measurement indicator for health (which you shouldn’t), it’s waist circumference because belly fat is the unhealthiest kind of fat and it’s pretty hard to gain significant muscle around your waist.
  • SeanD2407
    SeanD2407 Posts: 139 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    SeanD2407 wrote: »
    Right but being on the far end of the range, puts you literally one "bad" meal away from being considered overweight again. Which isn't a comfortable spot to be in.

    If your body configuration is fine (i.e., not overfat), why would an overweight BMI bother you? It's a screening metric, not an individualized and universal goal.

    I get that some people need to reduce BMI because a few insurance companies are dumb, but I think those thresholds are sometimes higher than just the bottom of the overweight category. If you're in doubt, ask your doctor for an independent assessment of how appropriate the weight is for you, in health terms.

    And . . . one bad meal: Really? Sure, it's possible to eat 3500 calories (above and beyond maintenance) in one meal: I've done it, though for me it takes effort ;) . If it's a sudden and rare thing, I find I rarely gain the whole expected pound of fat. Sure the scale will likely be up much more than one pound the next day, but that's from extra carbs (and associated water retention), extra sodium (ditto), and higher than average temporary digestive system contents. All that nonsense drops off, for me, in a couple days or so, and any real fat gain is only then obvious. And it's never been anything dramatic, from one day.

    For fun, see, for example: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope

    I'm about your height (5'5"), but way lighter (about 130 pounds), 34 years older (64), and 100% more female, so I'm sure my TDEE must be lower than yours, besides.

    There's nothing magical to individuals about the BMI value. Most people will be able to find a healthy weight somewhere in the range, but a noticeably minority can't/won't (from memory, I think the number is around 20%, but I may be misremembering). Your doctor can probably help you figure out whether it's accurate for you, or not. Or you could go get a DEXA or dunk to get a decent body fat percentage estimate.

    Best wishes!

    LOL I meantt more so the 5-6 pounds of temporary water retention I'm going through due to fathers day lmfao. I knew I shouldn't have even looked until ab out a week after a feast of ribs, sausages, home made fries, key lime pie with melted recees cups... If anything I'm probably only 2k over maintence that day, if that... not even a lb. But my body is like WTF do I do with all this Sean, and i'm now in the the early 160's when i usually floast around the 155 area.

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