Can building muscle keep you from reaching your ideal BMI ?

BMI does not differentiate between muscle and fat. You can be overweight according to it yet be all muscle. Body fat percentage is a better measurement for someone who has a lot of muscle.

my bmi says i'm nearly overweight (my bmi is 24.6 when max for healthy is 25), i have a fat % of 23 when the recommended % for females of my age is between 20 and 29, so i'm on the lower half of that. i'm going to look at fat %.

I am surprised people still waste their time with BMI. It's worthless.

@nishababy77 they sell scales that measure it. maybe not the most accurate but it helps see in which direction your body is moving. calipers for body fold measurements are also readily available, if you want to use that method.

How do you test your body's fat %?

I don't know how accurate it is but it should give you an indication: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

BMI isn't really a "joke".. but okay people. If you're really concerned maybe you should ask your doctor. Congrats on the weight loss so far! but try to use actual resources in real life to help you figure this out. You will probably need to figure out your body composition if you really believe that you are at a healthy weight.

BMI usually works for a vast majority of the population, but you may be in the exception range!

BMI usually works for a vast majority of the population, but you may be in the exception range!

BMI assumes very little lean body mass - anyone exercising regularly will be an exception.

BMI is a good tool for some, but not for everybody. If you're concerned and think you should stop gaining muscle so as to lower your BMI...please don't! Building muscle and knowing you're stronger is a much better indicator of health than an equation based on generalizations.

Sorry to bust some bubbles, but BMI applies to most average people who are not athletes.

To say that BMI is skewed based on lean body mass is true, but for it to get to that point for most of us as average people, we'd have to be athletes. Sorry, but the average person isn't going to be "converting" fat to lean that quickly or completely.

In other words, stop fooling yourselves into dismissing BMI as worthless, just because it tells you something you don't want to hear.

"Adding muscle" isn't as easy as average people think it is, and again, if you get to that point where the BMI figure is inaccurately skewing its results to call you "overweight" or "obese" because of lean mass, then you're already an athlete or have been doing this dieting/working out thing for long enough to where you know you don't need to rely on it anymore.

The average person isn't at that point.

I am male, 5'8" and weigh 149. My BMI calculates to 22.7. My BF% is currently 17%. Two years ago when I was at my leanest, I was 148, but with a BF% of 14%. My BMI then would have been 22.5.

Look at the numbers. My lean-to-fat currently is 123.67 - 25.33. Two years ago, it was 127.28 - 20.72

The difference between then and now was 4 lbs. more lean weight despite weighing one overall pound less. My BMI was off by 0.2, so you can see that it's not significant enough of a difference for non-athletes.

In my case, if I gained 16 lbs. of pure lean weight, THEN BMI would call me overweight. My numbers at that point would be 165 overall weight with 139.67 lbs. lean to the same 25.33 lbs. of fat, for a BF% of 15. That would be VERY difficult for me to achieve and maintain that delicate balance -- I'd essentially have to concentrate solely on gaining weight, probably up to about 175 or 180 first to build muscle and take the fat that comes with it, and then diet the hell out of myself to cut down to 165. It's not going to be quick, and it won't be easy. But you can see that if I'm going to be doing that, then I'm going to know what I need to eat, how to work out, and so on, such that I understand that I can't rely on BMI anymore.

BMI never claimed to be a one-size-fits-all measure of accuracy. The problem lies in putting too much stock into its ranges and charts. However, it is inaccurate to completely dismiss its results just because it's not telling you what you want to hear.