BMI irritates me

If it's a problem for you, go with Body Fat %, BMI is just the ratio of how much mass you have in proportion to how tall you are. People who are extremely short, or have a very athletic body (also children, and pregnant women) are skewed in this scale, so it's not as accurate for them. BUT You'd be surprised at what obese looks like, look at this picture of me before, I'm not ashamed to admit, I was a BMI of 32.5 in this picture (2 years ago). Remember, obese and morbidly obese are 2 completely different things.

It should. Check out something that makes me feel better about BMI (and it's wrongness)- The Illustrated BMI. It's pictures of real people and shows their BMI. http://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819/

BMI was created to get an idea of general health among large populations. It's a snapshot and most doctors use it as a starting point- not the end. It seems a lot of others put more stock in it- I'm look at YOU gym teacher from 8th grade!

Body fat is much more important, imho, and reveals a lot more about your health. It's true BMI can be useful, but it is not the be all end all that the media/ non medical professionals make it out to be.

*steps off soapbox and gets some water*

- my goal weight would have my BMI still in the overweight range and I'd have to reduce my goal weight by more than 20 lbs to make it just barely not overweight...and really I don't think 20+lbs under my goal weight is healthy or sustainable!

I'm the same way. My frame just wouldn't support it. I've been down in the 'healthy' BMI range for me and had people asking me if I was sick or talking to me about chemo treatments. Eeek. I'm a big polish girl- we don't do small frame in my family heh heh

I think it's such a personal thing, this healthy living. We each have to find our right point for our bodies and lives.

I hear you! :grumble:

My BMI is 25.2 so I am technically "overweight" (see my av pic - that was taken yesterday).

.... and while I do feel I have too much body fat, I can run 10 km, I wear a size 8 jean from the Gap, and I feel pretty strong and healthy!

I DO however want to lose more weight, quite a bit more, so I use the BMI as my guide.

My doc explained the BMI to me as an index for weight related illness - after a BMI of 25 there is a marked increase in illness, and again, after a BMI of 30, you see another significant increase. This is how they delineated 25 as over weight, and 30 as obese.

Don't get too caught up in the BMI though, you are doing AMAZINGLY well!
:flowerforyou:

Betty76 how can you be overweight.You look good!!! I also use BMI as my guide and I am overweight right now:sad: Hopefully I will have a normal BMI after 2-3 months

Betty76 how can you be overweight.You look good!!! I also use BMI as my guide and I am overweight right now:sad: Hopefully I will have a normal BMI after 2-3 months

Thanks - you put a smile on my face :flowerforyou:

I am technically overweight! BMI of 25.2...... 5'8", 165 pounds! My goal is 148 - so that's 17 lbs off and I hope to feel slim and fit!

Good luck to you, and don't get too hung up on the numbers! We WILL reach our goals using MFP - so lets post when we get there!
:flowerforyou:

Don't look at and trust BMI too much. It doesn't take bone density and muscle weight as a measure. You can be tone and weight a lot due to muscles or high bone density. Try looking at body fat % or measure your waistline. Those are better measures.

Wow impressive weight loss I am back to 0 again since stressing over recent home and job changes I need to stick with something to jump start good eating habits again. What has worked for you?

this is why I always call BMI a flawed calculation. Guys, don't misunderstand, BMI is an important tool, especially if you take it for what it is, just one measure.

One thing you can take away from BMI, and this is how I use it, It gives you a starting point, regardless of whether the initial number is an accurate measurement of you vs. the world average, it's still going to be consistant for YOU. And as such, you can use it as a measure to track your progress.

And remember, for those who have a relatively normal body mass, it WILL be generally accurate (maybe 1 or 2 points off in either direction).

Other tools to use (you can google any of these), and remember most of these are going to be rough estimates unless you go get them done by a medical professional.

- Waist to Hip ratio
- body fat % (there are plenty out there that you can get with about a 5% margin for error just by putting in measuring tape numbers)
- Lean tissue mass calculators
- size measurements
- and yes, even the infamous scale

If you use 3 or 4 of these tools, and track them consistantly, you can be relatively sure about your progress. Any one of these tools alone may be uniquely flawed, but put them all together and the overall picture should be relatively accurate. I'm thinking of building a web application that takes all of these numbers and comes up with an analyzer that can be way more accurate than any one alone, it would take a few months to build, but I have the time, maybe if I build it, Mike can add it to the tools section.

this is why I always call BMI a flawed calculation. Guys, don't misunderstand, BMI is an important tool, especially if you take it for what it is, just one measure.

One thing you can take away from BMI, and this is how I use it, It gives you a starting point, regardless of whether the initial number is an accurate measurement of you vs. the world average, it's still going to be consistant for YOU. And as such, you can use it as a measure to track your progress.

And remember, for those who have a relatively normal body mass, it WILL be generally accurate (maybe 1 or 2 points off in either direction).

Other tools to use (you can google any of these), and remember most of these are going to be rough estimates unless you go get them done by a medical professional.

- Waist to Hip ratio
- body fat % (there are plenty out there that you can get with about a 5% margin for error just by putting in measuring tape numbers)
- Lean tissue mass calculators
- size measurements
- and yes, even the infamous scale

If you use 3 or 4 of these tools, and track them consistantly, you can be relatively sure about your progress. Any one of these tools alone may be uniquely flawed, but put them all together and the overall picture should be relatively accurate. I'm thinking of building a web application that takes all of these numbers and comes up with an analyzer that can be way more accurate than any one alone, it would take a few months to build, but I have the time, maybe if I build it, Mike can add it to the tools section.

SHBoss - you are amazing! That is an excellent idea. I do my body fat at the gym on a tanita scale, and using the calculators online - they all say the same thing! Do you think those are accurate? They say the error rate is less than 1% either way. True in your estimation?

Tanita scale accuracy has a 4.5% margin for error, but should be close enough for what you want. Be careful with those though. I find it amusing that they use electrical impedance in a gym (I see them all over) since the NCSM recommends (as do most manufacturers) that you do not exercise for at least 6 hours before using one, and that you are hydrated and haven't eaten for at least 3 hours before.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus

I use this one because it also uses your pants size, which is important IMHO

Oh man! So 4.5 is a big deal!!!! To be honest, I don't "feel" all that "overweight", but heck, I could be 4.5 % MORE!!!!

You could be 4.5 less too.

My Tanita scale consistently over measures my body fat % based on every other measure and it doesn't even give me a "starting point" because it's often clearly wrong. For example, during two months when visible fat -- breasts and tummy -- were shrinking, it claimed my body fat percentage hadn't changed a bit!

At the gym they said I was 17.8% body fat and one of those online calculators that uses body measurements said I was 20%. At the time, the Tanita was saying I was over 25%!

I used to have a link to one of the online calculators that uses body measurements but I can't find it now. Anyone have one?

ETA that WedMD site claims my RMR is 1860 calories! That's crazy. But it also says I should eat 1860 to maintain my weight. So clearly, it's using RMR incorrectly. It also claims that anything over 135 heart rate is anaerobic! (My max HR is around 186 according to the last test I did so, no, 135 is not anaerobic for me.)

ETA that WedMD site claims my RMR is 1860 calories! That's crazy. But it also says I should eat 1860 to maintain my weight. So clearly, it's using RMR incorrectly. It also claims that anything over 135 heart rate is anaerobic! (My max HR is around 186 according to the last test I did so, no, 135 is not anaerobic for me.)

well, that RMR isn't THAT crazy, remember, RMR is going to be higher than BMR. RMR is your maintenance calories if you were basically bed ridden. Where as BMR doesn't take into account any activity or thermogenetic reactions, RMR does account for sedentary muscle activity . So it's going to be a lot closer to your daily maintenance calories than BMR is.

So if you choose sedentary as your lifestyle activity, RMR is going to be very close to maintenance calories.

SHBoss

Could you kindly answer a couple of questions:
(you seem to know SO much about all this!)...
:flowerforyou:

(1) Eat ALL exercise cals? E.g. yesterday, I did two workouts (with HRM - strength & cardio), so I was "supposed" to eat 1800 calories. I ate 1600, and my stomach was growling by bedtime. I just went to sleep. Should I have eaten those 200?

(2) Workouts - is 60 or 70% of max HR really better than 80 or 85% When I go for a run, my HR is at around 80% the entire time, but I can talk and feel totally fine. Is it really better to go at a slower pace? 60% feel likes I'm not even moving. (I'm 32 yrs old and my morning resting rate is 60).

(3) I startedat 165 lbs, have a goal of 148 lbs (I'm 5'8", BMI 25.2) - can I lose 2lbs a week? That is what I am set at now.

Any recommendations would be GREATLY appreciated!!!!!

I'll do my best.

1) at your fitness and body level, you have a small margin for error, and while tweaking will be needed because everyone is different and you have to figure out what's right for you, the best starting point is where MFP puts you, if it puts you at 1800 cals with exercise, then eat 1800 cals with exercise, then if that's not working for a month or so, and you KNOW everything else you are doing is right, then you tweak by 50 cals here, 50 cals there.
BUT, as an article about this very thing stated in this months issue of OnFitness magazine, it could be HOW you eat as opposed to how much. I.E. make sure you're breaking up your food into small (say 200 to 300 calorie) meals that you eat frequently through the day, and make sure that post workout, you get some protein and carbs in your body.

2) 60 to 70% is lightly viggorous workouts, good for those who want to just keep their body in a decent situation, but not really very effective for those who want to improve their muscle strength, wind, and muscle endurance. How much fat you burn at this level is only one factor, improving your overall musclulature and endurance will increase your metabolic rate, working your heart rate up into the high seventy's or low eighty's will boost your HGH and Testosterone levels, which will help keep the cortisol in check, and will help you grow and keep muscle mass. All very important to a strong body and lean muscle mass.

3) Doubt it. 2 lbs a week is aggressive for anyone, and unless your burning muscle, you probabably won't be able to lose 2 lbs a week, nor should you want too. 2 lbs a week is drastic, and does weird things to the human body, about every 10 to 15 lbs or so the body chemistry changes a little, this changes your metabolic rate and the hormones released into the body, which means eating needs to adjust, exercise needs to adjust. Be flexible, don't measure your progress by weight, measure it by how you feel, and how you look in the mirror. Forget lbs, they are the last thing you should be concerned with at this point. I would focus on specific, activity related goals that push you forward like lowing your mile time, or increasing your sustained exercise heart rate by a specific % over the course of a month, or increasing your max weight on a couple of exercises.

And don't forget to change up your routine every six weeks or so, muscle memory will kill an exercise workout routine, and it will leave you bored with the routine.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

You are the best SH!

Does this sound like a good workout program?

For the rest of June & July....
- Shred DVD level 1 & 2
- running

For August
- Shred DVD - level 3
- running

For September
- get personal trainer at the gym for 6 weeks

Thanks again - you add so much to this community of MFPers!
:flowerforyou:

If that's what you enjoy, then sure, I would advise looking into some HIIT training though, it's a better workout then running alone (you can google HIIT training for more info), plus it varies your routine.