BMI Tool -- BS!

BMI is a guide. It's not one size fits all. It depends on your frame size and your activity levels, how much muscle you have vs fat etc.

When I was uber fit, doing lots of kickboxing, mountain biking and strength training, I weighed 11 and a half stone, was a size UK 10 and could kick some serious butt. But the doctor told me I was overweight!

I don't put much stock in BMI, either.

Body fat percentage, hip-to-waist ratio, fitness/endurance tests, and frame size are some good tools to go by, but not necessarily to be used on their own, either.

The BMI is not the most accurate tool, but the weight ranges are based on your frame size. I am 5'3", and according to the charts I should weigh anywhere from around 100 lbs-140 lbs. I have a larger frame, so a good weight for my body type is 130-140 lbs, but I am sure for small framed people 100-110 would be more appropriate.

The BMI doesn't mean any individual at a given height could be any weight that is a healthy BMI. In order for me to get into the upper range of my BMI I have to be under 24% body fat, which is not particularly fat. But the majority of people can and should aim for a weight somewhere in that range. Maybe your goal weight should be the upper range too. Does it mean you'd be unhealthy above a BMI of 25? Not necessarily. But could you stand to keep getting fitter until you're at 25 or less? Probably... in most cases.

The BMI does not apply to people who work out, especially strength training, Michael Jordan was 6'5 and 240, according to the BMI he is obese....Really?

BMI is crap and a lot of good medical professionals think so too.

At 20lbs over my BMI I look good, healthy and certainly not 20lbs overweight!

BMI should be scraped, its making perfectly normal healthy people think they are obese like a good friend of mine!!

I used to believe in the BMI until an uber-fit colleague at work who does triathalons got a BMI score of 26.5 and was "overweight". I think we should be able to tell whether our weight looks / feels right without the BMI.

I too think BMI is rubbish!!... We are all different & what suits one doesn't suit another!!

What is hysterical about the BMI crap is that my thin 6'4 son get a BMI saying he is overweight. Total BS. We changed his doctor when she said that even though he looks this the charts say he is overweight. Can't trust a doctor who doesn't trust her own eyes over a damn chart. He has always been in the 99+ percentile for height and weight.
Me, on the other hand. I don't need a number to tell me I'm fat. But my goal weight is the upper limit of "normal" I've been at 155 before. About 30 years ago. I got to that way by vomiting everything I ate (I called it the Karen Carpenter Diet minus the ipecac) . I have no plans to return to that insanity.
Even my doctor think shooting for the middle of the so-called healthy range would be unhealthy.
According to the BMI chart my trainer is obese. But the dude is like 10% body fat. Quads like tree trunks and his neck is as thick as my thigh.
The way I figure it, if your BMI is 30 and you have six pack abs, BMI is BS.

According to the BMI, 10 out of 11 of the guys from Ocean's 11 are either overweight or obese -- Brad Pitt is overweight and George Clooney is obese. That should tell you about how useful the BMI is for people who are actually fit (read: have any amount of muscle at all).

I'm five foot one 1/2. Using the BMI calculator, when I weighed 270, I was SUPER morbidly obese.

At my current weight of 255, I am merely morbidly obese.

Lovely.

Oh, it gets worse. At my goal weight of 135, I am STILL considered overweight!

My IDEAL weight is 100 pounds?!!

Bullsh*t.

I am right there with you, give or take adjusting a few numbers.

Starting weight - 230lbs.
Goal weight - 150lbs.

Still "overweight" according to BMI standards. OH WELL! I have curves, dang it! =P

I have said this before. The BMI tool is over 100 years old and is a load of crap. When I was in the Army I weighed 200-205 lbs with body fat range of 15-17% But according to the BMI I was obese. 15% BF is a great BF so I say if you fall under the "normal" frame go ahead and use if not, like me, just ignore it and any doctor that uses it like a bible.

I didn't read the comments yet, but doesn't the BMI have a 35 pound range, so that means depending on body type your healthy place could be somewhere different on the chart. No need to be at the low end if that's not right for you (clearly it would not be). It's just a guideline for anyone that falls on either end of the extreme to stay within the healthy range. One person would not be at the right weight within a 35 pound range. I would think the range means different people are healthy at the right place for them within that range. We are all different.

I'm going to disagree with the majority and say that, for the most part, BMI is a very useful tool. Here's why

1) BMI is designed to cover a range of frame sizes and body types. It accounts for fine boned people that weigh less naturally, and larger framed people that don't. Prior to the adoption of BMI, the standard was, for women: at 5' you should weigh 100 lbs. add 5 lbs for every inch thereafter. A 5'3" woman should weigh 115. Ridiculous.

2) BMI is used every day to assess millions of Americans, the vast majority of whom exercise sporadically or not at all. It is a very useful tool for these people.

3) it is expensive and impractical to measure body fat in a medical setting.

4) the only people for whom BMI doesn't work are athletes and very fit people. These people are obviously not overweight. No reasonable medical professional will think so.