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I'm obese! Why doesn't BMI make any sense?

Jawsus-son Starship

09:06 / 04.02.09

So I've been working out for the last month, and thought it was time I got on the scales. Oh shock horror, I'm still a blimp at 18 stone (262 pounds), but I feel this is balanced out by the fact I'm 6'7" - turns out it doesn't. According to my BMI I'm 29.5, or borderline obese. Surely this is madness? To drop down to a healthy weight I need to lose 40 pounds, and thats to be at the top end of the health bmi. I'll look like a skeleton if I weigh 15stone 12. And I wanted to be a tank.

So, in a roundabout way, does anyone know if the Body Mass Index is fucked if you're abnormally tall?

Pingle!Pop

09:21 / 04.02.09

Yes. It's a two-dimensional measure, and people are three-dimensional. Whilst obviously differences in height aren't simply a scaling up or down of taller or shorter people, a tall person will have a substantially higher BMI than a scaled down version of the same person. So scaling you down proportionally to an average male height of 5'9", you'd be (69/79)^3 x 262 = 175lbs. Put 175 and 69 into a BMI calculator, and you get 25.8.

BMI as a measure of health is fucked in so many ways.

Anna de Logardiere

09:32 / 04.02.09

Muscle is heavier than fat- how much of your weight is muscle?

Jawsus-son Starship

09:56 / 04.02.09

I've managed to cultivate almost no muscle. I'm skinny on the arms and legs, but have got an awesome belly and moobs. I'm am quite the specimen.

Anna de Logardiere

10:18 / 04.02.09

Then would you be a skeleton or more proportioned if you weighed less? If you're actually bothered than you could lose some weight I guess but I wouldn't do it because of your BMI- you'll simply give up and end up shovelling pies into your mouth. My dieting advice is to cut down on wheat related products- pastry, beer, bread and eat more chocolate for those high sugar fixes. Sure the risk of diabetes will be the same but you'll be thinner and your BMI will be better!
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Never listen to a chocolate addict. I average 175-200g a day and I'm 5'7" ish and 9 stone. My BMI is ideal but healthy?? No.

iamus

19:41 / 04.02.09

Honestly? Fuck the BMI or any group of statisticians who have never met you.

Do you feel fit, healthy, confident and energetic or any of the above?

Do you look to your eyes to be in good shape?

Does your body feel good to be?

Nothing else will give you as good an indication of where you should be.

Quantum

08:15 / 05.02.09

True story- my partner went to the doctor, they recently changed the threshold for the 'acceptable' BMI, and so she was told she was overweight and had to go for diabetes test s or some nonsense when a month before she would have been classified as fine. It's an almost totally arbitrary line in the sand.

■

10:11 / 05.02.09

Yup, it's utter balls. According to BMI I could safely lose about 20 kilos, a quarter of my whole body weight. Apart from a bit of a wine gut there is no other fat on me. Ignore it. It's one of those things like the five-a-day fruit and veg which has some grounding in reality but despite having no scientific evidence has become accepted as fact.

Jawsus-son Starship

13:07 / 05.02.09

Since we had the baby six months ago, and the general drek I've put my body through over the years, I do think it's important I get fit, and seriously fit. So have been doing the Armyfit excercise plan that the MOD released at the begining of January, and have seen an improvement in my strength and general fitness. But the BMI thing was really annoying me, so it's good to see that I'm not the only one that thinks its rubbish.

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