13 Jun
A little help with this one
Several of you use the Body Mass Index (BMI) to see if you’re considered normal, overweight, or obese. According to this calculator, I’m considered obese. However, I’m only about 10 pounds away from my goal weight, which has been approved by a doctor. If I get down to the weight where I’m considered “normal”, I’d be about 197. I was in the 8th grade last time I weighed that much. I’m 6′5″, and graduated from high school in good shape at 230. Any insight into this?
Technorati Tags: BMI, fitness, weight loss, dieting
Posted by Damien on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
Personally, I’m not a fan of the old BMI calculator. Height and weight alone are not enough to determine whether someone is obese, normal or thin. It depends on your fat free mass more than anything. For example, weight trainers are often marked as overweight by BMI calculators becuase they are heavy yet it is all muscle and they are far from obese, often with very low fat percentages. I am guessing by your height and weight that you have quite a bit of fat free muscle mass and that’s what’s tipping the BMI in the “overweight” direction.
Posted by Lady Rose on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
As described by Damien in his reply - BMI calculators do NOT tell the whole story - you and doctor can work it out, plus HOW do YOU feel? Do you have energy, feeling good? All your blood work and other healthy tests come back ok? Calculators are good as a guideline - NOT a hard fast rule. Someone can look normal weight and the calculator may say normal but actually have a high fat percentage. As long as you’re being honest with yourself and your doctor ok it’s be what ever weight works for YOU. Lady Rose
Posted by John on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
The two problems I have with the BMI are:
1. There is NO PHYSICAL way that I would be able to weigh in the range that the government says I should. The last time I had my body composition tested, my lean mass (bone, organs, muscle, etc.) would still be considered obese by these standards.
2. Just about EVERY member of the NFL would be considered Obese by their standards. One of my favorite players (and example) is LaDainian Tomlinson of the SanDiego Chargers. His is THE TOP running back in the NFL at 5′10″ and 221 lbs. Guess what? He’s obese.
I wish I had HIS weight problem…
http://www.chargers.com/team/roster/ladainian-tomlinson.htm
Posted by Joel on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
I am certainly no fan of the BMI and have written about it several times, “Body Mass Index (BMI) Lunacy” http://profbush.blogspot.com/2007/03/body-mass-index-bmi-lunacy.html and “Body Mass Index Revisited and Body Fat Index” http://profbush.blogspot.com/2007/04/body-mass-index-revisited-and-body-fat.html
It was originally designed (1830-1850) to measure the relative fatness of sedentary populations, not individuals, and has no applicability to anyone who works out at all. Despite this, hospitals use it to determine who is obese and must therefore be subjected to additional expensive tests before routine surgery, the military uses it to determine fitness for service, and naďve, but well-meaning, fitness people discourage huge numbers of us before we even get started because their numbers are so unrealistic.
In my humble opinion, the only good way to assess where we are, and where we should be headed, is body composition testing that results in an assessment of the percentage of fat and lean (muscle, bone) in our bodies.
Posted by What’s Your Ideal Body Weight? « I Reject Your Reality & Replace It With My Own on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
[...] Your Ideal Body Weight? 14 06 2007 Over at FatBloggers, Rick made a post about finding your BMI that set off a flurry of comments on its lunacy. This is the system that says [...]
Posted by Paul on 13.06.07 at 4:47 pm
I don’t pay hardly any attention to BMI, it’s a loose guideline at best IMO. It just doesn’t enough things into account.