Body Mass Index

This link calculates the BMI (weight, overweight, obese):
http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm

I'll tell mine in the unlikely event that this thread takes off, as measured by a certain number I have in mind--------bwahahahaha, though my DEVIOUS, threadkilling Catch 22 will make it safely remote!!!! Anybody for brunch? (Above and on top of breakfast, that is.)

A better measure of fitness would probably include flexibility, resting heart rate and body fat percentage, though.

Uh oh.

31.3

My normal weight as said by my doc 10 years ago should be around 180. (I'm 215 right now.)

According to that website, I should be 170. :scared:

(edit subject line, had said "Fat Hypno!" Not quite as funny...)

I never liked the BMI because it favors really skinny people over muscular ones. It's like it encourages you to get zero exercise that might increase your muscle mass. I mean I'm 6'1" and is says I'd still be normal if I weighed 140 pounds?! I have a naturally thin frame and even I'd look pretty sickly at that weight.

The BMI was developed as a measure that could be used in statistical samples, such as the Framingham cardiac study. It was not intended for clinical use, but it has caught on among physicians.

For instance, my BMI is about 40 -- severely obese -- yet my body fat measurement is in the low 30s -- still obese, but in a considerably lower risk category. The reason? I am very muscular. I don't know how I managed that trick, but it happened.

However, when I was younger and lighter, I'd still check out as being overweight when my body fat was as low as 12%, a lean figure. So I'd diet strenuously, which probably, paradoxically, increased my body's "desire" to retain weight.

Of course, you can't draw any conclusions from one person's say-so, but you should take the BMI results with a grain of salt. But just a grain -- salt will put weight on you, too!

--bkl

I already knew that.
My husband is just into the obese category. I would say that he is probably overweight and still could lose a little more weight.
There is no comparing his frame and musculature to my frame and musculature though. When he had mono and lost a bunch of weight he looked anorexic. According to the BMI, he would still be overweight though when he looked anorexic.

... is one of the dumbest ideas ever. It is the worst kind of disinformation that doesn't take critical factors into account.

Mine is 24.4, which would put near at the near obese level. I'm not remotely fat, I lift weights and have good muscle mass. This dumb metric cannot account for that at all. It cannot account for the fact you might have a large bone structure, or a small one. Is is worse than useless, because it is just plain wrong.

If you want to know where you stand, find your bodyfat percentage. It is not trivial, you cannot simply type a number into a program and get it - but it is the most accurate appraisal of where you stand with respect to obesity.

Mine is about 15%, hardly obese :)

Anything under 25 is good. 25-30 is overweight, but not obese. I understand your arguments and pretty much agree there. Just pointing that out anyway.

.... but if I gain 5 more pounds of muscle I'll be another American obese health risk :) Not :)

I realize I sounded a bit strident. These "health myths" as I like to call them do the country a lot of damage IMHO. Over and over again, the "medical community" in cooperation with the media dispense all kinds of "sorta true" and sometimes "dangerously wrong" information.

Remember a while back when cholesterol was the whipping boy of the week. Everyone went off eggs, tried to lower their dietary intake. But the fact is serum cholesterol is rarely controlled by dietary intake, in most people it is controlled by genetics and you can eat almost no cholesterol and still have high serum levels. People not in possession of that fact can fool themselves that they have their condition under control when they don't.

Same for sodium/hypertension and a number of other medical truisms that turn out to be falsisms.

BMI may be a fun thing to calculate but don't for a second think it is any kind of indicator of your body's overall shape, because it is not.

I'm content with it. I'd like to get a stubborn 10 pounds off, but for the most part, I'm ok with my weight now. Almost 3 years ago, immediately after my last baby, I was 37.4. :scared: Kids did a number on my bod for awhile, but I re-emmerged again as the hottie I used to be. :7

Yeah Baybee! B-)

Down from 27.9 in the summer of 2002.