I fell afoul of this years ago in the military. I was then fitter and stronger than anyone in my circle of contacts but the military doc, flabby, flacid, and unfit as he was, checked his tables and labeled me as obese.
It’s crazy! In high school I used to wrestle and my weight during season was about 192. That’s nearly obese for me nearly at my prime.
Yep. When the weight control program first started in the Army, I saw a big, strong, former NFL lineman get thrown out.
Look at the Army. They weigh people twice a year, but never have an IQ test.
And we wonder why we can’t win wars.
I’ve lifted weights and exercised for years and have never come anywhere to being in the “ideal” ht / wt ratio but to look at me you certainly wouldn’t consider me fat...
This ridiculous BMI pseudo-science is still destroying military careers. I've seen marathon runners get kicked out of the Navy for failing the BMI portion of the physical readiness test (PRT) while donut-eating fatbodies with fat necks get a pass.
Fail the twice-yearly PRT three times in four years and you're going home. Fail it once as an E-5 or E-6 and it's highly unlikely you'll ever make Chief.