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Body Mass Index - How Reliable?
N/A | 07/15/13 | fwdude

Posted on 07/15/2013 9:39:52 AM PDT by fwdude

In my efforts to be prepared for the civil unrest that is undoubtedly coming, I'm on a mission to get into better shape in my early fifties, and have revisited the health measure called Body Mass Index (BMI.) Just needing the input from some of you who agree or disagree with this seemingly arbitrary calculation.

It seems to be absolutely ridiculous to me in one sense. In my healthiest lean days I was still considered "overweight" according to the BMI calculation. Now, I'm considered "obese," when anyone looking at me would never describe me as such. If I got down just to the high end of the acceptable weight range, I would look like a famine-ravished Ethiopian.

The calculation for BMI:

BMI = mass(lbs)/height²(in.) x 703

The interpretation charts follows:

BMI below 18.5 is underweight, from 18.5-24.9 is normal, 25-29.9 is overweight, and 30 and over is "obese."

Are there other qualifying factors I should consider when looking at my raw BMI rating? These raw numbers seem bogus to me.

Thanks, health FReepers.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: bmi; diet; health; obesity
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To: RobertClark

LOL! I know what you mean.

Try calculating what your weight should be for the middle of “normal” and let me know. I haven’t weighed that since the 6th grade!!!


21 posted on 07/15/2013 10:03:18 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: fwdude
Recent studies have shown that those in the "overweight" range have a lower risk of stroke and some heart issues than those in the "healthy" range. That being said, once your BMI crosses 30 your risk for these problems escalates dramatically. As someone else pointed out, the height to weight calculation is sort of an educated guess about what your real body composition is. Your doctor can be a good deal more accurate with a pair of calipers or if you want to get really serious you can go for hydrostatic weighing.

I wonder if any FReepers would be interested in doing a weight loss group on here. A little mutual support / competition can be helpful.

22 posted on 07/15/2013 10:03:50 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: fwdude

If you wear anything over a size 0, you’re overweight these days.


23 posted on 07/15/2013 10:04:46 AM PDT by bgill (This reply was mined before it was posted.)
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To: oh8eleven

Oh, the weapons angle is well covered. But endurance requires a trained, healthy body.

Even expert marksmen work out.


24 posted on 07/15/2013 10:04:59 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: fwdude

A few years ago, lean and mean and running a lot before my now-68 yr. old knees gave out, and lifting weights (41” chest, 32” waist), with hardly any real fat on me, my BMI was 26.25.

Supposedly, I was overweight.

Yeah. Maybe 1 lb.


25 posted on 07/15/2013 10:05:03 AM PDT by Arlis (.)
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To: Straight Vermonter
I wonder if any FReepers would be interested in doing a weight loss group on here. A little mutual support / competition can be helpful.

Since I'm in the midst of mine, I'm game. I'm trying South Beach, which has really been effective on the weight side. Not as radical as Adkins, and not as boring either.

26 posted on 07/15/2013 10:06:56 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: oh8eleven

There’s different situations for not having a firearm in the home. I’m in Brooklyn, NY and have no means of moving to a more freedom-oriented state and town.


27 posted on 07/15/2013 10:09:12 AM PDT by wastedyears (I'm a gamer not because I choose to have no life, but because I choose to have many.)
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To: fwdude

Completely unreliable. The basics for it come from the same set of scientists trying to “prove” the same things as phrenology. Why modern scientists picked it up is kind of inexplicable, but it’s a silly idea.


28 posted on 07/15/2013 10:09:35 AM PDT by discostu (Go do the voodoo that you do so well.)
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To: fwdude
Here's something a little better.
29 posted on 07/15/2013 10:09:59 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must.)
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To: fwdude
LOL! I know what you mean.

Try calculating what your weight should be for the middle of “normal” and let me know. I haven’t weighed that since the 6th grade!!!

I would need to quit lifting, quit eating, and dehydrate myself like a prune in order to make it to median normal. I wrestled 189 and 198 in HS, and I had to cut over 20 lbs to make weight each season - and it wasn't fat! Gym rats unite - the BMI is absurd!

30 posted on 07/15/2013 10:16:27 AM PDT by RobertClark (My shrink just killed himself - he blamed me in his note!)
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To: fwdude

I’m considered to be high normal. I think the BMI does not distinguish fat from muscle and bone.


31 posted on 07/15/2013 10:19:57 AM PDT by Daveinyork
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To: qam1

I wish I was as fat as these guys.

Especially Apollo Creed...


32 posted on 07/15/2013 10:22:43 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: fwdude

Yes, BMI is seriously flawed as it is used today. The equation to calculate BMI is the work of a man named Ancel Keyes. Keys (ahem) borrowed the work of a 1800s-era Belgian mathemetician, where the formula was to be used in studying large populations. Keys’ graduate studies also involved sizing the total of fishery catches by measuring length and girth of individual fish.

You see where this is going?

We are not fish, and there is considerable variance across the breadth of humanity. Using BMI as a ironclad diagnostic tool when applied to individuals borders on quackery.

Here in MD, the Johns Hopkins group is slavishly devoted to BMI. It’s as if their doctors are required to bow and genuflect at a little shrine to Keyes before they begin their rounds.

This Keyes fellow is certainly a mixed bag. He is purported to be the inventor of the K-Ration, named after him.


33 posted on 07/15/2013 10:24:45 AM PDT by Stalwart
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To: fwdude

Using BMI, most safeties and running backs in the NFL are obese, or close to it. BMI is garbage for people who lift weights.


34 posted on 07/15/2013 10:32:58 AM PDT by cdcdawg (Be seeing you...)
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To: Vendome

Something funny about the picture I just noticed.

Arnold while being a big muscular guy is actually kind of short at only 5’7”. The other guys are all likely well over 6’

Look closely, the picture is taken on a hill and Arnold is standing back and up it in order to make himself (the star of movie) appear taller than everyone else.

He’s so far back you can’t see his legs & feet between the other guy in front of him (who no doubt was put there and squatting precisely to hide Arnold’s diminutive statue).


35 posted on 07/15/2013 10:34:29 AM PDT by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: qam1

Well, I was at his inauguration for Governor and my recollection was that he was taller than me and I’m 5’-9”.


36 posted on 07/15/2013 10:37:34 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: fwdude

When you buy a pair of pants, is the waist measurement larger than your inseam? If so, lose weight.


37 posted on 07/15/2013 10:44:53 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)
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To: Straight Vermonter
I wonder if any FReepers would be interested in doing a weight loss group on here.

That is a good idea. I was really fat, but started a diet and as of now I have lost exactly 100 pounds, 30 pounds left to go but they are going to be a b#tch.

38 posted on 07/15/2013 10:48:57 AM PDT by lafroste
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To: muir_redwoods

I don’t know about that. I’m a 32-30 and need to gain weight if anything.


39 posted on 07/15/2013 10:50:21 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: lafroste

Well done! I have about 30 to lose too. I lost them last year but I “found” them again after I started a new job.


40 posted on 07/15/2013 10:52:03 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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