Posted on 12/13/2004 3:41:22 PM PST by Constitutionalist Conservative
The government standards are a bit ridiculous. While I am not a fan of the epedemic of overweight kids eating nothing but Big Macs and playing X-Box, I also don't think that everyone should be reed-thin.
BMI goes out the window for people that lift weights.
Arnold Schwarzeneggar is 6'2" and 257 pounds, which computes to a BMI of 33.0. According to the National Institute of Health, Arnold is obese.
Pile o' links in that article, CC! I'm working through it.
A very Merry Christmas to you and yours.
The BMI isn't realistic for 'moms' either. When I was on my fitness high, I just about lost my breasts and my menses
My ob gyn made me gain weight otherwise I would have trouble breast feeding.
The BMI isn't realistic for 'maternal use'. It is marketing not norm.
The NIH has to justify it's payroll and will keep coming up with study after study,ad nauseam,and most of them should be ignored.
I've never had weight problems(thanks to my genes) and I have friends who have spent their entire lives worrying about a few extra pounds. It just isn't worth it---they are all healthy and look just fine.
Any "standard" that pretends men and women share the same relative tissue density is idiotic on its face.
By failing to account for gender, the gov't BMI "standard" resigns itself to junk science status.
Given normal body fat percentages, a man 6ft/180lb is unlikely to be considered overweight, by any definition. A women, 6ft and 180lb, biologically has a much larger fat proportion, and would likely be considered overweight. Both share an identical BMI.
Who could possibly think that makes any sort of sense?
it also makes men and tall people seem fatter than they are. it looks scientific to people unnerved by math but is nothing more than a glorified weight table with the common sense taken out.
Mrs VS
Men and women don't share the same tissue density, but women can handle extra fat a lot better than men can.
Obviously, if you are a bodybuilder with more muscle mass, the index is going to look incorrect.
I am supposed to lose about 27 lbs to not be overweight. While I admit I have a bit of a gut, I am pretty muscular and from what I hear muscle weighs more than fat. So I don't bother worrying about it. When I get "dunlap" disease then I will worry.
BMI is BS. People are built differently; if two men are both six feet tall and weigh 215 pounds, it is entirely possible for one to be in great shape with 10% body fat and the other to be obese with 30% body fat. Bone stucture, musculature, head size, etc. can all throw off BMI. Body fat as a measure makes sense; BMI is a crap measurement worth basically nothing.
Men don't have to be body-builders to be considered fat by this measurement-- my sweetie is a naturally big guy, 6'1" with broad shoulders, and he runs some, walks a lot, and does some upper body weights, so he's fit all over, but the BMI tables call him fat.
Or, if you have a heavy body structure, it's also thrown off. Some men are built much heavier than others without even significant weight-lifting.
True. BMI doesn't account for lean body mass, so many weightlifters and other athletes would be misclassified as overweight or obese. The calculation is intended as a guide to help average Americans determine whether or not they ought to lose a few pounds. For that purpose, it works well. Most Americans are not overweight owing to unusual muscular development, but those who are can disregard the classification.
The old scale with Snoopy on it died.
My friend is 6' 5" and 220#, muscular and athletic, and his BMI came up 26.1 (overweight). I am 5' 7", 118", skinny as a rail, and mine came up 18.5 (lowest "normal" score). His is absurd but mine is pretty accurate. Probably is something to that skewing of the scale for taller, heavier men.
Check your body fat percentage... then you'll know if you are a glutton... also check your blood pressure and heart rate.
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