BMI is a scale that should be completely tossed - it’s really NOT a good indicator of health or obesity at all...
Three days ago, I had my biannual physical. I’m 1.83 meters (6 feet) tall, and just clocked in at 126.6 kg (280 pounds). Morbidly obese according to the BMI (and over here in China where I live half-time, and am presently reclining AND residing, I’m a freaking wall). I wear a US size 64 jacket. And a US size 36 jeans. I have 32-34” thighs, so I get custom made jeans to fit me. I’m just thick with a monster rib-cage. I do have 18” biceps, but with my oversized 16” diameter elbows and 10” diameter wrists, they look small. And anything smaller than my 19” neck would be pencil-sized on my frame.
It’s not from being a bodybuilder - workouts for me consist of huffing heavy gear around once or twice a week for half an hour or so, and a nightly walk for 30-40 minutes after dinner. My entire grandfather’s family was built this way, like overgrown dwarves, or shrunken cave-trolls if you will. We also suffer from short legs - I have a 28” inseam on a 6 foot frame - I have the legs of a man that is 5’ 7” tall, and the torso of a man around 6’ 5” tall.
I get the big, tailored jackets because my chest doesn’t fit in something that fits my waist (I can’t even get my arms in it, the jacket would rip across the shoulders), or if it fits my shoulders/chest I could slip another me in the waist.
I once “slimmed down” to 240 pounds, but when my hip bones and lower ribs started to show, it was clear that’s just not healthy for me. Sometimes people don’t just “carry it well”, they’re BUILT that way on purpose. In my case, I believe I’m built this way to make the local Chinese tailors sweat, and to serve as a living jungle-gym for the kids of my friends...:)
FWIW, my checkup revealed I’m in great health, good BP/heartrate, no cholesterol problems at all. EKG and stress test were all fine. Only issue detected was my hemoglobin count; for Caucasian men it should be between 135 and 170 grams per liter, and I clocked in at a doctors-record-high 192. Doctor’s prescription? She said I can take some expensive drugs, or give blood 2-3 times a month... I’ll choose the latter - I’ve got enough to share!
BMI...here is all anyone needs to know: there is no distinction made between sexes. No adjustment made for different wrist size, for example, to accommodate a different frame. Just height and weight.
If I ever have a doctor mention BMI to me, I will call him an incompetent idiot to his face & walk out. I’m 5’8” and 170 lbs...BMI 25.8, overweight. Which is true, sort of, but if I lost 15 lbs, I’d be ripped.
If I weighed 125 lbs, I’d be “normal” - except I HAVE weighed 125 before, after a long sickness. I looked like a cadaver.
As it is, I run 4 miles/day, 3-4 days/week. I ride horses, haul bales of hay, etc. I don’t want to look like a corpse. I don’t want scrawny arms that can’t lift a hay bale, or walk around with no energy to do anything.
BMI is stupid. My son was adopted from the Philippines. He is 5’2”, and his shoulders are wider than mine. I had a co-worker who was a Filipino. He was 5’10” and his shoulders were about 2/3 the width of mine. Any weight standard that doesn’t attempt to measure the frame is obviously grossly inaccurate...the sort of thing only a government idiot would approve.