Posted on 02/11/2025 2:40:39 PM PST by LouAvul
For example, obviously the "calculator" cannot differentiate between muscle and fat. If one walks regularly and has stronger legs (for carrying weight) than a sedentary person, how might the calculator factor in those differences?
I would classify it as worthless.
There’s this new inner webz doohickey called AI....
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-accurate-of-an-indicator-o-8s.AwbD4SB20TbbjllKJkQ
As would I. It says I am morbidly obese at 210lbs.
I have a 29 inch waist and wear a 48 suit coat, about a 10-12% body fat.
It’s the dumbest measurement I’ve ever seen.
The weight tables will all be about the same.
The idea of “big boned” and “husky” went out in Jr High.
I always thought my “natural” weight was about 230. I had a linebacker build.
Funny thing is, I have been at 200 for a while now. My “big frame” was laden with fat.
The BMI chart indicates I’m too short.
You need to look like a Kenyan marathon runner to satisfy the chart. Professional athletes are total chubs on the BMI scale.
It doesn’t take into account enough factors.
It’s worthless total woke crap
I’m pretty sure my fat cells have given their lives to Jesus because no matter what I do to get rid of them they seem to have eternal life.
Look for a place that has this In Body Assessment
https://inbody.com/en/inbody/contents/view_370S
I’ve had 2 done. One at the YMCA gym by my old house in California, and one done at the community center gym in Arkansas.
It’s a better indicator than BMI, and also shows where you need to work
It’s worse than worthless, especially when health care workers use it as a diagnostic for treatment.
I agree.
My son as very fit and muscular, and SOLID. He was consider overweight, borderline obese when there was hardly an ounce of fat on him.
I’ve also heard professional football player are also considered *obese* by those standards.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
That’s priceless.
I as well always considered BMI to be unrealistic. I have muscles that would never allow me to achieve the “proper” BMI for my height.
Until I decided to make some life changes. I lost 30 pounds and what do ya know? I landed right in the middle of the recommended range. And to be honest could still lose few more pounds to get it even lower.
BMI is a lot closer indicator than most want to admit.....
It’s a silly rule of thumb that’s essentially worthless. (Well, unless you’re an MD pushing weight loss drugs....)
It’s at least 90% accurate for anyone over 40.
BMI is not worthless, it’s a general screening tool. Its purpose is to tip you off that something needs to be looked at further, nobody uses it as the end all determiner of health. It’s used to indicate that somebody might need to look at a body fat measurement like a DEXA scan to see what their body comp really is. If you’re muscular and low body fat it’ll show that. The problem is that everybody wants to claim that they’re a weightlifter and therefore BMI is worthless. The reality is most of the time they’re FOS and they’re just fat, but they don’t want to hear it so they blame it on BMI being flawed.
I never knew there were so many Olympic class body builders posting to FR!
Yeah and body builders. I’m 6 foot and 190 lbs. Fit as a fiddle and it says I’m overweight. It was made up by a mathematician.
Just looking at a person is a better indicator of obesity. The fact that doctors and healthcare providers use it says a lot about their intelligence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.