Posted on 03/22/2025 4:59:49 PM PDT by Red Badger
The worst way is to ask your spouse.
Long-winded reference to the water displacement method.
When Michael Jordan was still playing basketball, the Wizards of Smart ‘updated’ the BMI index, and as a result, Jordan would have been classified as obese.
The measurement is an AVERAGE based upon an insurance study of people back in the 1930s (or 40s). Yes, if you’re a body builder then you’ll have more muscle weight which will throw the measurement off. But if you’re a typical human being who doesn’t work out than the measurements are pretty accurate.
If you’re 5’10, 210lbs and not built like Arnold Schwarzenegger you’re not bulky - you’re obese!
What else floats?
Very small rocks
I was in the Marines, 1976 I think, when they switched to BMI as a measure of ‘fatbodies’.
A guy in my unit was a body builder and was short. There was no fat on him, but according to the new standards he was fat.
Every day at 2 pm he had to quit his normal duties as an electronics tech and report to Fatbody Platoon for two hours of exercise and jogging.
He didn’t care, he loved it!..............
Spoiler alert: the crown was not pure gold.
My son in high school who was very fit and built very solid, was considered *obese* by the BMI.
Ridiculous as he had almost no fat on him and he was very active physically.
Unfortunately, things have changed and genetics and a sedentary desk job caught up with him
BMI sure causes a lot of people to get their panties in a wad, mostly because it tells them what they don’t want to hear...that they’re too fat. Everybody knows it’s not a perfect measurement of body fat, it was never meant to be. It’s just a general screening tool. If you know your weight and height then you know your BMI, it takes seconds and costs nothing. Weighing in water takes a special apparatus, pool, and time. A DEXA scan is even better but guess what it takes? Time and money. BMI is a cheap and easy way to tell the doctor he might want to look for other things, by itself it means nothing but a lot of people sure don’t like to hear it.
“... and report to Fatbody Platoon...”
I’ve heard that in the Air Force it’s called the “Piggie Platoon”.
BMI just never made sense to me on a units basis.
It’s totally unsatisfactory for what it is used for...............
I imagine each service has its own name for it............
A lot of truth and tough love in your assessment. It is to everyone’s benefit to work towards reducing intake and/or smarter intake. I struggle with it but i do at least try. Every day i see many obese people out and about who appear to have given up.
BMI is, and always has been, a joke. According to BMI, pretty much every professional athlete (or anyone with a muscular build) is “obese”. It is a useless measurement.
You have the best post. I wonder what each posters BMI is. I doubt if we have any professional athletes. Mine is about 75% level in the normal range. I could stand to lose a little weight. People take a variety of pills to cure aliments that could be reduced, in many cases, by changes in diet and exercise.
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