Posted on 07/05/2010 9:19:43 AM PDT by longtermmemmory
Why parrot a fad idiocy! BMI is BOGUS.
1. The person who dreamed up the BMI said explicitly that it could not and should not be used to indicate the level of fatness in an individual.The BMI was introduced in the early 19th century by a Belgian named Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet. He was a mathematician, not a physician. He produced the formula to give a quick and easy way to measure the degree of obesity of the general population to assist the government in allocating resources. In other words, it is a 200-year-old hack.
2. It is scientifically nonsensical.
There is no physiological reason to square a person's height (Quetelet had to square the height to get a formula that matched the overall data. If you can't fix the data, rig the formula!). Moreover, it ignores waist size, which is a clear indicator of obesity level.
3. It is physiologically wrong.
It makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body. But bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, so a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat will have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious movie stars who work out a lot tend to find themselves classified as overweight or even obese.
I think people are confusing muscle density and fat content. You can have two people with the same weight but one be out of shape and “rotund” and the other person in shape and compact.
I guess my point is that Disney should be able to accomodate all(or most). The people paying the crazy prices are us “lard asses”, not 50 pound kids. Airplanes are 50 years old. Rides are new and should be designed to accomodate the changing size of America- if possible. Its not like a 750 lb heiffer showed up expecting to ride. We are talking about people in the 200’s. Just my opinion. And the arguement is different than air travel.
BMI is crap. When I weighed 260, my waist never exceeded 38-40 inches. It doesn’t measure fatness or fitness.
We are talking about the people who have elected to ignore a prudent lifestyle of proper eating and exercise. They have the freedome to eat and live as they choose. The business has the freedom to not accomodate them. Obviously their dollars do not matter so what are they upset about?
I'd like to know just how many large framed 5'8" adults are below 172 pounds. I'd also like to see that broken down by age, or decade of age.
The point is not who could, should, has been, will be a lard ass. Its about accomodating consumers. I’m not making judgement on large people, like some others.
They are offering a product that many can’t use. Its their loss and bad PR.
The point I’m making is that BMI does not measure ‘lard assness’ at all. Most hard, muscular small assed persons such as me have “obese level BMI’s” simply because muscle is much denser than fat.
That is use or invocation or labeling people by BMI is slanderous, it’s mean, vile, prejudice.
Point taken. I’m on your side guy.
Thanks!
To be sure, I don’t care one way or the other about the main issue of the thread, although at some point such issues might be interesting to me, which is why I read it at first, and the responses too. You were right to say, in a way, that I took the thread off topic, but this BMI stuff sticks in my craw — today’s medical professionals, including my own, can’t help but practice ‘defensive’ medicine so the BMI think colors — shades, that is — good practice based on real learned wisdoms.
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