The military, had the benefit of its recruits being primarily from rural areas. They are going to have to require its soldiers to exercise and eat well.
What they aren’t saying is how the medical organizations keep lowering the obesity standards. It’s sort of like how most Americans now have hypertension.
I am 5:8 and 165 and I am right on the high BMI (25+) according to my doctor. Funny thing is most people say I am skinny and need to gain weight. I think that a lot has to do with individual body types I have pretty big quads and calves.
I do believe that this does mean we are in trouble and is a sign of low testosterone and perhaps too many carbs and not enough exercise. Road march troops.
70% of Americans are overweight or obese. Something like 10% are chronically obese. The military has to recruit from this pool of candidates, no this article shouldn’t surprise anyone.
There is no doubt that Americans are bigger and fatter these days. Walk through a museum and look at uniforms from WWII. The men were rail thin and the women were very petite, having amazingly tiny waists.
Just wait until they bring back the draft.
I can believe this, but I want to pose a sanity check: BMI is simply a comparison of your weight to your height. Meaning you can get a high BMI (obesity) either by being very fat... or very muscular. Seems to me soldiers toting 80-90 lb. gear kits might score a high BMI just due to muscle mass. Is this accounted for?
Same as the general US population
BMI is not a valid measure. Too generic, doesn’t take into account body structure.
https://www.cnet.com/health/nutrition/your-bmi-doesnt-matter-as-much-as-you-think-heres-why/
a couple of pertinent excerpts:
It doesn’t measure body composition
Although BMI is linked to weight and body fat, it doesn’t really measure someone’s body fat, which the CDC echoes: “[BMI] does not diagnose the body fatness or health of an individual.” For this reason, Chad Walding, doctor of physical therapy and co-founder of NativePath, says that BMI can potentially miscategorize someone as obese who is not considered clinically obese, and vice versa.
“BMI is not a super accurate way of finding a person’s true body fat percentage. Someone could be super lean but very strong and a BMI measurement would say they are obese,” says Walding. “You could also have someone whose body weight is within normal limits for their height, but they have very little muscle on their body and a whole lot of body fat. This person may show up as being of ‘normal’ weight but actually be clinically obese,” says Walding. “This limitation is that BMI only takes into account height and weight, so it’s often not the entire picture.”
The most accurate way to know your body composition is through a DEXA (or DXA) scan. This full body scan provides precise data on your fat, muscle and bone density. This scan can only be done by a certified medical professional.
BMI doesn’t measure health
According to Hartman, even though BMI is now used as a screening tool by health care providers, it was used by insurance companies in the 1920s and ‘30s to determine someone’s risk or chances of dying. “When you’re looking at general health, you’re not looking only at death for insurance policies but you’re looking at mortality, as well as morbidity — which are different gauges of death, longevity and health,” Hartman says.
First and foremost, your weight and even your level of body fat say little about your overall health. Ideally, you need much more specific metrics, like blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugar levels, for example, to get a real picture of someone’s physical health. But the health care system has a long history of fat shaming rather than providing supportive care for all people regardless of size, which is unfair and does a disservice to people seeking care. An overemphasis on BMI contributes to this, by focusing medical professionals’ attention on weight and body fat, rather than pressing medical issues that require care.
According to Walding, other tools should be used outside of BMI to get a better read on someone’s health. “Other measurements that should be taken into consideration when painting a bigger picture of health include blood pressure, HDL and LDL cholesterol numbers, waist size, fasting blood sugar and triglycerides,” he says.
How many can pass their respective Physical Fitness Tests with 72 hour’s notice? I bet not many.
One thing to keep in mind however is that anyone who lifts weights (bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic lifters, CrossFitters, ect) tend to be slightly overweight but will pass tape tests, and if in tje military will pass their respective PFT.
Mandate Ozempic!
Swollen valor.
I remember the old Navy and there were people in there that were so obese they had apron’s hanging down from their beltline, but the chow never changed until just the last decade or so.
When the military introduced the PFT, there were people who were eating themselves out of the military because they didn’t like the military, and it was an easy way out.
Maybe it’s just water weight or menstrual bloating... Just saying.
Big is beautiful!
/s - for the slow.
At least they know their pronouns.
This is what happens when the focus of recruiting is on knob gobblers and carpet munchers.
