BMI is NOT an accurate measurement of obesity and should never be taken as such. The BMI was a creation of the insurance industry, which uses it as part of actuarial tables to determine mortality risk when issuing life insurance policies. Only recently has the medical community begun to use it in the evaluation of obesity and related risk factors. Doctors use it because it is easy to measure.
In truth, the key measurement needed to measure obesity is body fat percentage – the percentage of fat compared to lean muscle, bones, organ tissue, water and fecal matter.
Here’s more: The BMI is known to be only accurate as related to body fat percentage for 68% of people. So the “revelation” that 1/3 of people measured as obese by their BMI are in fact not obese is no surprise to anyone with a wellness background.
Let me give you a typical example. On the BMI, almost all professional football linemen are obese, because the amount of muscle they have makes their weight in relation to their height “off the charts.” In fact however, most linemen have a body fat percentage of about 15-16%, which puts them right in the middle of the recommended range of 11-19% for men.
By comparison, running backs and defensive backs who are built for speed instead of muscle might be 5-10% fat.
So if you have heard that obese people might be healthy despite their weight, please disregard this info. You should measure body fat percentage.
My son was a football player in Middle School, he was 160 lbs and very muscular. His pediatrician said exactly what you said, and that it’s true of many athletic kids (football was one, but he mentioned men’s gymnastics and others)
At 6'4" and 215 pounds my son is "overweight" with a 26.2 on the BMI scale. He is also a college basketball player with a tested body fat under 5%.
I'm also "overweight" on the BMI scale with a body fat under 10%.
Nice test...