What's your BMI?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Is that in "inch inches" or in what guys often refer to as an inch?

 

[haha]

This poll clears up one issue

From the 0 % underweight responders I think we can comfortably assume that our SWRs are providing us with adequate basic nutrition.

Ha

 

[bright eyed]

my experience is that body shapes/sizes definitely have a regional bent to them.

in Texas, i was the shortest, smallest person at billy bob's honkey tonk (i'm tall for an asian~! 5'6'' darnit!) and everyone had an extra layer all around and were several inches taller in general - similar in wisconsin/minnesota.

my sister lives in ground zero for skinny biatches, in orange county - but i wonder how much silicone weighs and throw's off their bmi?! and they should recalculate everything that's sucked out and add it back in as a per capita average he hehe....her 7 year old niece worries about being fat and is not even close to being in danger...

 

[figner]

A few years back, I would have been "underweight" according to BMI, though I had more muscle and felt in better shape than now. Just one of those asian chick things I guess.

 

[novaman]

I'm not sure this BMI is very accurate. I'm 5' 10", asian, and I work out regularly. I weigh 172, which is just on the upper edge of being normal weight. If I were in the middle of the normal range, I'd hve to weigh about 150. I think the last time I weighed 150 was when I was in 10th grade before I started working out.

BTW- my waist size for pants is 32. If I weighed 150 I wouldn't be able to find any pants that fit because the waist would probably be a 29 or 30.

 

[LOL!]

BTW- my waist size for pants is 32. If I weighed 150 I wouldn't be able to find any pants that fit because the waist would probably be a 29 or 30.

When I was 5'10" and weighed 130, I didn't have any problem finding pants with a waist 29 or 30. If you get down to 150, you will have no problem finding and wearing pants.

 

[smileydog]

BMI index

This ER group is a healthy sampling - I don't think they would be "fudging"

Interesting info from Halls MD

For Adults, the halls.md v2 method uses the following thresholds:

• <LI class=big>[SIZE=+1]"Marginally Overweight"[/SIZE] is Body Mass Index values that are higher than a threshold of approximately 24 to 25 kg/m[SIZE=-1]2[/SIZE], <LI class=big>[SIZE=+1]"Overweight"[/SIZE] is Body-mass-index values higher than approximately 25 to 27, <LI class=big>[SIZE=+1]"Obesity"[/SIZE] threshold is approximately 29 to 32, <LI class=big>[SIZE=+1]"Underweight"[/SIZE] threshold is BMI values below approximately 18 to 20.7,
• Each threshold varies by Age and Gender.

The charts below show how these threshold values vary with Age and Gender.

 

[Sarah in SC]

You little devil - when did you do that? Since we saw you?

Nice job!

Yeah, chronicled right here on the Wednesday Weigh In thread--I owe it all to 2Cor for his nudge in the right direction! Donald and I lost 60 lbs each, starting this time last year. Just the other day, I bought a tiny (for me) size 6 dress! It is great to be healthy!

The BMI numbers only work for the average person, not too muscular, not too tall, not too short, etc. You could try the Met Life tables instead.
MetLife
be warned, they say skinny is good!

 

[megacorp-firee]

The BMI numbers only work for the average person, not too muscular, not too tall, not too short, etc.

...so maybe I'm NOT too short then?
'... rationalization is better than sex ... have you ever gone a week without a rationalization? ...' The Big Chill

 

[SecondCor521]

Yeah, chronicled right here on the Wednesday Weigh In thread--I owe it all to 2Cor for his nudge in the right direction!

Well, I'm glad somebody lost weight as a result. I was hoping it would be me, but I obviously haven't gotten that far. I actually gained weight up to about 204 but am now working on it again and am back to 192.8 as of this morning. I know if I'm diligent I'll get there.

Congratulations!

2Cor521

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Yeah, chronicled right here on the Wednesday Weigh In thread

Atta girl!

We'll have to see the new you. We talk about another trip to Charleston this year, maybe another look at Beaufort. I'll keep you posted.

 

[windsurf]

Does body mass calculation mean anything if, say, two guys are 6 feet tall and weigh 200. One has a 40 inch wiast and chest is the same size. Arms aobut 13 inches. The other guy has a 33 inch waist and 44 inch chest and 15 inch arms. Obviously, the first guy is fat and the second is lean and muscular. The body mass index is the same. It's a useless, misleading concept, no? It penalizes the lean, athletic build which should be the normal build.

 

[novaman]

Does body mass calculation mean anything if, say, two guys are 6 feet tall and weigh 200. One has a 40 inch wiast and chest is the same size. Arms aobut 13 inches. The other guy has a 33 inch waist and 44 inch chest and 15 inch arms. Obviously, the first guy is fat and the second is lean and muscular. The body mass index is the same. It's a useless, misleading concept, no? It penalizes the lean, athletic build which should be the normal build.

My Thoughts Exactly!! Let's celebrate by eating some doughnuts.

 

[megacorp-firee]

My Thoughts Exactly!! Let's celebrate by eating some doughnuts.

Yaaahhhh, so I'm NOT too short then? ... make mine a bavarian creme

 

[twaddle]

Just noticed this article:

Death Risk Lower for Overweight People

 

[Zoocat]

Does body mass calculation mean anything if, say, two guys are 6 feet tall and weigh 200. One has a 40 inch wiast and chest is the same size. Arms aobut 13 inches. The other guy has a 33 inch waist and 44 inch chest and 15 inch arms. Obviously, the first guy is fat and the second is lean and muscular. The body mass index is the same. It's a useless, misleading concept, no? It penalizes the lean, athletic build which should be the normal build.

The only time this issue becomes a problem is if the muscular person is applying for health or other insurance and the company declines for the high BMI. The person's doctor can write a letter and affirm the applicant's health and that will remedy the situation. Otherwise, BMI is used by a doctor as a gauge of health but only a dumb doctor would think the muscular guy unhealthy because of his BMI, assuming all his blood tests were regular.

 

[Kronk]

Does body mass calculation mean anything if, say, two guys are 6 feet tall and weigh 200. One has a 40 inch wiast and chest is the same size. Arms aobut 13 inches. The other guy has a 33 inch waist and 44 inch chest and 15 inch arms. Obviously, the first guy is fat and the second is lean and muscular. The body mass index is the same. It's a useless, misleading concept, no? It penalizes the lean, athletic build which should be the normal build.

Heh, sounds like me. I'm 6 feet tall, and weighed 198 this morning -- which is higher than the 193-195 I'm more comfortable at. Blame it on ordering Chinese food last night. My waist is 33". Not sure about my chest, since I haven't gotten sized for a jacket in the last umpteen years, but 44 sounds about right. Not sure about my arm size.

BMI tells me I'm overweight (27) and would have to drop 12-15 pounds to be normal. My body fat scale is usually around 16.5%, which shows up as "fit" in those charts.

While BMI is easy to figure out, there are a whole lot of outlyers for whom the index doesn't really give an accurate indication

 

[windsurf]

Kronk proves my point. He's not an outlyer; he's a fit male who approximates what an an active male physique should be. It's ironic that many of the people who have a favorable body mass index measurement are actually "skinny/fat." I see them at the university. Soft bodied 18 to 20-somethings who are health time bombs. Little muscle mass but not yet girdled with the heavier hip and/or abdominal fat deposits which distinguish the 30 to 70 year olds who eat refined carb crap and consider a parking spot more than 100 feet from the Walmart entrance as exercise.

 

[ziggy29]

The only time this issue becomes a problem is if the muscular person is applying for health or other insurance and the company declines for the high BMI. The person's doctor can write a letter and affirm the applicant's health and that will remedy the situation. Otherwise, BMI is used by a doctor as a gauge of health but only a dumb doctor would think the muscular guy unhealthy because of his BMI, assuming all his blood tests were regular.

You'd like to think. According to BMI standards, San Diego Chargers star LaDainian Tomlinson (listed as 5'10", 221) is obese with a BMI of 31.7. Go figure.

Presumably, if he applied for health or life insurance, he'd have to jump through the hoops with a medical exam the insurer accepted to show that he was merely solid as a rock with muscle, not fat.

 

[aaronc879]

I'm 6' 8" (203cm) tall. At 260 lbs., the BMI says I'm morbidly obese. The BMI indicated that I should weigh about 210 lbs. I haven't been at that weight since my 2nd year in middle school (where I was a skinny 'beanpole', as my old photos will attest).

I just put in your numbers and it doesn't say your obese. It says your overwight at 28.5 BMI. Which i would say is accurate unless you have a larger than normal amount of muscle. If you have more muscle than the average person then body fat % is a much better thing to look at. I believe that as a whole the BMI scale is very accurate. The problem lies with society and what is percieved as normal these days. People around 30 BMI are considered normal and people around 20 are considered too thin which couldn't be farther from the truth. If my dad and I are walking together many people would say he looks more "normal" even though at 6'4" and 270 he's obese at 33 BMI. I am 6'6" 160 with a BMI of 18.5. I'm at the low end but any medical professional will tell you that my wieght is MUCH healthier than his is dispite people always telling me i'm too thin and until the less ten pounds they always told my dad he "carried it well". Now he's having heart problems at age 58 and has less than a 50% chance of living to retirement at 62.
The problem is not with the BMI scale it's with what is considered normal by the current overwieght society. The society that will likely be the first generation ever to die at a younger age than their parents.

 

[ziggy29]

The problem is not with the BMI scale it's with what is considered normal by the current overwieght society. The society that will likely be the first generation ever to die at a younger age than their parents.

Well, given that we're now probably seeing the first generations of Americans who won't be financially better off than their parents, why not die sooner, too?

 

[Bimmerbill]

Bah, 28.2 here. 6'6", 244lbs.

FUnny thing is, I used to always be put in charge of the fat boy program. I always told them that I wasn't qualified to counsel people on weight control.

 

[Zipper]

BMI 22.9

5' 9" 155 lbs.

 

[RetireeRobert]

5'11" 175 lbs. BMI right around 25.

 

[FinanceDude]

6' 3" 235 pounds. BMI is 28..............

However, I have added 15 pounds of muscle in the past 2 years...........armwrestling, anyone??