What's your BMI?

[megacorp-firee]

hmmmm I'm not over weight ... just too short.

[lazygood4nothinbum]

here's the obese, 30 pt bmi me. i look really unhealthy don't i? no wonder the insurance company penalized me for being too fat. by the time i get rid of that gut i'll likely bulk up another 10 lbs as i tend to put on muscle pretty easily having never been quite petite.

[Bigritchie]

I don't think you look over weight at all LG4NB.

Look very healthy.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Clearly BMI is a very gross and misleading measure, probably invented to make possible cheap and easy retrospective studies of medical records. Who cares if the studies are useless; at least you get one more listing in your bibliography.

Bray, G. (a skinny galactically famous obesity researcher) says (with light edits for brevity, references vetted):

• A study of over 100,000 nurses aged 30 to 55 years found that weight loss of more than 5 kg was associated with a graded decrease in the risk of diabetes mellitus . Similarly, in the Swedish Obesity Study, diabetes was present in between 13 and 15 percent of obese subjects at baseline. Among those who underwent gastric bypass and subsequently lost weight, 69 percent with type 2 diabetes were cured, while only 0.5 percent of those who did not have diabetes at baseline developed the disorder In comparison, obese subjects who did not lose weight had a much lower cure rate (16 percent) and a higher incidence of type 2 diabetes (8 percent). Weight reduction also leads to an improvement in insulin sensitivity.

• A prospective study evaluated 28,388 overweight women aged 40 to 64 years: intentional weight loss of more than 9.1 kg was associated with a 25 percent decrease in all-cause, cardiovascular and cancer mortality. In addition, among 15,069 women with comorbid conditions such as heart disease or diabetes mellitus, any amount of intentional weight loss was associated with a 10 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease, a 20 percent reduction in all-cause mortality, a 30 to 40 percent reduction in mortality from diabetes, and a 40 to 50 percent reduction in mortality from cancers related to obesity....

• Weight reduction lowers blood pressure in more than one-half of treated subjects. On average, the blood pressure falls 0.3 to 1.0 mmHg for every 1.0 kg of weight that is lost. Those who maintain weight loss maintain lower blood pressure than those who regain weight.

• Weight reduction will lower serum lipid concentrations and improve glucose tolerance. As an example, two-year data on the subjects who did or did not lose weight in the Swedish Obesity Study found that there was a linear decrease in serum glucose, insulin, and triglyceride concentrations with increasing weight loss. Serum high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations rose in parallel with the weight loss. Serum low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol concentrations did not decrease with weight loss until body weight had decreased by 20 percent.

• Weight loss is associated with a decreased risk of osteoarthritis. In a study of 800 women a decrease in BMI of 2 kg/m2 or more during the previous 10 years decreased the odds for developing osteoarthritis by over 50 percent. This benefit extended to women with a high risk for osteoarthritis due to a high baseline BMI (25 kg/m2)...

But I do agree with you that to the obesity-numbed American eye, lots of overweight people "look" just fine to me.

[FinallyRetired]

I'm at 29 and close to "obese," but that's very hard to believe. I work out quite a bit, am very active, and sure I'm overweight but not couch potato. My ideal weight is 180, what I was in the USAF 20 years ago, and now I'm 200 so I also don't understand how 20 pounds gets me in the obese category. The other problem, I've shrunk an inch since then which makes my BMI higher. I'm sure there are other rants I can think of about this BMI stuff right after I finish my double cheeseburger.

[TickTock]

Well, I'm 'obese'. (Not far into it, but obese by the formula.)

Now, I'll admit that losing some weight would be a good idea - and I'm actually on that track, down about 10 pounds from my peak weight - but OBESE? I don't think so.

Nords link is enlightening - and here's another test of BMI - drop in the heights and weights of your favorite (or least favorite!) hockey team - see where they fall...

[Martha]

They still could be overweight.

I keep thinking of my skinny old grandpa who lived to 99.

Also, look at professional dancers. I have spent some time around a fair number of professional ballet dancers lately and they are strong as an ox and quite thin.

I need to lose some weight. Tough for me, I am so dang impulsive.

[haha]

Rich, I don't doubt any of the points you have listed. Deliberately losing fat is a well proven pathway to improved health. My quibble is as I said- BMI is a crude measure of body fat %, thus not particularly useful clinical as opposed to epidemiological inquiry.

There are plenty of male and female athletes with low body fat %, who nevertheless have BMI in the "overweight" category. These people are not going to find themselves into any of the studies of the type that you referenced. So while BMI is probably often a good proxy for body fat %, it falls down with a trained basically mesomorphic individual.

Take the stated bodyweights and heights of NFL safeties and DBs, as well as running backs, tight ends, receivers. Plenty of them will have BMI over 25, but as I sit here with my 22.5 it is very clear that these guys have body fat % much lower than mine.

Ha

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martha ... I am so dang impulsive.

Martha, could you describe the impulse that you are expressing through your new avatar?

Ha

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazygood4nothinbum here's the obese, 30 pt bmi me.

You oughta remove that huge blue growth from your wrist. That'd probably put your BMI right back to normal.

[TickTock]

Selected hockey players:

Paul Kariya (5' 10", 180#) BMI 25.8, overweight (but not by much)

Pavel Datsyuk (5' 11", 194#) BMI 27.1, solidly overweight

Chris Pronger (6' 6", 213#) BMI 24.6 normal weight (but not by much)

Dwane Roloson (6' 1", 180#) BMI 23.7 normal weight (in the top 50%, though)

Dang! With these professional athletes on the high end of the scale, what chance do we normal humans have

Thought... what about movie stars?

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl What do you mean about the "misuse?" There was only one for which the classification did not seem right to me.

What a weird perceptual tossing on the ear that show is. I agree that just about everyone labeled overweight or worse looked plenty overweight to me.

What was bizarre was women who were a little shorter than me and about my weight who looked pretty darn skinny. And women that are a foot shorter and a hundred pounds heavier that looked fat but I wouldnt have guessed their weight to be that high.

Most of the people labeled underweight looked like they could poke holes in your skin with their elbows and knees. Maybe we can take up a collection to buy them a sammich?

[Sarah in SC]

Rich is right, it is the super-skinny who live the longest. BMI is a shortcut, best used for typical American couch potatoes, and was never intended for use in weightlifters and pro athletes. In athletes, they use the more sophisticated and accurate measure of body fat. And not what you get from those ridiculous scales and biometric impedence devices--they use the calipers and hydrostatic weighing and the like.
But BMI will tell your average American how far past the mark they are. I was a 31, now a 22.

If you want to know your bodyfat, get calipers or even more fun, the BodPod, which mimics hydrostatic weighing--if you can. I used the one at the Citadel here in Charleston--pretty cool!

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC I was a 31, now a 22.

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

Nice job!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_in_Tampa But I do agree with you that to the obesity-numbed American eye, lots of overweight people "look" just fine to me.

When I look at WWII photos I'm amazed at how skinny everyone is.

Then I remember that civilian rationing, shipboard/battlefield food, and tobacco all contributed to that svelte fashion.

I'll just keep an eye on the waistline and stop worrying about the scale or BMI.

[NotSoonEnough]

I haven't looked at BMI recently, but the calculator says I am 23.6, which is suspicious given the obvious spare tire I'm carrying...

[RetireeRobert]

At ER I was somewhere around 30 BMI. Started 3 day a week exercise routine at ER and have kept it up pretty much for some seven years now. BMI hovering around 25 now.

[toofrugalformycat]

At ER I was well into obese BMI, now I'm just barely into overweight. ER is good for my health! Nothing like just under two hours a day at the gym and a healthy low-cal diet. What working person has time for that?!

I agree we as a society have forgotten what a healthy body looks like. My friends who are still desk-bound bureaucrats think I look "thin" but when I compare myself to the athletes at the gym, it's clear that I need to lose more adipose tissue, bulging biceps or no.

[lets-retire]

I am borderline overweight and obese (BMI 29/30). It all depends if I've eaten. My current body fat level is just under 20%, and going down. My BMI, unfortunately, is going up due to physical training for a new job.

When I was in the military the Air Force Times had a huge headline saying the majority of the Air Force members were overweight. The article went on to say the reason most were overweight was because they were weight training. At the time I had just come back from being a gym rat while on deployment and was solidly obese.

[Charlotte]

My BMI is 19.8. Does that mean I'm a string bean? I don't think so. I'm just very tall for a woman - taller than the average man (I'm 5'11''). Seems like gender should factor in here somewhere... shouldn't the average man be heavier than a tall woman?

Charlotte