BMI, the gaging of Americans?

[Cloudbringer]

That is true, Winter Wolf, I remember doctors and trainers using a caliper or even water displacement methods of calculating bmi once upon a time.

Timber, yes, age does factor into proper 'weight zone'! Many years ago in my 20's they told me me goal area was about 10 pounds lower than my current one in my 40's. So WW and my doctor's charts have made slightly higher allowances for age and also differentiate based on gender.

[ 01-27-2006, 10:51 AM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

[Bungleau]

I remember an old roommate of mine who weighed close to 300 pounds at around 6'... maybe. He complained one time that his life insurance company failed him on a physical exam for being too heavy.

"What about all these football players?" he exclaimed. "They weigh as much or more than I do!"

I didn't have the heart to mention that while they may weigh the same, they could actually run a 40-yard dash....

FWIW, that's part of the reason why I'm going to be switching doctors. I asked mine what weight I should aim to get down to, and he walked over to that stupid chart and said, "Well, you're 5'10", so you should be at 165 or you're overweight."

Puh-lease. When I *was* 165, I wasn't fit... I'm aiming for 192. That's reasonable and doable.

[Kyrvias]

6'
0"
110lbs
BMI 14.9

Underweight...

[Q'alooaith]

5'11.5"
125lbs
17.2 BMI

Two years ago my bmi was 13.5 ish

Under 17 bmi in america will get you labled anorexic, under 16 will get you the same in the uk.

These systems have been around for years, more for letting doctors know when they should be thinking about further tests.

[Vaskez]

Maaan quit complaining you guys, it's OBVIOUS to anyone with half a brain that the BMI on its own is not a good indication of your health or whatever. It has already been pointed out that it does not take into account the relative densities of fat and muscle tissue, thereby having a high probability of giving a WRONG categorisation for muscular people, and that's just for starters.

Secondly, it doesn't consider bone density and this varies from person to person as well.

[ 01-27-2006, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

[Bungleau]

True, Vaskez. However, not all doctors (like my soon-to-be-ex) understand that, believe it or not.

[Azred]

The BMI is a false statistic designed to make people think they are unhealthy and/or overweight so they will continue to buy diet fads, diet products, join health clubs, and keep them occupied from thinking about real issues.

My Uechi-Ryu instructor was fat, but I don't think anyone could ever call him "unhealthy".

[Aelia Jusa]

Well AFAIK the BMI was always supposed to be a screen - that is, a tool that could identify people who may be at risk of weight problems that could then be given follow-up tests etc. that would further clarify if they are overweight or underweight. In that sense it's an excellent test because it fulfills all the criteria of a good screen - it is very simple, quick, and cheap to administer, and would have a very low rate of false negatives, (i.e. people who are identified as in the normal range who are actually over or underweight; I can't think of many reasons that this would occur as I think the cut offs are fairly conservative), even though it has a relatively high rate of false positives. But it should never ever be used as a single diagnostic indicator.

[DraconisRex]

This is funny. At 192 I'm definately not fat. I'm not in as good as shape as I was 20 years ago at 188lbs. But I'm not fat as I still sink in the pool.

To get into the middle of "normal," I'd have to weigh 165lbs. The last time I weighed that little, I'd been sick for nearly a month and you could count my ribs and my elbows were almost as big as my biceps.

[True_Moose]

6'5", 220 lbs puts me at 26.1, slightly into the overweight category.

For a while, this has been known to be totally inaccurate for athletes or other people engaged in intensive weightlifting/bodybuilding activity. The fact that I'm under 10% body fat and work out 6 times a week as well as playing high level hockey 4 times...well, I would have a hard time believing that any insurance company could jack up my insurance.

As a random test, Alexander Ovechkin, the 20 year old phenom who is tearing up the NHL right now is a 27.7.

[ 01-27-2006, 09:03 PM: Message edited by: True_Moose ]