Weight (BMI) Poll

[Charles Wiggins]

Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Obese - Problems with Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculations

[Bill Orbine]

I'm not normal............

Hey........ BMI doesn't have none of the above!

[Daniel O'Neill]

Yeah, when dealing with thousands &/or millions of people some generalizations have to be made. I'm overweight and have begun to feel it. 6'1" @ 200-210 depending on how good I am with my diet. I've noticed things like alcohol (mmmm dark beer :-) really push me into 210+ pretty quick. I used to run all the time. I'd run for hours when I worked part time and never got below 183 but everyone wanted to be "skinny like Daniel" so I don't know if there are muscle/bone density factors that can't be taken into account even in normal body weight & body fat percentage calculations. I don't suppose that most people now a days would be worse off loosing a few pounds. I'd like to sit at 200 lean which is still "overweight" but in a good way.

[Erik Loza]

I understand why someone invented the whole BMI-thing: There must have been a need to quantify body weight for some statistical purpose or whatever. That being said, like we are seeing here, it's not really an accurate indicator of health, which is my problem with it. For example, you could have someone of "ideal" weight who smokes and drinks every day. Of course, that person is not going to be healthy. Then, you have those of us who are "overweight" due to added muscle mass. I'm "overweight" but my blood pressure is typically around 120/60 and my resting heart rate is somewhere in the low 50's BPM. In my opinion, people confuse body image or more importantly, "body shape", with actual health or fitness level and those are two totally unrelated things in the real world. For example, I've got members in my cycling classes that don't look at all like athletes: Stocky build and maybe a little spare tire around the middle, but put out a solid 45 minutes on the bike several times a week and are cardio machines. They're in better shape than probably 90% of the rest of the US population but would likewise be considered overweight on the BMI scale. I ignore BMI and focus on your blood pressure, resting heart rate, and blood chemistry. Those are much more telling indicators, IMHO.

Erik

[Frank Drew]

BMI is certainly flawed as the final word on health and fitness, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater: We are a fat country and it's primarily because we overeat (and exercise/do physical labor too little). It's as if we've created a new race of people in the past three decades or so; when I grew up a very fat person was an absolute rarity, now a lean fit person, particularly a woman, it seems, is the rare sight. Park outside any store and just watch the people walking in front of you; fat, fat, fat, normal, fat, normal-ish, fat, fat, somewhat fat.....

Obese is the new "normal", exactly the conversation I had with two friends at lunch - at a Farmer Boys in Southern California where 80%+ were obese.

Too many calories, inescapably available 24/7. We confuse more on the plate with higher value=desirable.

[Pat Barry]

Come on folks -- 404 views and only 29 willing to add to the dataset? This is an anonymous poll. No worries! Please?

[Shawn Pixley]

As Eric said, BMI is but one measure. Add resting heart rate, blood pressure, blood chemistry (glucose, chloresterol, etc.), and percentage of body fat. One can find athletes with high BMI (typically body builders and football players at non-speed positions) but as a general rule a lower BMI with an appropriate percentage of body fat (too low is also not good) is best. Mass does not equal strength. One can be slight but very strong depending upon the percentage of fast twitch vs slow twitch muscle and training (train for strength not bulk). Speed, agility, endurance all typically improve at more "normal" BMI ratios. It is also kinder to your joints and ligaments.

We should not be fat shaming and stigmatizing others, but encouraging them to be as healthy as they can be - whatever their body type.

[Bruce Page]

Come on folks -- 404 views and only 29 willing to add to the dataset? This is an anonymous poll. No worries! Please?

Pat, probably 2/3 of the views are people returning to read new replies.

[Pat Barry]

Pat, probably 2/3 of the views are people returning to read new replies.

Oh yeah, well thanks Bruce, that makes sense. Also thanks to all those responding to the poll.

[Mike Ontko]

Overweight :/ though this comes as no surprise. Based on the over-simplistic BMI index, I've lived right on the border of normal-overweight since my hockey-playing and refereeing days. I've since hung up my skates (my knee gave out before I did), and though I've kept fairly active since then--hiking and bicycling, running on my NordicTrak, etc., time...and certain dietary choices seem to be getting the better of me (but especially since our trip to Germany and Austria last year).

Facing reality...I come from a long line of folks with heart and pancreatic problems (diabetes), so I'm acutely aware that if I want to continue working in my shop long enough to build furniture for my grandkids, I'm going to have to retool my lifestyle a bit.

[Mike Ontko]

According to the BMI scale, I'm "overweight": 6'1", 195lbs. And I teach fitness classes at a local gym. The issue is that the scale doesn't factor in people who are muscular.Erik

Precisely! Muscle is more dense than fat and hence, you'll show up higher on the BMI scale. In my "prime" (up until my mid 40's), when I was skating and working out 4-6 days a week, I was 185 @ 6'0" which is still pushing the BMI.

[James Baker SD]

I will concur that the weight versus height calculation is definitely flawed. In trying to fight my inability to gain weight, a doctor once sent me to a lab to do a BMI. This procedure was more complicated and measured "muscle mass" independently from "fat storage" mass. It was the ratio of the two measurements that produced your BMI. So obviously a trained athlete could weight more at a given height without being considered overweight.

Today I have heard some doctor offices have scales that calculate BMI as you stand on them barefoot. They apply a small voltage to you and measure the current, fat and muscle having different conductivity pound for pound gives the result. Again it is not only weight and height used in the calculation, but the ratio of fat to muscle.

[mike holden]

Interesting thing here, a few years back I had some serious health issues and lost 78 pounds. Finally hit what was the "normal" weight. However, I was also diagnosed as malnourished and the doctor accepted that I needed to gain some weight, and that for me, "normal" was too low (grin). I am now where my doctor wants, and according to the charts am obese. All these things are based on norms, or the bell curve, some will obviously fall outside the norm. So, that's me - AB Normal! (grin)

[Tom Stenzel]

At 6' 2" and 140 lbs, I just barely made the underweight category. So if I'm so close to normal why do I feel so lousy?

Maybe it has something to do with a major amputation and being in a wheelchair. I dunno if this normal business has much going for it.


"Normal is a setting on a washing machine"
- Harry Strasil -

Tom

[Wade Lippman]

Overweight, but... I went to see an orthopedist last year. He said it was a delight to see someone in such good shape. Go figure.