BMI - A poor measure of weight and obesity

[meinphuket]

BMI is a maths formula,there seems no better measurement for now.  If it irks you that much, then  lose that 1kg and hey presto !  you are within the ideal parameters.

[kingstonkid]

It is a warning system we used it in the Canadian military as the base measurements if you were a 30 you were sent to the doctor to get a further evaluation.  Like said above it is a quick tool. 

[SunsetT]

There is no measurement or consideration of mass, which, from my school physics days I  conceive of as density, in the BMI. It is a wrong and misleading term, trying to make the simple recommended weight for height sound more sophisticated and scientific than it really is:

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215.php

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

[bkk6060]

What is your height and weight?

You may also technically be obese.

Edited November 2, 2019 by bkk6060

[khunPer]

23 hours ago, Pilotman said:

According to that idiotic measure, the BMI, I am overweight, by 2lbs. It's such a crude measure of weight that I am surprised that anyone takes any notice of it at all.

And I'm feeling too fat – especially tummy and sides – and I'm BMI-stated to "normal weight" (18.5 to 25) with count 19.6; there's about something like 2 kilo (4 lbs) too much of me, yes idiotic BMI...????

–And before anyone say something, I'm not a midget, I'm 180 centimeter tall...????

[nausea]

Well, it may be some encouragement to know that, with us older guys (60+), being slightly overweight on the standard BMI index increases survivability. Ha!

[Pilotman]

2 hours ago, meinphuket said:

BMI is a maths formula,there seems no better measurement for now.  If it irks you that much, then  lose that 1kg and hey presto !  you are within the ideal parameters.

Its not hitting an arbitrary target that I want, its a realistic estimate  of the fat percentage in my body and how that is impacting my overall fitness, metabolic rate and long term health,  the websites quoted by others in this post are very good at giving me that indication.  To lose 1kg is not the issue. Although my weight is stable at 76kg and has only fluctuated a few kg either side for years, I am aware that I have lost muscle mass as I get older, so presumably I must be carrying more fat than before for the weight (and BMI) to stay the same. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by Pilotman

[Lacessit]

Many Australian Rules footballers would fail the BMI test, because they are all muscle. A midfielder will run 12 - 15 km in a match. The more relevant test for those athletes is skin folds.

[Fortean1]

I served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1990.  The Army's weight control program used the  height/weight chart and measured you at the neck and waist.  This program was the brainchild of Lt. General Thurman.  See this short history:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=25&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiq48qv-8vlAhV56XMBHeYjBTIQFjAYegQIAhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Facademic.oup.com%2Fmilmed%2Farticle-pdf%2F162%2F8%2F564%2F24253359%2Fmilmed-162-8-564.pdf&usg=AOvVaw201D7YhNxPjLz_TVfxhg6b

His medical advisors told him the West Point football team would fail the new standard.  This is the point where the neck measurement was added.  If you had a fat neck you could more easily meet the standard.  I was a pencil necked geek who fared poorly.  I learned this on an airplane when TDY (temporary duty) to Washington- DC in 1988 or 1999 in a conversation I had with an Army doctor.  In my opinion much of the program was a farce.  A commander could stay with the standard and/or look at a person and say they were not fit.  I saw one senior NCO who had a 20" neck and a quite large stomach and in my opinion he was fat.  He met the standard.  I knew several fellow soldiers who were kicked out who in my opinion did not deserve this treatment.  Those of us on the 'fat boy' program at Fort Huachuca- Arizona were bused to a point a few miles west and allowed to run back to our cars. The elevation was about 5-000 feet and the rolling hills made for a hard run if you wanted to get home at a reasonable time.  We used to joke that we were supposed to look and walk like John Wayne.  If you saw WW 2 newsreels you did see fat soldiers and in infantry units those guys carried machineguns; mortars and other heavy equipment.  I managed to get my 20 years in for retirement.

 

Terry

( a few miles south of Hua Hin )

[sandyf]

On 11/1/2019 at 3:01 PM, Pilotman said:

The website is excellent, best I have ever come across and very useful.  Many thanks for posting this.  It has made this post all the more worthwhile.  

It is fairly obvious a lot depends on how it is done.

Back in March when I went to get a Chinese visa, one of the hospitals was doing free BMI checks on a machine at Makkasan station. Do not know how valid the results were but have to say it was very impressive, within a couple of minutes I was handed a fairly detailed printout,followed by a bit of a lecture on a healthy diet.

 

 

[Pilotman]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

It is fairly obvious a lot depends on how it is done.

Back in March when I went to get a Chinese visa, one of the hospitals was doing free BMI checks on a machine at Makkasan station. Do not know how valid the results were but have to say it was very impressive, within a couple of minutes I was handed a fairly detailed printout,followed by a bit of a lecture on a healthy diet.

 

 

Sorry, but as has been said earlier, its a mathematical calculation of averages that does not give a meaningful indication of body fat, metabolic rate, or of calorific efficiency of the body.  It is in most ways a useless number, unless you are at the extremes of the scale, either massively under weight, or morbidly obese and I guess that in each of those cases, it does not take a BMI formula to tell you that. The medicos cling to it like limpets, they should let it go and move on to more meaningful measurements, that are available, as the websites quoted in this post show. 

[uhuh]

On 11/1/2019 at 9:26 PM, uhuh said:

Large parts of the medical profession did ditch the BMI as OP requested (or never believed in it in the first place).

The revolutionary new idea: look into the mirror to see whether you are fat. 

(I am not kidding)

I have to add:

Like Sheryl and others have said,  as a screening tool and for statistical use,  BMI or SBMI or whatever is useful.  It used to be difficult to process mirror images of many people. Cameras were not as ubiquitous as today, and old-style computers (we are talking about the last millennium) needed numbers as input, so you invent BMI or whatever. 

 

For your individual use: look into the mirror or ask your girlfriend.

 

I just checked for myself, and unfortunately, all 3 websites mentioned here say the same: don't go to 7/11! Don't buy more cookies!

Gf says the same ????

 

 

 

[Pilotman]

3 minutes ago, uhuh said:

I have to add:

Like Sheryl and others have said,  as a screening tool and for statistical use,  BMI or SBMI or whatever is useful.  It used to be difficult to process mirror images of many people. Cameras were not as ubiquitous as today, and old-style computers (we are talking about the last millennium) needed numbers as input, so you invent BMI or whatever. 

 

For your individual use: look into the mirror or ask your girlfriend.

 

I just checked for myself, and unfortunately, all 3 websites mentioned here say the same: don't go to 7/11! Don't buy more cookies!

Gf says the same ????

 

 

 

you're lucky, my wife thinks that I am too thin, despite all the available  evidence that, bar the useless BMI, I am slap bang in the middle of the normal range, She insists that I should eat cake, cookies, chips and all the usual things that I do like.  maybe she is after her inheritance a bit earlier than I planned. 

[Sheryl]

A post veering into conspiracy theories and resulting bickering posts have all been removed.

 

I think this thread has more than run its course.

 

As has been repeatedly explained BMI is a screening tool, no more, no less.  It identifies people whose weight needs further examination/analysis because they might have a problem. And on a population level, it gives a reasonable picture of how prevalent under and overnutrition are overall.

 

Most people's BMI range will accurately reflect their situation but there are exceptions, most notably people with a higher than average muscle mass.