Body mass index (calculator)

[Twenty Inch]

Mine's 23.42 according to the site. Odd as I had thought it would be lot higher since I am a fat git at the moment!

Doubly odd, as the practice nurse who used to weigh me, prior to searing me unnecessarily violently, with contraceptive injection, which caused me not to be able to sit down on that bum cheek for a week, always told me I was overweight when I weighed about 6 pounds less than I do at the moment and did two hours of exercise every day (one hour running, one hour weight training)!

In my experience very few health professionals have any idea what they are talking about when they are dealing with people who do any kind of sport.

Apart from the contraceptive injection, that absolutely rings true. BMI is a very, very, very, rough guide to averages. If you are anyway outside the average (and most of us are, by definition) then it's almost meaningless. Don't pay too much attention to it.

 

[515mm]

For fun whilst bored off sick from work one day, I calculated the BMIs of my local rugby team (which fields at least 10 current international players of various countries) and every man jack of them was classed as obese. This includes one of the wingers who can run a sub 11 second 100 meters!
The BMI is about as much use as a pile of wet horse manure at calculating how fit a person is. Unfortunately, it's used as a guide to a persons longevity and general health by life assurance and health insurance companies. When my pension provider wanted to know mine I challenged him to a 5000m race on the indoor rower. He glanced over at my arms and declined. I wasn't holding my breath.

 

[wafflycat]

Just got weighed at WeightWatchers this evening, so I have an accurate reading of my weight. Gives a BMI of 26.14

Because I exercise quite a bit, I've got a goal weight set at the upper end of the healthy BMI range - so I'm almost there. Hurrah! 76lbs lost in total.

 

[Steve Austin]

27.22 and i feel fine.

if i was anywhere near 25, i would be fading away gggrrr

 

[Crackle]

Hurrah! 76lbs lost in total.

Holy Cow! That's serious weight loss. How long did that take?

 

[trio25]

That is a seriously impressive weight loss!

 

[515mm]

76lbs? That's stunning! I can only dream of owning willpower like that. Truly, a superb achievement. Very, very, well done.

Back on topic, have you had your body fat percentage calculated? The most accurate method is with calipers by a 'trained operator'. Your local gym or, if you live near a university with a sports science department......

My body fat percentage is 23.8. A good number for a bloke of my age is 16. Reliably informed at that point, one can see abdominal muscles. Six pack rather than beer barrel. Mrs 515mm can't wait

 

[wafflycat]

Holy Cow! That's serious weight loss. How long did that take?

Started middle Feb this year.

 

[Crackle]

Started middle Feb this year.

This year!

Stunning. I thought I was doing well to lose two stone in 18 months. I bow down to such an effort.

 

[bonj2]

i used to be 25.4 but probably more like 22 now

 

[515mm]

Aha! A rival and a target to aim for! Unfortunately i've just buggered up my left Achilles tendon. A fortnight off the bike at least. And a full wine cellar* beckons. @rse!














*okay, it's the cupboard under the stairs. It IS full however........

 

[wafflycat]

Ta, all. WeightWatchers has made it easy to lose weight - the key for me is keeping it off long-term. Provided I keep going to WW (free once at goal weight: you're allowed to go 5lbs over goal, but any more than that & you start paying out dosh again). WW set goal weights using the healthy BMI range - as most folk don't exercise enough to make BMI irrelevant in calculating a healthy weight for their height. It's why my goal weight is going to be at the upper end of healthy BMI, as due to cycling, I have the odd muscle in the legs.

 

[Pete]

Well Done, Helen . I think I've said that before, but no matter, I'm saying it again. Also to those others of you who have achieved similar feats of course!

Interesting to compare what's said here, with what was said on this thread and this one, from a few months ago, when a lot of mud was slung, some of it at yours truly. I still maintain, that I admire those who've really achieved something. Also those who do their best. What I have little time for is those who neither know nor care, or those who know but don't care. But of course I don't really know, do I, whether that fat waddler taking up the entire width of the Tesco's aisle, is in fact trying or not! So I ought to give them the benefit of the doubt, should I not? But I'm only human...

BMI? I believe that the BMI-adherents and detractors are divided into two camps, those whose BMIs are OK, and those whose are not. If you've got a 'good' BMI you believe in it, if you've got a 'bad' one, then it's a load of tosh. I illustrate my point with my own example. I find it difficult - nay impossible - to get mine below 28. So I'm forever overweight. At the moment it's just touched above 30, making me 'obese'. I don't feel obese. I don't, I think, look obese. Certainly I'm not one of those Tesco's-waddlers I mentioned above. I take up much less width than the trolley I'm pushing. I can see perfectly when I go for a pee. I can get into 36" waist, just so long as it's trousers not jeans. My doctor (whom I am obliged to visit every six months, BP and cholesterol stuff), has never called me obese, indeed has never commented on it. He doesn't even tell me I'm overweight. Mind you he never weighs me nor asks my weight, just looks at me.

So what is it with BMI, for me? Should I take it seriously? I'm not trying to lose weight because no-one's told me I have to.

 

[wafflycat]

BMI has its uses. It's very useful as a guide to healthy weight ranges if you don't do much exercise, in other words, the vast majority of the population. Basically BMI visualises the body as a homogenous tube - if you've got decent muscle level via exercise, BMI does become less than an ideal way to calculate healthy weight ranges as muscle is more dense than fat, so if you exercise a lot and have a lot of muscle, you can have a low'ish % of body fat and still have a weight which a basic BMI calculation would put said person in the overweight (or obese) category, yet the reality is they are still fit. If you do a lot of exercise, the best way to have it worked out if you are carrying too much fat is to get a proper health check where calipers are used to check the amount of fat you have on differing parts of the body and then a % figure is worked out more accurately. Another way it is done is by passing a tiny electic current through the body and that does it too apparently. I've seen both ways used to give a more accurate % body fat figure than basic BMI. But that doesn't mean to say that BMI is useless - it isn't. As I said before, it's very useful for the majority of the population who don't do *enough* exercise, be it in the form of some sort of structured exercise pattern or via physically demanding work, to see if they are carrying too much weight.

 

[Crackle]

There was a piece in the news yesterday'ish. I think it was in relation to Ricky Hatton's weight blooms and losses, which basically said that there was some evidence that continual losing and gaining of weight was in fact potentially more damaging than remaining overweight.