BMI - Outdated According to New Clinical Research?

[Deleted member 596235]

The long-utilised body mass index, BMI, has been more closely
researched in recent years, and it's now been claimed that as a
primary indicator of one's overall health to be outdated, inaccurate,
and problematical.

Originally developed circa 1835 by Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian-
French mathematician, astrologer(!) and statistician, who wanted to
apply probability calculus to the human body. He concluded that
one's weight divided by their height squared gives an indication of
your body's "size". Allegedly, BMI can help estimate your risk of a
heart attack or stroke. Does it though?

Or is it just an easy tool used by doctors who're too indifferent to
carrying out a bit more in-depth investigation of your ill-health?

Reference report: Why BMI is Inaccurate and Misleading

And if you'd like to check your BMI, there's a handy calculator HERE

—Mine's 31.5

 

[Rachox]

I prefer to use this Smart BMI, as it takes more factors into account:

Calculate your BMI, correctly rated according to age and gender

Along with your age, the rating of your body mass index is markedly changing. For a detailed overview, use your coloured health risk chart.

www.smartbmicalculator.com

 

[Outlier]

BMI is not really useful for people of a certain shape, and there are quite a few variations of human shape, all of which are perfectly normal. Many of us (either sex) are column-shaped, which means little difference between bust, waist and hips in women, narrow chest/shoulder width in comparison with the "ideal" broad-shouldered male, with correspondingly wider middle in men. Yet BMI dictates that this shape is "too fat" or shows a "harmful" ratio of waist to hips, which is then translated as too much fat around the middle. Infuriating! We can't alter our skeletons, so really we could do with a better way of understanding individual body build.

 

[searley]

BMI is not really useful for people of a certain shape, and there are quite a few variations of human shape, all of which are perfectly normal. Many of us (either sex) are column-shaped, which means little difference between bust, waist and hips in women, narrow chest/shoulder width in comparison with the "ideal" broad-shouldered male, with correspondingly wider middle in men. Yet BMI dictates that this shape is "too fat" or shows a "harmful" ratio of waist to hips, which is then translated as too much fat around the middle. Infuriating! We can't alter our skeletons, so really we could do with a better way of understanding individual body build.

I often have a lot of muscle so this increases my BMI the GP says I’m overweight (slightly) I show them some muscle then she says yeah you are probably ok

 

[Deleted member 596235]

I prefer to use this Smart BMI, as it takes more factors into account:

Calculate your BMI, correctly rated according to age and gender

Along with your age, the rating of your body mass index is markedly changing. For a detailed overview, use your coloured health risk chart.

www.smartbmicalculator.com

Thanks for that alternative BMI link Rachox.

It gave me a BMI of 31 (in comparison to my link's 31.5).

Your weight is at a somewhat elevated level; in our view,
it may be less than optimal for your health. Contrary to
the WHO classification of "obese", we hold the statement
that you are only "overweight".

 

[Rachox]

Thanks for that alternative BMI link Rachox.

It gave me a BMI of 31 (in comparison to my link's 31.5).

Your weight is at a somewhat elevated level; in our view,
it may be less than optimal for your health. Contrary to
the WHO classification of "obese", we hold the statement
that you are only "overweight".

Yes it gives a similar number, but I like the way it places you into a zone, red, orange or green. I’m firmly in the green, however the standard one says I’m a bit overweight!

 

[Sal429]

I use the mybvi app! It's sooo much better than using BMI!
It tells you where the fat is in your body and whether you should be worried about it. Seriously, give it a go if you're interested in your BMI. I use it all the time these days.

 

[Sal429]

BMI is not really useful for people of a certain shape, and there are quite a few variations of human shape, all of which are perfectly normal. Many of us (either sex) are column-shaped, which means little difference between bust, waist and hips in women, narrow chest/shoulder width in comparison with the "ideal" broad-shouldered male, with correspondingly wider middle in men. Yet BMI dictates that this shape is "too fat" or shows a "harmful" ratio of waist to hips, which is then translated as too much fat around the middle. Infuriating! We can't alter our skeletons, so really we could do with a better way of understanding individual body build.

I've just put a comment, but I've found a cool app called mybvi which I think is better than BMI. It tells you where the fat is in your body. I completely agree, I've always hated BMI, some of us are bigger than others naturally.

 

[Deleted member 596235]

I use the mybvi app! It's sooo much better than using BMI!
It tells you where the fat is in your body and whether you should be worried about it. Seriously, give it a go if you're interested in your BMI. I use it all the time these days.

I hadn't heard of this health app. I found a review of it HERE Thanks for posting.