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BMI

Patch

Patch

Well-Known Member
I've just read that the BMI scale was created between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet.

Why are we still using this? Are we saying that our understanding of weight/height/body composition was at it's absolute peak in the 1800's???

Surely someone has created a much more accurate way of measuring these things?
 
I agree with you patch totally!

As a woman that runs 3 to 4 times a week, does regular weight training and cycling, I am still told that I am overweight for my height. It doesn't take into account that I have a large muscle mass due to all the training I do (at the recommendation of my diabetic nurse I might add!).

I feel the medical profession are obsessed with BMI and do not take into account the circumstances of the patient. Would they dare tell a professional rugby player that he was obese?
 
There are many ways of working these things out.......however we have to work with the tools we have, unfortunately not what we would all like......

The ideal human body weight has been a topic of debate for a very long time. Hundreds of formulas and theories have been invented and put to the test, but the answer is still debatable. The ideal weight should be unique for everyone. The major factors that contribute to a person's ideal weight are height, gender, age, body frame, body type, and so on.
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The calculator which give results for an ideal weight in various methodology is here :

http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html

Mine works out similar to the BMI but TBH there is no way I would ever be that weight again, I feel quite comfortable at my present weight taking all the above into consideration, even though I continue to make sure I don't go up but lose weight steadily. That is fine enough for me. I don't need to look at a BMI or whatever to know that I am doing well. My weight is not static either.
 
Ehlana said:
Would they dare tell a professional rugby player that he was obese?
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Great point!

Ken said:
There are many ways of working these things out.......however we have to work with the tools we have, unfortunately not what we would all like......
The ideal human body weight has been a topic of debate for a very long time. Hundreds of formulas and theories have been invented and put to the test, but the answer is still debatable. The ideal weight should be unique for everyone. The major factors that contribute to a person's ideal weight are height, gender, age, body frame, body type, and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I dunno, man. Have you ever seen a fat skeleton? I'd love to believe that I'm just big boned - but I'm sure there's more going on than that...
 
people from that era were also a lot smaller than us . I don't see how there can be a medium anyhow . Still wondering about your scheme patch ???? :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
When you are comparing numbers of people then BMI corelates reasonably well with body fat. If you search pubmed there were a lot of studies in the1970s and 80s comparing different indexes , and measurements.BMI was found to be be a useful tool. The level at which overweight /obesity is defined does vary according to ethnicity. Obviously there are going to be people who are outliers like the rugby player or at the other extreme someone with sarcopenia who can have very low BMI but because of a lack of muscle not fat .. but most of us aren't at either extreme.
At an individual level, I think its pretty obvious if you have too much fat. One doctor I know suggests that just a quick 'jiggle' up and down if front of a mirror should be enough to tell you My doctor uses one of those body fat scales, I don't know if its any more accurate than the ones for home use.
There's also a formula to calculate body fat called the YMCA formula. They claim it's reasonably accurate for fat percentage ( lots of calculators on the if you google), I haven't checked the evidence. I like the results this gives me... but truthfully, I think it probably underestimates my fat (certainly less than on the impedance scale )
 
Patch said:
Ken said:
There are many ways of working these things out.......however we have to work with the tools we have, unfortunately not what we would all like......
The ideal human body weight has been a topic of debate for a very long time. Hundreds of formulas and theories have been invented and put to the test, but the answer is still debatable. The ideal weight should be unique for everyone. The major factors that contribute to a person's ideal weight are height, gender, age, body frame, body type, and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I dunno, man. Have you ever seen a fat skeleton? I'd love to believe that I'm just big boned - but I'm sure there's more going on than that...
Click to expand...


Not a 'fat' Skeleton, that would be a contradiction in terms ! However, in the past I have seen many bones from Human's which are of differing sizes, from the tiny bones of Adult Women to massive bones of huge Men. Now some of them I would say are large boned, it's all about proportionality really. There is, as you say, more to it than that which is why it is almost impossible I would think to find a 100% accurate way of calculating such things. Like our meters.......just a guide really.
 
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