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<blockquote data-quote="Grateful" data-source="post: 1619605" data-attributes="member: 438800"><p>That's an excellent question. You are right that it is counter-intuitive.</p><p></p><p>We are all different. I am the proverbial "beanpole" and for much of my life, my BMI (not that I was paying any attention to it) was way in the "underweight" category. My stomach was concave, and when I met my future wife she complained that my hips were "too sharp"! At school, the nurse kept telling me I needed to put on weight. Yet, as a teen-ager and for much of my young life, I ate like a horse and could never put on weight. I was healthy, but weedy and under-muscled. (It runs in the family, on my mother's side.)</p><p></p><p>I am now 60. Eighteen years ago, I moved to the United States (from the Middle East) and my lifestyle became much more sedentary. I run a home business. I did not take regular (i.e. daily) exercise, although I was by no means "inactive" -- I took hiking holidays, and use public transport quite a lot rather than driving. Still, it was a fairly typical American "suburban existence." The nearest shop is a half-hour walk from home so I usually went by car.</p><p></p><p>I went from having a 34" waist to 40" and it happened over those 18 years, so I barely noticed. It turns out that there is a feeling among some in the medical community that it is not just weight, but also waist size, that should be taken into account as risk factors for health. This by the way is especially the case for some ethnic groups, Asians for example. I am not a member of any of the listed groups, but that doesn't mean it was not relevant for me.</p><p></p><p>My doctor insists that I was not overweight at diagnosis, but (with all due respect to my wonderful doctor) I think he missed a relevant metric. I was still just as skinny overall, but had this bizarre "beer paunch" and there is a lot of research pointing to "visceral fat" as being associated with Type 2 diabetes. I will never know for sure whether this is what helped cause (or accelerate) my T2D but it is very suggestive, in my opinion.</p><p></p><p>So -- for me, not necessarily for everyone -- "BMI is bunk" and provided false reassurance.</p><p></p><p>Sorry to rabbit on like this, and thank you for your friendly post.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Grateful, post: 1619605, member: 438800"] That's an excellent question. You are right that it is counter-intuitive. We are all different. I am the proverbial "beanpole" and for much of my life, my BMI (not that I was paying any attention to it) was way in the "underweight" category. My stomach was concave, and when I met my future wife she complained that my hips were "too sharp"! At school, the nurse kept telling me I needed to put on weight. Yet, as a teen-ager and for much of my young life, I ate like a horse and could never put on weight. I was healthy, but weedy and under-muscled. (It runs in the family, on my mother's side.) I am now 60. Eighteen years ago, I moved to the United States (from the Middle East) and my lifestyle became much more sedentary. I run a home business. I did not take regular (i.e. daily) exercise, although I was by no means "inactive" -- I took hiking holidays, and use public transport quite a lot rather than driving. Still, it was a fairly typical American "suburban existence." The nearest shop is a half-hour walk from home so I usually went by car. I went from having a 34" waist to 40" and it happened over those 18 years, so I barely noticed. It turns out that there is a feeling among some in the medical community that it is not just weight, but also waist size, that should be taken into account as risk factors for health. This by the way is especially the case for some ethnic groups, Asians for example. I am not a member of any of the listed groups, but that doesn't mean it was not relevant for me. My doctor insists that I was not overweight at diagnosis, but (with all due respect to my wonderful doctor) I think he missed a relevant metric. I was still just as skinny overall, but had this bizarre "beer paunch" and there is a lot of research pointing to "visceral fat" as being associated with Type 2 diabetes. I will never know for sure whether this is what helped cause (or accelerate) my T2D but it is very suggestive, in my opinion. So -- for me, not necessarily for everyone -- "BMI is bunk" and provided false reassurance. Sorry to rabbit on like this, and thank you for your friendly post. [/QUOTE]
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