BMI Charts

I know any number of people who "feel great" one day and are diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer the next. "Feeling great" is about as lame as using the BMI chart when considering what your weight should be. I feel great too, but am still morbidly obese. I did 30 minutes of circuit training this morning and a 3 mile walk this afternoon and "feel great", but I'm getting on the scale later this week and I'm betting it will tell me that I have a lot of work to do before I'll actually be great. So many people putting their trust in the BMI chart when it doesn't even distinguish between males and females. Do you disagree that females have more body fat than males inherently? Do you disagree that males have bigger bone structure and more muscle mass inherently?

What a cheerful message --Not!

White Dove,

Please don't take it personally because I didn't mean it that way. Look back at the posts on this thread, and the methods for determining one's ideal weight range from "feeling great" to a "scientific height and weight chart" that doesn't differentiate between the sexes and was altered about ten years ago downward. I think you'd have to admit that body actual body fat percentage is actually significantly more scientific than "feeling good" or the BMI chart. I deal weight, when properly considered isn't a number, it's a range based on what has been medically proven to be proper body fat percentages. My previous message, while not cheerful, was absolutely spot on.

Our clinic has one of those scales that scans a person for water weight and the like, but I've been told by our Exercise Physiologist not to pay too much attention to those numbers other than weight, so I don't. I've also been told that those scales do get much more accurate as your weight decreases, but I'm not there yet.

I'm calling BS on your statement "I'm not trying to pooh pooh the surgical track nor those who choose it" as you've done that in many/most of your previous posts prior to this thread.

And trolls can start their own threads. I find that to be a lame statement/argument.

You're a know-it-all that doesn't know it all.

You're back Marina, nice to see you again. It's good to know some things never change. By the way, net loss of 100 pounds now with no surgery needed. How are you doing? Have a great day, Marina.

So I find it more helpful to use the BMI chart as just one of many tools to determine whether I am "healthy" (I am assuming that health is the real point we are all trying to get at). There is plenty of scientific research to support that BMI is a quick way to determine your likelihood of developing several obesity related medical issues with pretty accurate results.

However, you should also use any other tools in your toolbox to support your conclusion. I can't afford a DEXA scan right now, but I use my BMI, my blood pressure results when taken (119/81 baby!!!), my A1C, my lifestyle choices (non-smoker, negligible alcohol use, no illicit drugs, etc), and how I feel overall to realize that I'm probably medically healthy at this point.

So maybe 210 to 230 pounds can be okay for you, even though it is in the obese category for your height. I don't know how much you weight now, but if you've taken all of your measurements and blood work results into consideration, spoken to your doctors, and feel happy physically, go ahead and maintain there! I just wouldn't use body fat % as the end all be all health determiner any more than I would use BMI.

Best of luck!

Haley, At least you sound reasonable. You may be right about BMI being an accurate predictor, though experience has taught me otherwise, at least you aren't swearing that it is true in all events. I prefer to think of the BMI chart as an "accepted" predictor, based on conversations with a variety of doctors on the subject. My guess is that if your doctor was wrong 12% of the time you wouldn't consider him to be a good doctor, but that's a different story for a different day. My SW was 442 with a HW of 452 and my CW is 353 as of last Friday. My BP is is 121/80, and my blood sugar is 5.2. I don't know my exact Cholesterol numbers but my doctor, who did the blood draw about 3 weeks ago, said I am right down the middle. My resting pulse rate is now 81 bpm, down from 92 when I started, and that will continue to drop as I continue to exercise and lose weight. To negate body fat percentage as an indicator is troubling to me, because an individual's "ideal weight range" is based on the body fat percentage, hence the individual differences.

I applaud your health and great success Haley and wish nothing but the very best for you in the future. Those of us who have done the hard work of losing, no matter the means, know that the hard work will never end so keep at it.

According to the BMI chart on this website at 5'8" and 353 you are Super Morbidly Obese at a 53.6 BMI. That may not be the case, but I seriously doubt it.

Myself at 5'5" and 176 I'm at 29.2 which is still overweight. I would like to lose another 31lbs and that would put me in the normal range.

I have a Renpho smart scale $29.99 on Amazon that shows all of the same things as the scan from my Doctor and it is really close to their readings.

It gives BMI, Body Fat, Fat Free Body Weight, Subcutaneous Fat, Visceral Fat, Body Water, Skeletal Muscle, Muscle Mass, Bone Mass, Protein and BMR. That being said it's just a tool, it just shows me the trends and is pretty accurate.

I'm glad you are trying to improve your health, and working at losing the weight. I lost 90lbs in 16 months and maintained it for 5 years. But then managed to gain it all back plus 50lbs. I partially blame having a hysterectomy, but I'm the one that put the food in my mouth. Yes there are lots of hormonal issues I've had to deal with, but I'm here now and I'm moving forward. It is all that each of us can do.

Calipers are notoriously inaccurate and I'm surprised that any medically supervised program would use them.

Keep up the good work!

Julia, First off my Center doesn't use calipers, I was measured with calipers about 35 years ago when I was in college. What's interesting to me about those inaccurate calipers is that they provided exactly the same "ideal" weight range as the more recent measurements I've had, so I would question your statement about their accuracy, or lack thereof. As the article I linked to pointed out that calipers in the hands of charlatans are about as good as any other measurement method

In another thread you claimed to be a 57 year old male who is 5'7" tall but now you claim to be 5'9"? Did you magically grow 2 inches in the past few months?

5'7" and 210-230 is wayyyyyyyy too much. No way in hell this is a healthy weight even for a male.