BMI

Hey guys -

So the BMI has got me a little ticked off.  I started at "super obese", and now I'm at "very obese" (or whatever the name is).  Yay me!

But here's the skinny: the electroscale-body-measure-doohickey-watchamacallit device and my doctor both set my target weight at 250 lbs.  According to the BMI index, that will barely get me into the "obese" category.

Fine, I get it - my body is the exception, not the norm - I'm build super broadly, as are a lot of Samoans.  So why are they always shoving my BMI numbers at me if they clearly don't apply to me?

Just a little frustrated with these numbers.  Everything's going so well, until someone waves the BMI under my nose.  It messes up the way I think of myself that even at my "healthy" target weight, I'll still be obese.  I know it's just a label, but it's a label I've worked hard to get rid of, and I'm pissed that I'll likely have it for life.

I know it is hard not to be bummed about the BMI thing but this is the way I see it. A number even the ones I have hid from all my life should not define me as a person or define my accomplishments. You have done so well....and as long as you are happy thats all that should count!!!

Jen

I hate the BMI chart! It's only nice when it tells you that you are "normal" LOL!

When I was 160 it said I was overweight. Now I'm one 145 and it says I'm normal. That is only a pant size difference we are talking about here!!! 

But thankfully it doesn't say morbidly obese anymore!! 

Not a big fan of the BMI thing here, either.  I think all of these number things are overrated, even the weight.  My goal with this surgery was to live life as a normal person- after a while, no worrying about BMI, no anxiety about the number on the scale, no counting calories and recording protein intake, blah, blah, blah.  My size 2 sister never had to worry about all of this ****  I know, she never had a problem with food.  So, I approached this whole thing as a mental process, alieviating the problem with food.

I was never given a goal.  I really never had one of my own, just a loose "benchmark" of 220 (32.4 BMI from my high of 56.1), not giving a **** that I'd still be labeled "obese."  When I got there, I didn't think that I looked obese.  I sure as hell didn't feel obese.  No one ever stopped me to say how nice and obese I looked that day.  The only thing saying I was obese was that damn BMI.  Everything else disagreed.  So, even at 220, I no longer thought of myself as obese.  Label be gone!

Any number in the 30's looked pretty damn good from 380, and I had no interest in becoming some thin little twinky boy.  My doctors told me to expect to stop losing at around 200 (BMI 29.5), but I just kept going.  They said the same about 180 and 160, but my body disagreed.  Now, here I sit living out my worst nightmare (not really)- a skinny 145 pound guy who has, more than once, been called a twink (not a fan of that term.  Besides, aren't you supposed to be, like 18 to be a twink?  My age is 34.  Oy, age, more numbers I hate.)

So, screw the BMI if it causes you distress.  Take joy in all of the other accomplishments that you're making.  Yes, the BMI does serve its purpose.  They should be taken into consideration, but they're not the final word.  Use them as a loose guide.  But, in the end, your body will have the final say on what that number is.  And your mind has the final say on how you think of yourself.

Chris

PS- I grew up in Hawai'i, and was mistaken for a Samoan all of the time, mostly on the mainland...  I always thought taht I had a large frame under all of that fat.  When I started losing, I realized that I had a smaller, more Filipino style frame.  Imagine that.

I had the same experience with my frame size! I always believed that I had a large frame. Imagine my surprise to discover that I'm kind of, well, tiny!

BMI numbers are global, and just a general guideline. They may not apply as specifically to you.

I understand getting hung up on them, though. I had never set a goal weight, instead just setting certain benchmarks along the way. Now that I am in a range where most people are figuring I must be done, though, I am looking at the damn BMI scale and lamenting that I have not quite reached the "normal" range. Never mind that it may not be normal for me, or that I wear a size 8, or that my gf is panicked that I am too small. If I could just acheive that number, I think I would feel more satisfied.

BMI is a crippled, bizarre little tool. Only useful at all because height and weight are #s every doctor's office gathers, so that is what they use in the studies.

Body fat percentage measured (in the reliable method of your choice) is a much better, more reliable measure of health. Shoot for that - 'cause if you do have nice heavy muscles and bones, BF% is the way to go - not BMI.

Yeah, I weighed in at 190 today and just figured out my BMI. I am still obese. I figure I will NEVER see normal and I am fine with that. I am not a tiny girl by any stretch of the imagination. I mean I wear a size 10 wide shoe. Oh, and I was in that size when I was 10. I am the short one in my family on my dad's side. My half-sister is 6 feet tall, my dad is 6'4, both aunts are like 6 foot, both cousins are taller than me. I am happy to be a light weight obese person. I don't even look at my BMI anymore since I go with how I feel. Took me a while to get to this point tho.