Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just read another interview with Michelle Obama where she was touting BMI as the be-all-and-end-all metric by which a person's health should be measured.
First of all, who declared her nutritionist-in-chief? Has she ever even taken a 100-level class in exercise science? She isn't even in that great shape herself!
Second, if she's going to declare herself ruler of what our young people put into their bodies just because she happens to be married to the President, surely there's someone in that administration who has a brain and understands the myriad of reasons why BMI is largely meaningless, and can give her a crash course.
BMI takes into account height and weight and nothing more. Frame size, bone structure, muscle density, body fat, even GENDER, are not acknowledged by this worthless measurement.
Therefore, it is meaningless as a measure of fitness. Take me for example.
I'm 5'10" with a medium-to-large frame and bone structure. I lift weights or play some sort of competitive sport 5-6 days per week. My body fat is 11%. I bench 350 and can run a half-marathon in under two hours. My blood pressure is 120/80. While not Brad Pitt in Fight Club, I do even have somewhat of a six-pack.
And according to Michelle Obama and the BMI worshippers, I am not only overweight but damn close to obese.
Why? Because I weigh 200 pounds first thing in the morning in bare feet. That puts my BMI at 28.4, well above the 24.9 that is the maximum measurement they consider to be healthy.
According to the BMI calculation, I should weigh between 129 and 173. That's right, these geniuses believe that ONE-TWENTY-NINE is a healthy weight for a 5'10" male, but not 200.
Even 173 is a joke for a guy with my frame and athleticism.
So given that I'm a disgusting fatty according to Michelle O, I figured I'd do some research to see who else is in the club. Turns out I'm in great company. Here are some other people who are considered overweight or obese by the BMI standard:
Sylvester Stallone
LeBron James
Will Smith
Tim Tebow
Bruce Willis
Peyton Manning
Kobe Bryant
George Clooney
And yes ladies... even Brad Pitt (at least when he was preparing for "Troy") has a BMI higher than the ideal range.
What a bunch of fat slobs who deserve to have their lunches calorie-restricted by the federal government!
On a serious note... how do people still buy into this garbage???
I agree! When I was in High School we had BMI calculators. Lucky for us they were a little more advanced than your standard Height/Weight thing, but they still sucked. I was 6' tall and could run 2 Miles in 12 minutes at 195lbs. The damn thing said I was obese. Anyway, its a goofy number and should never be used to measure how healthy somebody is.
Do you remember the fitness tests? Those should be taken seriously. I could max out the situps and pushups portion and I got to lap 106 in the running.
Do you remember the fitness tests? Those should be taken seriously. I could max out the situps and pushups portion and I got to lap 106 in the running.
Those fitness tests are too competitive and they single out the kids who aren't physically fit and that hurts their delicate feelings. Therefore, the federal government can't let the schools administer them anymore because it's the government's responsibility to make sure no precious child ever feels like they aren't the best at something.
It's a much better idea to force kids to eat black bean salad and hummus for lunch and hope that slims them down.
Those fitness tests are too competitive and they single out the kids who aren't physically fit and that hurts their delicate feelings. Therefore, the federal government can't let the schools administer them anymore because it's the government's responsibility to make sure no precious child ever feels like they aren't the best at something.
It's a much better idea to force kids to eat black bean salad and hummus for lunch and hope that slims them down.
And yet, schools still do BMI testing on kids. Can't you just kinda see who the overweight kids are?
I use to love those fitness tests cuz I could kill it! But I was always running around outside, running to school, playing on the playground, biking somewhere. Jeez, kids in my neighborhood now get driven to school that's two blocks away! Along with the crap that most people eat, small wonder there's a problem in this country.
Just read another interview with Michelle Obama where she was touting BMI as the be-all-and-end-all metric by which a person's health should be measured.
I did a google search and a news search and couldn't find this interview. Can you give a link?
edit to add: I did find some sources that seemed to indicate Ryan Paul endorses BMI (albeit it nothing much near the "be-all-and-end-all metric" you proclaim) but ~nada~ re Michelle O.
Last edited by biscuitmom; 09-27-2012 at 11:19 PM..
I completely agree that the BMI calculation can be incredibly misleading. I don't know why people still use it.
Well from what I can tell at some point they got lazy and basically started calculating BMI by simply punching your height, weight and age into an algorithm that spit out a number.
Well we all know that that cannot possibly tell the entire story regarding how "fat" or "obese" a person is...
I know when I was younger they had calipers that basically squeezed your "flab" and gauged your BMI in that fashion. I'd imagine if you are trying to calculate the amount of actual mass is body fat that this would be much more accurate....
Well from what I can tell at some point they got lazy and basically started calculating BMI by simply punching your height, weight and age into an algorithm that spit out a number.
Well we all know that that cannot possibly tell the entire story regarding how "fat" or "obese" a person is...
I know when I was younger they had calipers that basically squeezed your "flab" and gauged your BMI in that fashion. I'd imagine if you are trying to calculate the amount of actual mass is body fat that this would be much more accurate....
Yes, this is the correct way to do it.
Schools these days suck. I remember having to run the mile in Gym Class. So many kids didn't try at all and would just walk it. Even then kids wouldn't finish. ITS A 50 MINUTE CLASS! Ughhh. I would run it in 6 minutes and then my teacher would force me to continue to walk the track. Thats BS. I should be able to go home for the remaining 44 minutes of class IMO.
BMI is nothing more than a scam, it deals purely in silly hypothetical formulas, with the assumption being that we are all the same in body type, fat/muscle/constitution, activity levels, genetic health warning precursors, etc. Of which couldn't be further from the truth. Anyone following the BMI likely also buy all of those scam diet books = NEWSFLASH: it has to do with how many calories you take in -versus- how many calories you burn off, PERIOD.
A very good discussion, thank you for bringing it up. I've been arguing the same thing you are for a long time now. I am like a smaller version of you: I am 5'7" tall, pretty fit and athletic, have a healthy cholesterol count, healthy blood pressure, etc...BUT I weigh 170 lbs which puts me at a BMI of about 27, just a few points south of "obese." Laughable. I can run circles around at least 2/3 of the male population of this country that is in my age group.
I will never understand why some people cling to BMI as if it provides some kind of meaningful data about a person's health and fitness. It's intellectual laziness on the part of those who put any stock at all into the measure.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
