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The only people who are outraged over BMI are fat people. Non fat people shrug it off. And sorry folks, it is appropriate as a GENERAL guideline for non active people.
The only people who are outraged over BMI are fat people. Non fat people shrug it off. And sorry folks, it is appropriate as a GENERAL guideline for non active people.
If by "general" you mean a standard idea based on the average person. I agree. Still, it will never correctly measure how "healthy" someone is. Everyone knows it does not take into account muscle mass. So theoretically Arnold Schwarzenegger had a BMI of 31.0% when he won his Mr. Olympia title in 1980. (6'1" @ 235). Judging by its measurement, he is obese. Poor Arnold.
The only people who are outraged over BMI are fat people. Non fat people shrug it off. And sorry folks, it is appropriate as a GENERAL guideline for non active people.
i see the most complaining from people who are muscular so they come out as obese in BMI even when they may be relatively lean. my guess is the fat muscle guys also complain, but they are still fat.
i think BMI is reasonable enough for the average person. but what does it matter to the avergae person anyway? you can look in a mirror and see your fatness.
The problem is that people, including almost everyone in this thread, don't what BMI actually is.
It's not a measure of a single person's health.
It's a statistical measure of a population.
Say you have 7,000,000 people and you want to know how the health fares in general. Are you going to whip out the calipers for every single one? However, with a smaller sample, you can statistically certain of the population's BMI and that correlates to health.
Or you are a health insurance provider with 35 million subscribers. You can use height and weight data collected at checkups and reported back to you to find the general health of your entire subscriber population and adjust your rates accordingly.
I hear a lot of people talking about weight and compulsivley weighting themselves at least one a day to see if they have lost a half pound. At least BMI is a step up from simply weighing yourself.
A better tool would take into consideration your waist size, but it is difficult to get an accurate waist size.
If by "general" you mean a standard idea based on the average person. I agree. Still, it will never correctly measure how "healthy" someone is. Everyone knows it does not take into account muscle mass. So theoretically Arnold Schwarzenegger had a BMI of 31.0% when he won his Mr. Olympia title in 1980. (6'1" @ 235). Judging by its measurement, he is obese. Poor Arnold.
It was never intended to be a health measure, and I am pretty sure Arnold was never outraged by it. Like I said, only fat people get upset about BMI.
i see the most complaining from people who are muscular so they come out as obese in BMI even when they may be relatively lean. my guess is the fat muscle guys also complain, but they are still fat.
i think BMI is reasonable enough for the average person. but what does it matter to the avergae person anyway? you can look in a mirror and see your fatness.
i have NEVER heard a muscular man complain, they always talk body fat %, not BMI.
In the absence of the ability to measure body fat with calipers, I believe waist/hip ratio is a good indicator.
However, if you lived through the 70's, you might remember the Kellogg's cereal commercial that asked "Can you pinch an inch?" Forget about an inch nowadays most people can grab a handful! Back in the days before Supersize and HFCS and frankenfood, most people were considerably thinner. There were only one or two overweight kids in my class. It was so unusual to be really overweight that the "pinch an inch" standard was a good reminder that you needed to cut back.
i have NEVER heard a muscular man complain, they always talk body fat %, not BMI.
they arent going to talk about BMI regulalry because they dont feel it applies to them. but if you asked them or they happen to talk about it, they wont like it. i believe a couple of guys here have mentioned that it claims they are obese even though they are lean but muscular.
In the absence of the ability to measure body fat with calipers, I believe waist/hip ratio is a good indicator.
However, if you lived through the 70's, you might remember the Kellogg's cereal commercial that asked "Can you pinch an inch?" Forget about an inch nowadays most people can grab a handful! Back in the days before Supersize and HFCS and frankenfood, most people were considerably thinner. There were only one or two overweight kids in my class. It was so unusual to be really overweight that the "pinch an inch" standard was a good reminder that you needed to cut back.
I don't think WHr is accurate either.
I'm obese,but I have a Whr of 0.69. That means I'm healthy according to Whr calulators.
I'm at a Bf % of 36%. That's obese.
My Bmi is 28. According to that,I'm simply overweight,not obese.
I'm confused about the whole thing as anyone else.
There are people who are thin but have a high body fat percentage,but are they obese?
Case in point: a 130 pound,5ft6in female with a BF% 36. According to the WHO,a woman is clinically obese when she has a BF% over 30%.
Her Bmi is 20,which would indicate she is extremely healthy.
her WHR is .75,which is a healthy range.
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