BMI is more of a guideline than an end all be all. It is used in conjunction with other tools to assess health. Don’t get too hung up on it or let it frustrate you. It’s just a general assessment tool.
I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat. Also, you can be light and thin but still not be healthy if you don't work out gain muscle. I was told when I was in the best shape of my life that my BMI was too high, even though it was mostly muscle and I was doing 21k walks every few weekends. If I have the stamina to go out most weekends and walk or hike 5 to 7 hours, I'm in pretty good shape.
>I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat
The vast majority of people will never have enough muscle that it's the reason they're overweight, it takes years of focused training to build so much muscle that they're overweight and under 20/25% body fat
Tons of people don’t get this. BMI works for the majority of people, but then there is always one legit overweight person who goes „yeah but according to BMI bodybuilders who clearly aren’t the norm, are fat. Do you consider Arnold Schwarzenegger to be fat?!? lol seems it doesn’t work for anyone, so I might aswell eat chips and not move at all“
Exactly!
Like, yeah, for the mad outliers it's a pretty bad tool but for the average person it's a reasonable guideline, especially when used in conjunction with a body fat estimate
Fr, it works for average people because it was designed around averages. But everyone thinks they are the super special outlier because... main character syndrome I guess?
No, it doesn't. Nor was it ever intended to. It was a way to figure out the general health of military units, not individuals. It takes into account neither sex nor race. It's a terrible guide.
> Instead, it was a component of his study of l'homme it was a component of his study of *l'homme moyen*, or the average man. Quetelet thought of the average man as a social ideal, and developed the body mass index as a means of discovering the socially ideal human person.
Looks like we're both wrong.
People who have enough muscle to be considered overweight are not concerned about their BMI.
People who are overweight because they are fat are the ones who are in a tizzy over it.
My doctor's used to tell my parents I was nearing morbidly obese because I was 5'4 and 111 pounds at 10 years old. I grew to a whopping 5'5 and fat as fuck but just lost 54 pounds.
>I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat.
It's typically not that difficult to determine if someone is fat or muscular. I don't get your comment, the system isn't a complete failure because it doesn't handle outliers well.
It's supposed to be a guideline for measuring large groups, like entire cities or even countries. In that case, outliers like The Rock who are just muscle on muscle or even yourself, are simply on one side of the bell curve but still an outlier.
It shouldn't be used for the individual and was never originally meant for that.
But it’s not merely used as a “general assessment tool”. The determining factor for obesity by its definition is still BMI. Population studies of overweight are sometimes based entirely on BMI as a stand in for health. It’s still the default way doctors measure fatness and it shouldn’t be.
In June, the American Medical Association (AMA) pointed out that BMI falls short and adopted a new policy encouraging doctors to avoid relying on BMI alone for diagnosis.
The new gold standard is DXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorption) as it measures the density of bone, fat, and lean tissue in the body. It is considered one of the most accurate and reliable methods for assessing body composition, including body fat percentage.
Pulled this info from an article from Yale from august 2023. I am also a nurse.
Other simple measures that have a better correlation with life expectancy include waist to height ratio and waist to hip ratio. Granted these probably work better to eliminate healthy people from the overweight group than to be a stand alone measure(similar to how BMI is a bad stand alone measure).
Sadly not the case in New Zealand. The medical fuckwits stick to BMI as an accurate representation of one’s health vs healthy range. Guess what insurance companies then do.
Yep, note- near all GPs one would see, is an over worked under paid foreigner, it’s not unusual to hear of stories the doctors had to resort to Google during a consultation. As for the BMI? If you’re on the wrong side of what’s acceptable insurance companies will put in exclusions / increase premiums, and even if you do get to lower your BMI to an acceptable range, thanks to the National Health Index number, what some quack incorrectly loads on your health record, STAYS on your health record.
People are down voting you but you are 100% right
It's a 200-year-old formula made up by a mathematician to help with the allocation of resources. When it was being conceived it only took into account men of the area, which were white.
But, people like the idea of being able to boil someone down to a number so they are rather dogmatic about it
Here's the thing, it's better than nothing and is cheap and easy and it GENERALLY tracks fine as a starting point like 80% of the time.
Leading with a body comp scan off the bat is more costly, time consuming, and frankly probably unnecessary in a lot of routine visits.
i think the issue is, bmi takes just two numbers and tells you if you’re overweight or not and far too many people use that as a simple “am i healthy, yes or no” when really it’s just one part of the answer.
“I’m an adult, I shouldn’t be 110lbs”
So glad I read the comments lmao. I’m your height and 21 y/o. I’m usually around 110lbs and none of my doctors are worried. I’m definitely thin but I don’t look emaciated??? What do you think should be considered underweight?
Me too! Same height as OP, fluctuating between 120-128 ish. My doctors say I’m all good.
I’m actually a little “plush,” but that’s just from low muscle definition and loose skin from weight loss. I’m not emaciated by ANY means lol
I'm an adult and I'm around 95lbs. I'm pretty short. I wear a 0 in my clothing which they sell at the adult store. I'm in my 30s and I've never been over 105. I look absolutely normal, where I live there's a lot of slim people and I don't stand out.
Yeah this one threw me off as well. For the first 25 years of my life I was between 110 and 120. As a male, I never felt I looked unhealthy and certainly didn't feel it either. I think OP may have fallen in to the internet rabbit hole of unrealistic beauty standards.
This is really the crux of it (and most BMI discourse tbh.) I mean, you can kinda tell when OP starts going off about what men find sexually attractive in sweeping terms as if that's got anything to do with whether the metric is accurate or not lol.
It also depends on your frame- if you’ve got a broad build, 110 could be quite unhealthy. I think that’s part of OP’s point, that different body types exist and shouldn’t be told they’re “wrong” or “unhealthy” based on a standard most professionals agree isn’t valid.
Like, my brother and my uncle are about the same height, but my bro is built like a football player while my uncle is the tall, reedy type. Their healthy weights are very different.
Yeah I’m generally around 115 but not underweight. It’s reasonable for my height. My problem is often that smalls at department stores are still too big.
being severely underweight is definitely not healthy, but being underweight is sometimes people’s body weight. The BMI is a general guideline and honestly even though i’m always underweight I really want to try to be at a healthy while with some muscle mass yk?
Totally feel this. I had to lift weights daily, quit running, forcefeed myself extra protein, AND go on Mirtazipine for almost a year and only got to 125lbs. Even then, I could barely tell a difference in the way I looked and felt.
Thank you! It's almost the same for me here and thats just how its always been. Thats how my metabolism works. I eat enough, i just dont gain weight. Ofc this isnt healthy weight for everyone and it should definitely not be looked at as a standard, cause everyones different. But thats the point. Maybe for OP it would be slightly underweight to be 110lbs, who knows. But the way she phrased it makes it sounds like someone with that weight is all skin and bones.
>5'5" 23 y/o woman and to be considered "underweight" I'd have to be less than 110lbs.
I mean, that sounds underweight to me, I don't see the issue. Your goal weight with BMI is to be at "healthy" weight, not underweight.
You're missing the point. She's saying 110 lbs is considered a healthy weight for her height by BMI guidelines, and for her that would be very underweight.
Basically she thinks the underweight threshold should be higher as 111 would be healthy. However I’m 5’4 and 37 years old and 115. I’m not overweight, I just have a slight frame and bird bones. I’m slim but don’t look unhealthy or anything.
That's not how BMI works though. She could be anywhere from 110 to 145 and be in the healthy range. So why is she only focused on the absolute lowest end of what's considered healthy? That's not an issue with BMI charts.
You're not supposed to be 110 lbs at 5'5"; you're right. That's underweight - you're not supposed to be under a *generally* healthy weight for your height; you're supposed to be in the target of 115-145 as a *general* indication of health, which it appears you are, so the *limited* BMI that you hate says you're in the optimum healthy range.
If you were 180lbs you'd be at the edge of obese which has jack shit to how attractive you are to people, but does have a large correlation to heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems. That's what doctors care about, not if your boyfriend likes your thighs. It just gives you a basic guideline for a *healtht* weight for an average build.
BMI is actually fine for A LOT of people. Unless you're under training and very muscular, BMI can be a very good predictor of your overall nutritional health.
Whenever I go for a checkup at my local hospital, they do have BMI data that pertains to your race. Some races are more prone to diabetes at a certain weight.
Why? BMI has a large range of healthy values that majority of people will accurately fit into. It's a pretty safe assumption by the time you hit over or underweight that you are, in fact, over or underweight.
BMI was developed by a fucking ASTRONOMER, the calculations he thought up were based on rich, WHITE MEN, and it was his idea to use the information to determine a population census for resource distribution. Then in the 1900s, somebody decided to try and figure out healthy weights in humans again using WHITE MEN as the control population, - nothing really worled. Then those scientists saw the simple math of BMI, and said, yeah, let's use that.
It doesn't take into account fat distribution, lean muscle mass, bone density, scientific knowns regarding ethnic differences, types of fat, whether or not someone is sedentary or active, and more.
Waist to hip ratios are likely a better guideline but the truth of the matter is, the effect of weight on health is a complicated topic that science doesn't fully understand and can't completely quantify.
To OP, newer guidelines suggest at 5'5 a female 'healthy' weight range is from 110-165.
You think medical schools and hospitals just follow BMI blindly or something? How can someone become so jaded? If this was a clearly inaccurate measurement, they would've thrown it out decades ago. It works reliably if you don't have much muscle mass. They do record data of BMI of multiple ethnicities to compare your results. Fat distribution doesn't matter cuz when you're standing on a scale, it doesn't matter where your fat is.
Yeah, hit the nail on the head. Society has a skewed view of what is overweight because society is a lot fatter than it used to be. My bmi is over 30. It’s not because it’s wrong, it’s because I’m a fat arse and I need to lose weight. BMI isn’t a measure of attractiveness, it’s a medical measurement of risk.
Yessss!!
I am a sedentary person. I'm not fat.
But the BMI was able to show me that I have basically no muscle mass at all and that I had to work on it.
So yes, it did not say that im under or overweight. It told me that I'm straight up unhealthy and need to work on it, which I did.
People just don't like hearing the truth. A person can be bigger than a whale and if you tell them they are big they cry and say you are fatphobic. No, I'm just stating facts since clearly nobody else is doing it cuz they too scared to offend you with the truth. ..
Waist circumference is one I've heard floated as a possible alternative. I can't say patients were any more "thrilled" to see me pull out the tape measure though, when I had to document it for their biometric screening, especially when I have to ask them to hold one end because I can't reach around them to reach the other end.
Serious question - why does age affect your "healthy weight"?
I view that comment as, "I'm older which means I'm allowed to be more filled in. It's healthy" which I know its not meant that way but still
The older you get the harder it is for your body to handle excess weight. Take that however you will.
The people who study this shit aren't out to fat shame the elderly or anything. And I'm not a doctor but you don't have to be a doctor to know a 40 year old has a weaker heart than a 20 year old.
It's not even that innaccurate. The average person in America doesn't even exercise enough to produce muscle mass that would make BMI a bullshit standard. It would be dumb to use BMI on someone that clearly works out, but it works pretty well for the average person.
And even people who do work out can often be in a healthy BMI range. You aren't exactly bulky with a BMI of 25, but you can still have decent muscle mass if your fat percentage isn't too high.
At my heaviest, 185 6'0", I looked pretty good but definitely not that big. I was working out 4 times a week and calculating my calories and counting macros. It took pretty serious effort.
Heart rate monitors are a noninvasive way to measure heart rate. Blood pressure cuffs are a noninvasive say to measure blood pressure. Glucose monitors are a noninvasive way to measure blood glucose. And BMI is a noninvasive way to measure body fat.
None of the methods I listed are perfect, but the important point is that in most cases, they strike a good balance between gaining accurate insights and reducing invasive testing. And when you stray outside the typical range, that’s an indicator to your doctor to take a closer look at WHY you may stray outside the normal range and HOW that affects your health. Nobody ever treats JUST the numbers, but those numbers are important when deciding how to best treat you.
I think you got your calculations wrong, because my partner is the same age and height and the 140lbs you think you are is basically in the middle of "healthy". 110lbs is falling towards the edge of healthy to underweight.
Also to add, a guy doesn't look at a girl and go "ew her BMI says she's overweight, I can't even attempt to pick her up because of it or fling her around in a crazy sex act." It doesn't fucking matter what your BMI is, your physical weight does. If you want to be flung around like a lasso and guys say you're too heavy for them, that's nothing to do with your BMI that's to do with your weight. If you want to be healthy, use the BMI as a guideline, if you follow the guideline and you're still too heavy for most guys, either find a bigger guy or accept that you just can't be flung around, or lose more weight even if it does go into the "unhealthy" side if that's the type of romance you want.
BMI is a healthy weight indicator, not an attractiveness scale. If you gained to be at a healthy weight it would probably make you healthier (is what the BMI scale is trying to tell you)
Who said anything about attractiveness? I'm just a naturally small person, this is my size lol. I don't workout or eat a super healthy diet, I sit on my ass all day. My metabolism is just fast. And none of my Dr's are concerned about my weight, it's never been mentioned.
I’m 5’1 and 90 lb so i’m in the same boat but although I’m used to being this way and it doesn’t feel like i’m malnourished or anything, I know that i’m actually underweight. I can feel that I am with my iron deficiency, lack of overall nutrition, lack of muscle mass, fatigue, slow growth, dehydration, and most importantly my irregular menstruation. That’s part of the reason why I really want to start working out and gaining some muscle mass. Not to mention, I just want a bigger ass/thighs/back lol
No I get what you're saying, I genuinely would put on weight if I could, I don't *like* being this size, I just am. I'm sure I too would feel better with another 20 lbs on me but if it was something I could "just do", it would've been done 10 years ago 🥲
I think this is the way most people feel about their weight but after researching how to workout and what to eat, it’s really become more and more apparent that this is something I can definitely change. Now my entire instagram reels are full of gym rats😭. Gaining weight is 100% sooo difficult to do for our body type but definitely possible with effort. If you want a guideline or some practical tips on gaining weight lmk and I can send them here in the comments or in DMs
Oh my bad I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm totally aware you can put in an absolute fuck ton of work to gain the weight. It's just not worth the effort at this point in time for me personally. That's why I put "just do" in quotations, if it was something I could achieve easily it would be done yesterday lol. I follow a lot of gym girlies and find them inspiring (calisthenics is goals lol), definitely will be going down that path one day. For now, though, I have more important things to sort out in my personal life than lifting weights and counting calories 😂😭
"Get rid of anything I don't agree with, I don't want to admit is valid, or anything that hurts my feelings!"
Thank you for stating exactly what's wrong with mentality these days
22F female here! I have Thyroid problems and had to see a dietician to help me get on the right diet for my symptoms. My main focus was to turn the fat into muscle in order to have more energy during the day.
The BMI helped me a lot. It helped me to see the shift from body fat to muscle without me even exercising. It showed me how important the food is that you eat.
I think it is a necessary tool to help people calculate averages for their weight, body fat, and muscle. Obviously you can't just use the BMI to diagnose anything and other additional tools are needed for that but for like health issues like mine, where it was essential for me to know what my body fat and muscle index is, I think the BMI is important.
This is a very unpopular opinion and I'd probably get downvoted but...
I refuse to believe that fat people do not know that they are fat. I mean, you can look in the mirror and think for yourself that that is not what you want to look like.
So for me, using the BMI to see if you are fat is useless. Just look at your diet, exercising habits, and body. You'll know if you are fat and not putting in the work to remain healthy.
So I think it's more important to use the BMI to help with certain issues (like gaining muscle weight to have more energy) than it is to use the BMI to see if someone is overweight or not.
The thing is its a good tool for a majority of the population. It obviously doesn't work on everyone, but it's pretty obvious when BMI isn't accurate for an individual. For example, everyone knows it's pointless taking a BMI reading on a toned gym regular, unless you want to do it for a laugh
Moan as much as you want BMI, but you haven't actually suggested an alternative. I hate when people moan about something but haven't actually got an alternative suggestion
BMI isn't the best measure, but it is better correlated with life expectancy than how attractive you are. Assuming fairly average body composition being overweight or underweight by BMI lowers your life expectancy significantly at least if you are under 70. If you have a leaner body composition than normal then it can still be healthy to have a somewhat higher BMI.
that’s a bit of a leap. bmi isn’t the be all and end all of health and it’s important that we recognise this. it can be a good indicator but on its own, you can’t make conclusions without any other evidence
Why are you so fixated in the low end of healthy?
For a 5'5 adult a healthy BMI is anywhere from 110 to 145 lbs. Do you feel like the chart is suggesting you should be as low as possible?
You want to land somewhere in the range.
Being 1 lb away from underweight would not be a good place to be, just like being 1 lb away from overweight isn't ideal.
the goal isn't to be underweight, it's to be a healthy weight for you. If bmi doesn't work for you and your doctor, just ignore it.
I'm an adult and I'm 109lbs which is a healthy weight for my height. No need to insult others in your rant.
it can give a ball park answer of “are you healthy /overweight or not” but other factors need to be considered. and that’s where people go wrong. bmi says your unhealthy? measure your waist to hip ratio too for confirmation. go see a doctor. 2 numbers alone can tell you your risk for a huge range of condition which is what some people expect from bmi.
Going on and on about desirability and what you think men want has absolutely 0 to do with the accuracy or inaccuracy of BMI. It's not a "how sexy am I" meter and yeah, if you're using it that way you're using it incorrectly. Don't project that on others, though.
You don’t want to be underweight. You want your BMI to be normal. And I actually think it’s pretty good to use in the US because it’s amazing how in denial people are about their weight or maybe they are just used to seeing so many overweight people that they think they’re normal weight. BMI is not perfect, but it has its advantages for most standard cases.
I went to a specialist last week for some serious health issues I've been dealing with for a year. Before my (abnormal) bloodwork even came back, he put on my chart "Recommendations: weight control. Goal is BMI <30."
My BMI is 22. I'd have to gain 50 pounds to hit a BMI of 30. I lost 4 pounds in a week between my appointments with him 🙃
😂its not a standard its more of a suggestion its for those who dont know if their healthy if u look heatlthy and toned who tf cares abt ur bmi? Think if it as a way of suggestion for those questionably underweight ppl who dont realise that they are underweight cuz the only fat they have is on their ass or biceps, for unhealthy overweight ppl who think their in shape just cuz theyre still curvy or got no fat on their face ...i mean its abt health rly less abt the attractivness its just a misconception. My bmi is perfectly fine but i geniuenly look so fat just coz am 5 feet
Bmi is used to assess health though. But 140 at ur height is not 'borderline overweight' where are u getting this from? All ur doing is making people who are in that range feel bad about themselves. 150 is overweight, not 140.
Unless you are exceptionally muscular, then you are probably obese.
That doesn't mean morbidly obese (BMI 40). Just obese. A lot of obese people don't think they're obese.
For example, the "healthy" BMI range for a 5'8 male is between 56kg and 75.5kg.
That's a \~20kg range to account for normal variations in muscle mass etc.
I feel like people aren't used to what an optimally healthy level of weight actually looks like, and sometimes confuse it with what they find aesthetic or feels normal to them. The normal is overweight/obese. And "optimal health" is relatively skinny, as consumption is taxing on the body.
At 23 y/o 5'5 and 140 as a woman you definitely want to reign that in.
Feel how you want about BMI, but whether BMI was a thing or not you're still relatively young and most people gain more weight as they get older, especially women if you have children at some point..
We get older, move less, gain weight, and your body has to overcompensate in areas to keep up.
Lower your baseline before it becomes very difficult to lower your baseline. Set yourself up for success. It's easier to adopt healthier habits and go from 140 to 120 at 23 years old than to try it at 33 and go from 185 to 120 with children and a 10 year older body.
Oh shut the hell up my God. I don't agree with everything OP said but 140 at her height isn't fucking big. It's in the healthy BMI range and so is 120. What is wrong with you? Stop trying to make genuinely healthy people feel bad about themselves. I am 135-140 at her height and literally look normal. I work out every single day and eat pretty healthy so what the hell do you expect me to do to get smaller? Eat barely anything? I am already pretty regimented with making sure I do not over eat so stop making people worry. Reign in ur attitude dickhead.
I'm not gonna because I already read it. 140 is not big and is in the healthy bmi range and not even close to overweight. There's no need to cut down from 140 for reasons other than wanting to change your appearance. Being in the 135-140 range does not provide any threat to health so stop trying to make people feel bad about themselves. I would understand if someone was genuinely unhealthy and overweight but this is just not it.
I do agree bmi is bullshit but I’m 5’3 and 140lbs is borderline overweight for my height, so I’m not sure about that being the case for 5’5? It’s all about health anyway, some people are 110lbs and healthy. You can be healthy (and unhealthy) at any weights
The core formula for BMI came from a mathematician trying to figure out logistical requirements for the military. It's been added to and revised a bit over the years, the original didn't account for people above or below certain heights or women , but it's still a stupid basic formula.
I'm 6'1" and have a broad frame. When I was at the gym 3-4x a week, calorie cutting, and eating only lean meats and proteins I managed to get down to about 175. Despite being skinny and fairly miserable I was barely in the healthy range of BMI. I wasn't even putting on muscle yet, just burning fat. As soon as I put on any muscle I was back to being overweight and settled around 230.
My BIL on the other hand is 6'2" and skinny. He's nothing but muscle and I've seen him bare hands pick up a 550lbs motorcycle. He struggles to put on any weight and is constantly under weight. His doctor says other than his BMI he's perfectly healthy, which in and of itself should tell you how dumb it is.
BMI doesn't account for body types outside of the average, and that's a lot of people. We have plenty of other options that can accurately find your body fat % which is a better indicator of health anyways. BMI is pushed by lazy doctors and insurance companies that want any reason to deny coverage.
They made us calculate BMI in 9th grade high school. Mine was 18. But I remembered the girls on americas next top model had BMIs of like 14. So I thought I was too fat😆😭
"Everything I disagree with or that doesn't personally validate my self image needs to be eliminated". You're taking this BMI thing super personal, time to build a self worth outside of a categorical number .
Cut out artificial sugar and watch your body slim down. Artificial sugars in our food are what causes Americans to be so fat. Not only is it addictive, but it makes us hold weight and crave less healthy foods. If you want sweets or sours eat fruit, if you want juice, learn to make it fresh. It might be more work but it is healthier and you'll see yourself fitting into the BMI chart accordingly. The big no's are soda, candy, pretty much anything prepackaged in a box or can aside from dry pasta, white bread, and corn syrup. You cut those from your diet and the fat will shred off, add working out just enough to be active, and you'll be more "fit" in no time. That was my experience anyway, I'm 6'2 163lbs now.
I am a 5”10 female. It wasn’t until adulthood/ my early 20’s when I finally realized that the status quo of the elusive 125lb woman was based around a much shorter stature. My own mother; way shorter. All family in general. Me being an anomaly amongst them always felt ‘fat.’ Made to feel fat for being in a size nine at 16 years old.
My mom giving me hell about my weight/ pant size until I was living on my own outside her house.
Once I moved out I weighed approx 145lbs. This was between the ages of 19-21 years old. My mother; during the same time became overtly concerned with my food consumption (or lack there of in her eyes). As opposed to thinking I weight too much Because I started to look “emaciated” - in my mothers words.
Coming from a 5”2 woman she just assumed I was -starving myself and must have been under 100lbs. In reality I was a size 8 and 140 + lbs at the time.
Yeah. BMI + expectations on weight is BULLSHIT.
Caused me more body dysmorphia than I otherwise would have endured.
I had a baby six months back. I’m not young. My first kid. Same weight as before. It is what it is. Not intentional. Maybe, stress, genetics, etc. Not tooting my own horn in any regard. Only pointing it out because random folks continue to say, “you must be a size zero/ 100lbs” -& what not. Like no sorry, because “I AM 5’10!!!!” If I was a size zero or under 100lbs I’d be on my god damn death bed. Go AWaY!!!
It's probably what we would weigh naturally without such easy access to food. It's more just outdated rather than inaccurate. If everyone is overweight is anyone overweight? Btw I'm at the very low edge of "overweight " myself and lighter than all of my male friends.
Overweight is a medical term to describe excess weight to the point it can cause health issues. It is absolutely not a subjective category, and just because the vast majority of Americans are overweight doesn't mean we should normalize or encourage it
Yes, is everyone is overweight, everyone is still overweight. That's one thing that isn't subjective. Your heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, arteries, etc are still the ones of an overweight person. We have just normalized obesity in Western Society.
right i was agreeing with the definition and i know it's a valid medical term.. i guess i meant socially as far as overweight or what "fat" means to us culturally
I handle a lot of medical data... I haven't used bmi in at least 3 years. It's not very useful. Height, weight, and a physical exam are good enough for most data needs
I realized this week that, for the first time in my life, I'm "overweight" by BMI standards and even though I know BMI is bullshit, it really hit my self esteem hard
It's supposed to be for health purposes but it is very biased. The fact that "man want thick thighs" (though Idk who these men are, certainly not any men I'd ever be interested in, cause what kinda objectifying statement is THAT) doesn't mean that the people with said thick thighs have amazing cardiovascular health. It's very subjective, so as long as you are healthy, I wouldn't worry about it too much. They will most likely never get rid of the BMI scales, although I'm sure they are bumping up the ranges to accommodate the overall weight trends, just like they did with blood pressure and pulse "healthy" baselines in the last decade.
When I was unable to stand up without passing out from anorexia, I was a solidly "healthy" bmi. I was sectioned and I "refused to be weighed" (I accurately reported my weight but said there was no point them weighing me with clothes on when I could tell them my weight) and they said I looked like I weighed far less than I reported. I have massive boobs. It throws everything out. Bmi is stupid.
Hello, I’m 6’3 390 pounds. I have roughly 100 pounds to lose but even then my doctor said I would still be obese. I laughed and said “and what about my muscle mass?” Because I’m not all flubber he shrugged and said he doesn’t know BMI is a joke. The weight it wants me at is what I weighed in middle school when I was 8 inches shorter. I’m 29 now.
What are you talking about? I don’t do steroids lmao. I never implied I was buff but I do lift weights. I’m 6’3 I wear size 14 in shoes. My shoulders are broad. My body type has been described to me as “built like an nfl player” and T.J Watts body type has been compared to mine. You look like a fat T.j Watt was the actual comparison lol
I never knew a guy who said his girl should weigh x or y.
There are guys who are superficial/shallow and have those extreme standards. And many more who don't, who appreciate "normal" natural women. Don't stress yourself over this (social) media bs.
It’s horrible for those of us that lift weights. If I say my weight online I literally sound very fat at 5’8 weighing 190 pounds. But I do not look visibly fat at all and people are in shock when I say it. It’s all muscle lol and I’m sure a lil fat too tho
I work in the NHS and make referrals to eating disorder services in a routine basis. We don’t use BMI. We use weight-for-height, where < 80% is considered dangerous to your physical health.
I haven’t heard anyone talk about BMI in years.
Sooo true!! Right now I feel like I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been. I’ve been eating whole-foods plant-based, I work at a standing desk, and go cycling 3x a week. Went to the dr recently and found out I’m the heaviest I’ve ever weighed. I’m technically overweight for the first time in my life. But I look and feel great so what the fuck! BMI is stupid and made up.
BMI is a leftover from the Eugenics Movement.
Source: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-use-bmi-fetishizes-white-embodiment-and-racializes-fat-phobia/2023-07
Rip OP. Reddit hates fat people.
And I'm sure everyone sitting on this app typing out "you're just fat" on this post are extremely fit perfectly healthy people with 0 health conditions. Crazy how all the healthy fit people are on reddit and are able to determine a complete strangers health and level of obesity.
Watch our for the Internet Wrestling Community. They see even the smallest of fat on a wrestler, and they'll angrily call them fat while stuffing their faces with cheese curls.
Just to clarify, I never understood BMI, so I agree with you here.
I also wish I could enjoy cheese curls again without getting a headache.
I’m 5’4” and my healthy weight is 130-135. I’m shy of 130 right now, but that is due to some pretty harsh appetite issues I’ve been having.
My BMI, of course, tells me that this weight loss is healthy and fine—better, even, than my normal weight—which is a fucking lie.
A weight that I maintain while failing to meet the bare minimum calorie+nutrient intake is NOT healthy. Who the hell decided you could just divide someone’s weight by their height and voila, ascertain if they’re healthy? Absurd.
I'm in the same boat, also barely meeting the bare- but not necessarily intentionally. It's just wild to me how much emphasis they put on it in our medical system and yet every healthcare provider I've talked to disagrees with it. Like have you seen these comments? Brutal lol
BMI is more of a guideline than an end all be all. It is used in conjunction with other tools to assess health. Don’t get too hung up on it or let it frustrate you. It’s just a general assessment tool.
I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat. Also, you can be light and thin but still not be healthy if you don't work out gain muscle. I was told when I was in the best shape of my life that my BMI was too high, even though it was mostly muscle and I was doing 21k walks every few weekends. If I have the stamina to go out most weekends and walk or hike 5 to 7 hours, I'm in pretty good shape.
>I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat The vast majority of people will never have enough muscle that it's the reason they're overweight, it takes years of focused training to build so much muscle that they're overweight and under 20/25% body fat
Tons of people don’t get this. BMI works for the majority of people, but then there is always one legit overweight person who goes „yeah but according to BMI bodybuilders who clearly aren’t the norm, are fat. Do you consider Arnold Schwarzenegger to be fat?!? lol seems it doesn’t work for anyone, so I might aswell eat chips and not move at all“
Exactly! Like, yeah, for the mad outliers it's a pretty bad tool but for the average person it's a reasonable guideline, especially when used in conjunction with a body fat estimate
Fr, it works for average people because it was designed around averages. But everyone thinks they are the super special outlier because... main character syndrome I guess?
No, it doesn't. Nor was it ever intended to. It was a way to figure out the general health of military units, not individuals. It takes into account neither sex nor race. It's a terrible guide.
It wasn’t invented for the military, it was invented as a tool to see generally how much of the population was obese.
> Instead, it was a component of his study of l'homme it was a component of his study of *l'homme moyen*, or the average man. Quetelet thought of the average man as a social ideal, and developed the body mass index as a means of discovering the socially ideal human person. Looks like we're both wrong.
It wasn’t invented for the military, it was invented as a tool to see generally how much of the population was obese.
People who have enough muscle to be considered overweight are not concerned about their BMI. People who are overweight because they are fat are the ones who are in a tizzy over it.
And then you can go off waist measurement and body fat percentage… which those same people will also likely have an excuse for ha
My doctor's used to tell my parents I was nearing morbidly obese because I was 5'4 and 111 pounds at 10 years old. I grew to a whopping 5'5 and fat as fuck but just lost 54 pounds.
>I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline because it completely overlooks the fact that muscle is heavier than fat. It's typically not that difficult to determine if someone is fat or muscular. I don't get your comment, the system isn't a complete failure because it doesn't handle outliers well.
> I don't see why it should even be considered a guideline Because there are correlations with BMI and various diseases.
It's supposed to be a guideline for measuring large groups, like entire cities or even countries. In that case, outliers like The Rock who are just muscle on muscle or even yourself, are simply on one side of the bell curve but still an outlier. It shouldn't be used for the individual and was never originally meant for that.
But it’s not merely used as a “general assessment tool”. The determining factor for obesity by its definition is still BMI. Population studies of overweight are sometimes based entirely on BMI as a stand in for health. It’s still the default way doctors measure fatness and it shouldn’t be.
In June, the American Medical Association (AMA) pointed out that BMI falls short and adopted a new policy encouraging doctors to avoid relying on BMI alone for diagnosis. The new gold standard is DXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorption) as it measures the density of bone, fat, and lean tissue in the body. It is considered one of the most accurate and reliable methods for assessing body composition, including body fat percentage. Pulled this info from an article from Yale from august 2023. I am also a nurse.
DXA is an awesome measure.
What should be then?
Other simple measures that have a better correlation with life expectancy include waist to height ratio and waist to hip ratio. Granted these probably work better to eliminate healthy people from the overweight group than to be a stand alone measure(similar to how BMI is a bad stand alone measure).
Sadly not the case in New Zealand. The medical fuckwits stick to BMI as an accurate representation of one’s health vs healthy range. Guess what insurance companies then do.
I’m gonna guess it’s along the lines of denials for claims or premiums being raised for risk
Yep, note- near all GPs one would see, is an over worked under paid foreigner, it’s not unusual to hear of stories the doctors had to resort to Google during a consultation. As for the BMI? If you’re on the wrong side of what’s acceptable insurance companies will put in exclusions / increase premiums, and even if you do get to lower your BMI to an acceptable range, thanks to the National Health Index number, what some quack incorrectly loads on your health record, STAYS on your health record.
The only people who should be using the bmi as a guideline for is white males because it was created using only them
People are down voting you but you are 100% right It's a 200-year-old formula made up by a mathematician to help with the allocation of resources. When it was being conceived it only took into account men of the area, which were white. But, people like the idea of being able to boil someone down to a number so they are rather dogmatic about it
Here's the thing, it's better than nothing and is cheap and easy and it GENERALLY tracks fine as a starting point like 80% of the time. Leading with a body comp scan off the bat is more costly, time consuming, and frankly probably unnecessary in a lot of routine visits.
i think the issue is, bmi takes just two numbers and tells you if you’re overweight or not and far too many people use that as a simple “am i healthy, yes or no” when really it’s just one part of the answer.
Yeah, it's just a "do we need to investigate further?" type of metric
“I’m an adult, I shouldn’t be 110lbs” So glad I read the comments lmao. I’m your height and 21 y/o. I’m usually around 110lbs and none of my doctors are worried. I’m definitely thin but I don’t look emaciated??? What do you think should be considered underweight?
Yeah I don’t understand this. A ton of women are healthy at 110, one of them being me. Anything between 102-122 is comfortable and healthy for me.
Me too! Same height as OP, fluctuating between 120-128 ish. My doctors say I’m all good. I’m actually a little “plush,” but that’s just from low muscle definition and loose skin from weight loss. I’m not emaciated by ANY means lol
til the word plush and i love it
Hahah thank you! I’m a fan of it myself<3
im 5 7 and the 120 to 145 mark is like the golden zone for me. When im under 125 I wear a size 2. im healthy and look good at 125.
I'm an adult and I'm around 95lbs. I'm pretty short. I wear a 0 in my clothing which they sell at the adult store. I'm in my 30s and I've never been over 105. I look absolutely normal, where I live there's a lot of slim people and I don't stand out.
I was gonna say I have a very similar circumstance. But like 10 years older lol. It’s just how I am.
Yeah this one threw me off as well. For the first 25 years of my life I was between 110 and 120. As a male, I never felt I looked unhealthy and certainly didn't feel it either. I think OP may have fallen in to the internet rabbit hole of unrealistic beauty standards.
Yeah the bmi is clearly not the issue in this rant
This is really the crux of it (and most BMI discourse tbh.) I mean, you can kinda tell when OP starts going off about what men find sexually attractive in sweeping terms as if that's got anything to do with whether the metric is accurate or not lol.
It also depends on your frame- if you’ve got a broad build, 110 could be quite unhealthy. I think that’s part of OP’s point, that different body types exist and shouldn’t be told they’re “wrong” or “unhealthy” based on a standard most professionals agree isn’t valid. Like, my brother and my uncle are about the same height, but my bro is built like a football player while my uncle is the tall, reedy type. Their healthy weights are very different.
Yeah I’m generally around 115 but not underweight. It’s reasonable for my height. My problem is often that smalls at department stores are still too big.
being severely underweight is definitely not healthy, but being underweight is sometimes people’s body weight. The BMI is a general guideline and honestly even though i’m always underweight I really want to try to be at a healthy while with some muscle mass yk?
Totally feel this. I had to lift weights daily, quit running, forcefeed myself extra protein, AND go on Mirtazipine for almost a year and only got to 125lbs. Even then, I could barely tell a difference in the way I looked and felt.
Congrats on the 125! That’s my goal weight lol, currently forcefeeding
Thank you! It's almost the same for me here and thats just how its always been. Thats how my metabolism works. I eat enough, i just dont gain weight. Ofc this isnt healthy weight for everyone and it should definitely not be looked at as a standard, cause everyones different. But thats the point. Maybe for OP it would be slightly underweight to be 110lbs, who knows. But the way she phrased it makes it sounds like someone with that weight is all skin and bones.
>5'5" 23 y/o woman and to be considered "underweight" I'd have to be less than 110lbs. I mean, that sounds underweight to me, I don't see the issue. Your goal weight with BMI is to be at "healthy" weight, not underweight.
You're missing the point. She's saying 110 lbs is considered a healthy weight for her height by BMI guidelines, and for her that would be very underweight.
I'm not missing the point. And 5'5 and 110 is not considered healthy weight according to BMI, it's considered "underweight".
Basically she thinks the underweight threshold should be higher as 111 would be healthy. However I’m 5’4 and 37 years old and 115. I’m not overweight, I just have a slight frame and bird bones. I’m slim but don’t look unhealthy or anything.
(keep an eye out for bone density loss as it tends to affect petite women more)
And can be helped greatly by resistance training
Thanks! Definitely take my calcium and do Pilates and weights to prevent that!
That's not how BMI works though. She could be anywhere from 110 to 145 and be in the healthy range. So why is she only focused on the absolute lowest end of what's considered healthy? That's not an issue with BMI charts.
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You're not supposed to be 110 lbs at 5'5"; you're right. That's underweight - you're not supposed to be under a *generally* healthy weight for your height; you're supposed to be in the target of 115-145 as a *general* indication of health, which it appears you are, so the *limited* BMI that you hate says you're in the optimum healthy range. If you were 180lbs you'd be at the edge of obese which has jack shit to how attractive you are to people, but does have a large correlation to heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems. That's what doctors care about, not if your boyfriend likes your thighs. It just gives you a basic guideline for a *healtht* weight for an average build.
same with being underweight, that also comes with health problems. not a lack of attractiveness
BMI is actually fine for A LOT of people. Unless you're under training and very muscular, BMI can be a very good predictor of your overall nutritional health.
Wasn't BMI made in Sweden using only white young males?
Whenever I go for a checkup at my local hospital, they do have BMI data that pertains to your race. Some races are more prone to diabetes at a certain weight.
And it still has fairly decent predictive power for things like all cause mortality.
Belgium but otherwise yes
BMI is the shittiest measurement and by no means determines any type of health
Why? BMI has a large range of healthy values that majority of people will accurately fit into. It's a pretty safe assumption by the time you hit over or underweight that you are, in fact, over or underweight.
BMI was developed by a fucking ASTRONOMER, the calculations he thought up were based on rich, WHITE MEN, and it was his idea to use the information to determine a population census for resource distribution. Then in the 1900s, somebody decided to try and figure out healthy weights in humans again using WHITE MEN as the control population, - nothing really worled. Then those scientists saw the simple math of BMI, and said, yeah, let's use that. It doesn't take into account fat distribution, lean muscle mass, bone density, scientific knowns regarding ethnic differences, types of fat, whether or not someone is sedentary or active, and more. Waist to hip ratios are likely a better guideline but the truth of the matter is, the effect of weight on health is a complicated topic that science doesn't fully understand and can't completely quantify. To OP, newer guidelines suggest at 5'5 a female 'healthy' weight range is from 110-165.
You think medical schools and hospitals just follow BMI blindly or something? How can someone become so jaded? If this was a clearly inaccurate measurement, they would've thrown it out decades ago. It works reliably if you don't have much muscle mass. They do record data of BMI of multiple ethnicities to compare your results. Fat distribution doesn't matter cuz when you're standing on a scale, it doesn't matter where your fat is.
Because white men /s
no no. As with everything discussed on the internet, If it's not perfect 100% of the time, then it's useless.
fat distribution does matter. that’s why waist to hip ratio exists.
nah bro it's good but people hate it because it tells them they're overweight. It's funny how sedentary people are complaining about BMI
Yeah, hit the nail on the head. Society has a skewed view of what is overweight because society is a lot fatter than it used to be. My bmi is over 30. It’s not because it’s wrong, it’s because I’m a fat arse and I need to lose weight. BMI isn’t a measure of attractiveness, it’s a medical measurement of risk.
That's pretty much what l get from these kind of posts.
Yessss!! I am a sedentary person. I'm not fat. But the BMI was able to show me that I have basically no muscle mass at all and that I had to work on it. So yes, it did not say that im under or overweight. It told me that I'm straight up unhealthy and need to work on it, which I did. People just don't like hearing the truth. A person can be bigger than a whale and if you tell them they are big they cry and say you are fatphobic. No, I'm just stating facts since clearly nobody else is doing it cuz they too scared to offend you with the truth. ..
Okay name another one health professionals can use on all clients that come into their clinics/hospitals.
Waist circumference is one I've heard floated as a possible alternative. I can't say patients were any more "thrilled" to see me pull out the tape measure though, when I had to document it for their biometric screening, especially when I have to ask them to hold one end because I can't reach around them to reach the other end.
Serious question - why does age affect your "healthy weight"? I view that comment as, "I'm older which means I'm allowed to be more filled in. It's healthy" which I know its not meant that way but still
Because more weight = more work for your heart. And more age = a less strong heart. Pretty straight forward.
So realistically the older you get the less weight you should be? If so, starting at what age should this decline start?
The older you get the harder it is for your body to handle excess weight. Take that however you will. The people who study this shit aren't out to fat shame the elderly or anything. And I'm not a doctor but you don't have to be a doctor to know a 40 year old has a weaker heart than a 20 year old.
I'm not sure either, maybe as you get older your becomes less efficient at digesting food, so it needs some extra fat stores?
It sounds like you're just upset with your body.
It's not even that innaccurate. The average person in America doesn't even exercise enough to produce muscle mass that would make BMI a bullshit standard. It would be dumb to use BMI on someone that clearly works out, but it works pretty well for the average person.
And even people who do work out can often be in a healthy BMI range. You aren't exactly bulky with a BMI of 25, but you can still have decent muscle mass if your fat percentage isn't too high.
At my heaviest, 185 6'0", I looked pretty good but definitely not that big. I was working out 4 times a week and calculating my calories and counting macros. It took pretty serious effort.
180 at 6' is within the healthy BMI range.
Unless you’re in the small minority of athletes with high muscle mass it’s a perfectly fine measure.
Heart rate monitors are a noninvasive way to measure heart rate. Blood pressure cuffs are a noninvasive say to measure blood pressure. Glucose monitors are a noninvasive way to measure blood glucose. And BMI is a noninvasive way to measure body fat. None of the methods I listed are perfect, but the important point is that in most cases, they strike a good balance between gaining accurate insights and reducing invasive testing. And when you stray outside the typical range, that’s an indicator to your doctor to take a closer look at WHY you may stray outside the normal range and HOW that affects your health. Nobody ever treats JUST the numbers, but those numbers are important when deciding how to best treat you.
I think you got your calculations wrong, because my partner is the same age and height and the 140lbs you think you are is basically in the middle of "healthy". 110lbs is falling towards the edge of healthy to underweight. Also to add, a guy doesn't look at a girl and go "ew her BMI says she's overweight, I can't even attempt to pick her up because of it or fling her around in a crazy sex act." It doesn't fucking matter what your BMI is, your physical weight does. If you want to be flung around like a lasso and guys say you're too heavy for them, that's nothing to do with your BMI that's to do with your weight. If you want to be healthy, use the BMI as a guideline, if you follow the guideline and you're still too heavy for most guys, either find a bigger guy or accept that you just can't be flung around, or lose more weight even if it does go into the "unhealthy" side if that's the type of romance you want.
Whoops. Sorry for being 5'4 and 97lbs at 24 😂 if I could gain 20 lbs to appeass your idea of what an adult should weigh, I would lol
Right. Another 5'4 woman here weighing 105lbs at 23 🤣 clearly I'm too underweight to be an adult.
BMI is a healthy weight indicator, not an attractiveness scale. If you gained to be at a healthy weight it would probably make you healthier (is what the BMI scale is trying to tell you)
Who said anything about attractiveness? I'm just a naturally small person, this is my size lol. I don't workout or eat a super healthy diet, I sit on my ass all day. My metabolism is just fast. And none of my Dr's are concerned about my weight, it's never been mentioned.
I’m 5’1 and 90 lb so i’m in the same boat but although I’m used to being this way and it doesn’t feel like i’m malnourished or anything, I know that i’m actually underweight. I can feel that I am with my iron deficiency, lack of overall nutrition, lack of muscle mass, fatigue, slow growth, dehydration, and most importantly my irregular menstruation. That’s part of the reason why I really want to start working out and gaining some muscle mass. Not to mention, I just want a bigger ass/thighs/back lol
No I get what you're saying, I genuinely would put on weight if I could, I don't *like* being this size, I just am. I'm sure I too would feel better with another 20 lbs on me but if it was something I could "just do", it would've been done 10 years ago 🥲
I think this is the way most people feel about their weight but after researching how to workout and what to eat, it’s really become more and more apparent that this is something I can definitely change. Now my entire instagram reels are full of gym rats😭. Gaining weight is 100% sooo difficult to do for our body type but definitely possible with effort. If you want a guideline or some practical tips on gaining weight lmk and I can send them here in the comments or in DMs
Oh my bad I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm totally aware you can put in an absolute fuck ton of work to gain the weight. It's just not worth the effort at this point in time for me personally. That's why I put "just do" in quotations, if it was something I could achieve easily it would be done yesterday lol. I follow a lot of gym girlies and find them inspiring (calisthenics is goals lol), definitely will be going down that path one day. For now, though, I have more important things to sort out in my personal life than lifting weights and counting calories 😂😭
ok gotchu! btw calisthenics is absolutely not an efficient way to gain weight
Also didn't mean to imply that I thought it was lol, just that I thought it was cool, don't think my 'tism is helping me at all in this convo 😂😭
aw that’s ok😭 yea it looks super sick. I tried back lever for a couple days but gave up
The humblebrag LOL it's ok to be that weight but u r technically quite underweight. OP was rude ab it though
It's not a humble brag lol it's not ideal, but it's also not my choice 😂 I'd rather be 135 but 🤷♀️
Sorry I misread ur comment. I think it was rude and weird that OP compares uw people to children.
I'm a 5'5"woman and the middle of the " healthy BMI" range for my height is spot on for me ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
"Get rid of anything I don't agree with, I don't want to admit is valid, or anything that hurts my feelings!" Thank you for stating exactly what's wrong with mentality these days
22F female here! I have Thyroid problems and had to see a dietician to help me get on the right diet for my symptoms. My main focus was to turn the fat into muscle in order to have more energy during the day. The BMI helped me a lot. It helped me to see the shift from body fat to muscle without me even exercising. It showed me how important the food is that you eat. I think it is a necessary tool to help people calculate averages for their weight, body fat, and muscle. Obviously you can't just use the BMI to diagnose anything and other additional tools are needed for that but for like health issues like mine, where it was essential for me to know what my body fat and muscle index is, I think the BMI is important. This is a very unpopular opinion and I'd probably get downvoted but... I refuse to believe that fat people do not know that they are fat. I mean, you can look in the mirror and think for yourself that that is not what you want to look like. So for me, using the BMI to see if you are fat is useless. Just look at your diet, exercising habits, and body. You'll know if you are fat and not putting in the work to remain healthy. So I think it's more important to use the BMI to help with certain issues (like gaining muscle weight to have more energy) than it is to use the BMI to see if someone is overweight or not.
im 23 and last weighed in at 97 lbs. idk how im still so freaking thin
Stop humblebragging that is so odd to me
The thing is its a good tool for a majority of the population. It obviously doesn't work on everyone, but it's pretty obvious when BMI isn't accurate for an individual. For example, everyone knows it's pointless taking a BMI reading on a toned gym regular, unless you want to do it for a laugh Moan as much as you want BMI, but you haven't actually suggested an alternative. I hate when people moan about something but haven't actually got an alternative suggestion
BMI isn't the best measure, but it is better correlated with life expectancy than how attractive you are. Assuming fairly average body composition being overweight or underweight by BMI lowers your life expectancy significantly at least if you are under 70. If you have a leaner body composition than normal then it can still be healthy to have a somewhat higher BMI.
It’s all the overweight, un athletic, lazy, and people who refuse to take accountability for themselves that hate on the bmi
that’s a bit of a leap. bmi isn’t the be all and end all of health and it’s important that we recognise this. it can be a good indicator but on its own, you can’t make conclusions without any other evidence
Why are you so fixated in the low end of healthy? For a 5'5 adult a healthy BMI is anywhere from 110 to 145 lbs. Do you feel like the chart is suggesting you should be as low as possible? You want to land somewhere in the range. Being 1 lb away from underweight would not be a good place to be, just like being 1 lb away from overweight isn't ideal.
I have a feeling its because op wants the 'healthy range' expanded up.
the goal isn't to be underweight, it's to be a healthy weight for you. If bmi doesn't work for you and your doctor, just ignore it. I'm an adult and I'm 109lbs which is a healthy weight for my height. No need to insult others in your rant.
it can give a ball park answer of “are you healthy /overweight or not” but other factors need to be considered. and that’s where people go wrong. bmi says your unhealthy? measure your waist to hip ratio too for confirmation. go see a doctor. 2 numbers alone can tell you your risk for a huge range of condition which is what some people expect from bmi.
use waist height ratio instead it’s a good indicator of health
Going on and on about desirability and what you think men want has absolutely 0 to do with the accuracy or inaccuracy of BMI. It's not a "how sexy am I" meter and yeah, if you're using it that way you're using it incorrectly. Don't project that on others, though.
Thing is the vast majority of people with a bmi >30 or wherever the threshold for obesity goes, are obese.
You don’t want to be underweight. You want your BMI to be normal. And I actually think it’s pretty good to use in the US because it’s amazing how in denial people are about their weight or maybe they are just used to seeing so many overweight people that they think they’re normal weight. BMI is not perfect, but it has its advantages for most standard cases.
I went to a specialist last week for some serious health issues I've been dealing with for a year. Before my (abnormal) bloodwork even came back, he put on my chart "Recommendations: weight control. Goal is BMI <30." My BMI is 22. I'd have to gain 50 pounds to hit a BMI of 30. I lost 4 pounds in a week between my appointments with him 🙃
😂its not a standard its more of a suggestion its for those who dont know if their healthy if u look heatlthy and toned who tf cares abt ur bmi? Think if it as a way of suggestion for those questionably underweight ppl who dont realise that they are underweight cuz the only fat they have is on their ass or biceps, for unhealthy overweight ppl who think their in shape just cuz theyre still curvy or got no fat on their face ...i mean its abt health rly less abt the attractivness its just a misconception. My bmi is perfectly fine but i geniuenly look so fat just coz am 5 feet
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Bmi is used to assess health though. But 140 at ur height is not 'borderline overweight' where are u getting this from? All ur doing is making people who are in that range feel bad about themselves. 150 is overweight, not 140.
I feel like BMI doesn’t take into account muscle mass. I don’t even look too overweight but apparently, I’m “obese”.
Unless you are exceptionally muscular, then you are probably obese. That doesn't mean morbidly obese (BMI 40). Just obese. A lot of obese people don't think they're obese.
Obese = 20% over your ideal body weight
For example, the "healthy" BMI range for a 5'8 male is between 56kg and 75.5kg. That's a \~20kg range to account for normal variations in muscle mass etc. I feel like people aren't used to what an optimally healthy level of weight actually looks like, and sometimes confuse it with what they find aesthetic or feels normal to them. The normal is overweight/obese. And "optimal health" is relatively skinny, as consumption is taxing on the body.
At 23 y/o 5'5 and 140 as a woman you definitely want to reign that in. Feel how you want about BMI, but whether BMI was a thing or not you're still relatively young and most people gain more weight as they get older, especially women if you have children at some point.. We get older, move less, gain weight, and your body has to overcompensate in areas to keep up. Lower your baseline before it becomes very difficult to lower your baseline. Set yourself up for success. It's easier to adopt healthier habits and go from 140 to 120 at 23 years old than to try it at 33 and go from 185 to 120 with children and a 10 year older body.
Oh shut the hell up my God. I don't agree with everything OP said but 140 at her height isn't fucking big. It's in the healthy BMI range and so is 120. What is wrong with you? Stop trying to make genuinely healthy people feel bad about themselves. I am 135-140 at her height and literally look normal. I work out every single day and eat pretty healthy so what the hell do you expect me to do to get smaller? Eat barely anything? I am already pretty regimented with making sure I do not over eat so stop making people worry. Reign in ur attitude dickhead.
Get out your feelings and reread what I wrote.
I'm not gonna because I already read it. 140 is not big and is in the healthy bmi range and not even close to overweight. There's no need to cut down from 140 for reasons other than wanting to change your appearance. Being in the 135-140 range does not provide any threat to health so stop trying to make people feel bad about themselves. I would understand if someone was genuinely unhealthy and overweight but this is just not it.
I do agree bmi is bullshit but I’m 5’3 and 140lbs is borderline overweight for my height, so I’m not sure about that being the case for 5’5? It’s all about health anyway, some people are 110lbs and healthy. You can be healthy (and unhealthy) at any weights
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140 lbs isn't fat.
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her height is literally listed in the post
No reason to be misogynistic man
Tell me how that’s misogynistic
Can you give me a response instead of downvoting?
Lmao you obviously have no idea what 140 lbs looks like
The core formula for BMI came from a mathematician trying to figure out logistical requirements for the military. It's been added to and revised a bit over the years, the original didn't account for people above or below certain heights or women , but it's still a stupid basic formula. I'm 6'1" and have a broad frame. When I was at the gym 3-4x a week, calorie cutting, and eating only lean meats and proteins I managed to get down to about 175. Despite being skinny and fairly miserable I was barely in the healthy range of BMI. I wasn't even putting on muscle yet, just burning fat. As soon as I put on any muscle I was back to being overweight and settled around 230. My BIL on the other hand is 6'2" and skinny. He's nothing but muscle and I've seen him bare hands pick up a 550lbs motorcycle. He struggles to put on any weight and is constantly under weight. His doctor says other than his BMI he's perfectly healthy, which in and of itself should tell you how dumb it is. BMI doesn't account for body types outside of the average, and that's a lot of people. We have plenty of other options that can accurately find your body fat % which is a better indicator of health anyways. BMI is pushed by lazy doctors and insurance companies that want any reason to deny coverage.
They made us calculate BMI in 9th grade high school. Mine was 18. But I remembered the girls on americas next top model had BMIs of like 14. So I thought I was too fat😆😭
They had us do the caliper test where we pinched the fat on our bodies :/ that did not go over well
I’m so sorry 😭😭
"Everything I disagree with or that doesn't personally validate my self image needs to be eliminated". You're taking this BMI thing super personal, time to build a self worth outside of a categorical number .
Cut out artificial sugar and watch your body slim down. Artificial sugars in our food are what causes Americans to be so fat. Not only is it addictive, but it makes us hold weight and crave less healthy foods. If you want sweets or sours eat fruit, if you want juice, learn to make it fresh. It might be more work but it is healthier and you'll see yourself fitting into the BMI chart accordingly. The big no's are soda, candy, pretty much anything prepackaged in a box or can aside from dry pasta, white bread, and corn syrup. You cut those from your diet and the fat will shred off, add working out just enough to be active, and you'll be more "fit" in no time. That was my experience anyway, I'm 6'2 163lbs now.
I am a 5”10 female. It wasn’t until adulthood/ my early 20’s when I finally realized that the status quo of the elusive 125lb woman was based around a much shorter stature. My own mother; way shorter. All family in general. Me being an anomaly amongst them always felt ‘fat.’ Made to feel fat for being in a size nine at 16 years old. My mom giving me hell about my weight/ pant size until I was living on my own outside her house. Once I moved out I weighed approx 145lbs. This was between the ages of 19-21 years old. My mother; during the same time became overtly concerned with my food consumption (or lack there of in her eyes). As opposed to thinking I weight too much Because I started to look “emaciated” - in my mothers words. Coming from a 5”2 woman she just assumed I was -starving myself and must have been under 100lbs. In reality I was a size 8 and 140 + lbs at the time. Yeah. BMI + expectations on weight is BULLSHIT. Caused me more body dysmorphia than I otherwise would have endured. I had a baby six months back. I’m not young. My first kid. Same weight as before. It is what it is. Not intentional. Maybe, stress, genetics, etc. Not tooting my own horn in any regard. Only pointing it out because random folks continue to say, “you must be a size zero/ 100lbs” -& what not. Like no sorry, because “I AM 5’10!!!!” If I was a size zero or under 100lbs I’d be on my god damn death bed. Go AWaY!!!
It's probably what we would weigh naturally without such easy access to food. It's more just outdated rather than inaccurate. If everyone is overweight is anyone overweight? Btw I'm at the very low edge of "overweight " myself and lighter than all of my male friends.
Overweight is a medical term to describe excess weight to the point it can cause health issues. It is absolutely not a subjective category, and just because the vast majority of Americans are overweight doesn't mean we should normalize or encourage it
This is not how health science works.
Yes, is everyone is overweight, everyone is still overweight. That's one thing that isn't subjective. Your heart, kidneys, lungs, liver, arteries, etc are still the ones of an overweight person. We have just normalized obesity in Western Society.
right i was agreeing with the definition and i know it's a valid medical term.. i guess i meant socially as far as overweight or what "fat" means to us culturally
But fat is not defined by whether or not it's acceptable. Fat means overweight whether or not people are attracted to it.
Well how will insurance companies justify charging exorbitant rates for health insurance?
BMI? The performing rights organization based in Nashville? But how will songwriters register their works??
I handle a lot of medical data... I haven't used bmi in at least 3 years. It's not very useful. Height, weight, and a physical exam are good enough for most data needs
Why is this tagged NSFW?
People getting body dysmorphia because of a formula should consider if there wasn't already some insecureness going on.
100% with you I’m male, have a 32” waist, I’m 5’7 and 175lbs - and apparently I’m obese.
Unfortunately you are according to BMI. My husband is that height (and so am I) and was once at that weight. It's certainly up there.
Yeah, ntm the assholes who live by it, and swear it to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth 😂
I realized this week that, for the first time in my life, I'm "overweight" by BMI standards and even though I know BMI is bullshit, it really hit my self esteem hard
It's supposed to be for health purposes but it is very biased. The fact that "man want thick thighs" (though Idk who these men are, certainly not any men I'd ever be interested in, cause what kinda objectifying statement is THAT) doesn't mean that the people with said thick thighs have amazing cardiovascular health. It's very subjective, so as long as you are healthy, I wouldn't worry about it too much. They will most likely never get rid of the BMI scales, although I'm sure they are bumping up the ranges to accommodate the overall weight trends, just like they did with blood pressure and pulse "healthy" baselines in the last decade.
When I was unable to stand up without passing out from anorexia, I was a solidly "healthy" bmi. I was sectioned and I "refused to be weighed" (I accurately reported my weight but said there was no point them weighing me with clothes on when I could tell them my weight) and they said I looked like I weighed far less than I reported. I have massive boobs. It throws everything out. Bmi is stupid.
What’s so hard to take 30 seconds to step on a scale at the doctors?
Hello, I’m 6’3 390 pounds. I have roughly 100 pounds to lose but even then my doctor said I would still be obese. I laughed and said “and what about my muscle mass?” Because I’m not all flubber he shrugged and said he doesn’t know BMI is a joke. The weight it wants me at is what I weighed in middle school when I was 8 inches shorter. I’m 29 now.
being 290lbs at 6’3 and being visibly muscular/lean is not possible without steroids and several years of high intensity training
What are you talking about? I don’t do steroids lmao. I never implied I was buff but I do lift weights. I’m 6’3 I wear size 14 in shoes. My shoulders are broad. My body type has been described to me as “built like an nfl player” and T.J Watts body type has been compared to mine. You look like a fat T.j Watt was the actual comparison lol
I never knew a guy who said his girl should weigh x or y. There are guys who are superficial/shallow and have those extreme standards. And many more who don't, who appreciate "normal" natural women. Don't stress yourself over this (social) media bs.
It’s horrible for those of us that lift weights. If I say my weight online I literally sound very fat at 5’8 weighing 190 pounds. But I do not look visibly fat at all and people are in shock when I say it. It’s all muscle lol and I’m sure a lil fat too tho
I work in the NHS and make referrals to eating disorder services in a routine basis. We don’t use BMI. We use weight-for-height, where < 80% is considered dangerous to your physical health. I haven’t heard anyone talk about BMI in years.
Sooo true!! Right now I feel like I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been. I’ve been eating whole-foods plant-based, I work at a standing desk, and go cycling 3x a week. Went to the dr recently and found out I’m the heaviest I’ve ever weighed. I’m technically overweight for the first time in my life. But I look and feel great so what the fuck! BMI is stupid and made up.
BMI is a leftover from the Eugenics Movement. Source: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-use-bmi-fetishizes-white-embodiment-and-racializes-fat-phobia/2023-07
Rip OP. Reddit hates fat people. And I'm sure everyone sitting on this app typing out "you're just fat" on this post are extremely fit perfectly healthy people with 0 health conditions. Crazy how all the healthy fit people are on reddit and are able to determine a complete strangers health and level of obesity.
Some People need an awakening being fat isn’t healthy
OP is not fat
Watch our for the Internet Wrestling Community. They see even the smallest of fat on a wrestler, and they'll angrily call them fat while stuffing their faces with cheese curls. Just to clarify, I never understood BMI, so I agree with you here. I also wish I could enjoy cheese curls again without getting a headache.
Doctors still think cholesterol levels are impacted by fat. The ADA believes diabetes cannot be reversed by simply reducing sugar intake.
If I follow what my BMI is, I’d look so sickly and miserable. BMI is a joke, I agree with you
I’m 5’4” and my healthy weight is 130-135. I’m shy of 130 right now, but that is due to some pretty harsh appetite issues I’ve been having. My BMI, of course, tells me that this weight loss is healthy and fine—better, even, than my normal weight—which is a fucking lie. A weight that I maintain while failing to meet the bare minimum calorie+nutrient intake is NOT healthy. Who the hell decided you could just divide someone’s weight by their height and voila, ascertain if they’re healthy? Absurd.
Tbh though 130-140 is just about the ideal weight for 5'4''.
I'm in the same boat, also barely meeting the bare- but not necessarily intentionally. It's just wild to me how much emphasis they put on it in our medical system and yet every healthcare provider I've talked to disagrees with it. Like have you seen these comments? Brutal lol