6 Responses for "Friday Food Fact: Obesity and Your BMI"

1. Diana April 30th, 2010 at 5:37 PM 1

   Hi Garrett! Excellent work “keeping the faith”!
   My BMI is 21.0, but you can swim WAY faster than I. About 2x as fast, but I’m catching up….

2. Gali April 30th, 2010 at 6:02 PM 2

   I never believed that the BMI can be so generally calculated. I take myself as an example.

   According to my doc, I have a healthy weight.

   According to the BMI I have 26.3 which actually is overweight.

   According to “Ideal Weight” Calculations, I am 20lbs above the weight I should be (which would be considered getting close to be obese)
   Here the Calculation: (height in cm – 100) – (10% X (height in cm – 100))= XXX kg
   So in my case I should have an BMI of 21.3

   Which of the results should I take for “real”…??? My doc who says I have a healthy weight, the BMI who tells me I’m overweight or the Calculation that tell me I am kind of getting close to be obese?

   I fit into clothes size 6-8… wonder if those “BMI and other Calculator People” find someone overweight or obese to fit into those sizes…. I doubt it.

   In my opinion, the healthy approach would be to see a doctor, get an EKG, have your body fat measured, your weight checked and get regular blood tests.

   Just because someone is skinny doesn’t mean, the person is healthy!

   Just my 2 cents

3. Mark April 30th, 2010 at 8:35 PM 3

   Totally agree on the skinny versus healthy comment. BMI is just one standardized measure, but it is a good barometer for many. ‘The Biggest Loser’ had a thing on Texas this week and how fat many Texans are, btw.

4. Jaclyn April 30th, 2010 at 9:11 PM 4

   Let me preface this by saying: I hate BMI almost as much as I hate the “fat-burning zone.”

   I actually checked your source because BMI isn’t a percentage and I’ve never seen it differentiate between sex (granted, I’ve mainly stayed with ACSM and NSCA) and found this nugget of stupidity:

   “BMI is an estimate of body fat, and it’s a good gauge of your risk for diseases that occur with more body fat. ”

   BMI isn’t a body fat estimate and tells you absolutely nothing about body composition–which generally gives a more complete story. It’s fairly easy to lower body fat % and maintain or increase BMI simultaneously–it all depends on how you train.

   I will admit that, for the general public, BMI and body fat % numbers tend to look the same. However, BMI is a death sentence for people to fixate on (Note: if you have a Wii Fit, you do just that) and it also says nothing about ability.

   The focus needs to shift from weight to fitness.

   So, get off your butt, go do a Rockport Walk Test, estimate your VO2max and work from there.

   Fit not thin.

5. Gali May 1st, 2010 at 10:09 AM 5

   I totally agree with you Jaclyn.

   I read an article about VO2max just the other day and am right now trying to find out, where I can get it done.

   Fit not thin!!! Kudos to you Jaclyn!!! I’d go with that too.

6. Garrett May 2nd, 2010 at 4:59 PM 6

   There’s no question that level of fitness is very important. However I do believe BMI serves its purpose. Morale of the story is that millions of people in our society are both unfit and overweight and/or obese. We need to change this!