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| I agree with SJ_DEWEY... and my body is telling me to lose weight!
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SJ_DEWEY
10/30/07 12:38 A
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I've never been a real fan of the BMI chart. According to that piece of paper I have been overweight most of my life. And now I would be considered obese, marginally on the morbidly obese side of things. In reality I am 6' and weigh in around 230-235. I have a fairly active life style and am in pretty good shape.
Don't judge yourselves by a number, your body will tell you more than that paper ever will.
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Cue the music.....
Story of my life beings to play....
Average. Yup - that's me! '-)
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| See I think BMI works well for people who are average. Not too many muscles etc. The sort of people that tend to have low body fat %'s tend to do other tests as well though.
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| I'm due a complete physical this fall [both for myself and the Army] and I think I'll have my family physician do a BF% test on me just to see what happens and how an average person, like myself, can compare to all the formulas and scales out there. Won't be for a while yet but sometime this calendar year. More about the results later.
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MOTIVATED@LAST
10/6/07 11:48 P
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The biggest problem with BMI is that it only takes into account total body weight, not body composition.
so somebody who is pretty muscular (just working regularly with weights, without getting anywhere near body-building territory) could be heavy (and have a high BMI), but be pretty healthy and have a low body fat percentage.
But BMI is still a quick and easy guide for many people as to what is a healthy weight for them - best of all it doesn't take any special equipment or measuring processes.
M@L
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| Just keep up the cardio work and healthy eating habits and your body will do the rest. Worked for me so it must have been right!
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Nope, not a paperweight, but now at a point when I look good in a swimsuit! I would stop here but that wouldn't solve my medical issues.
My BMI is currently 23.6 so 3.3 to go.
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| WHEW! Thanks for that clarification.....I was going to give you a ration about being a paperweight!
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Um...just a point of clarification here....is your scale ticker right? 76 pounds?!?!
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| According to that I am underweight... the wobbly bits on my stomach disagree...
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Definately OUT OF WHACK!
I'm 6'2" and 166 lbs and my BF% is just under 15.
Something is rotten in Denmark, to be sure!
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BIGJIMSWEIGHT
9/7/07 2:21 P
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| I think something's wrong with the BMI calculation listed in recent SparkPeople emails. I am 6' 1" and weigh 175, reasonably good shape by most standards. I get a BMI, using the info in Spark People, of 23.1. To meet the USDA requirements Men should have BMI of 14-20. I'd have to weigh between 105 and 151pounds. What am I missing here? Did I do the math wrong? It just can't be right.
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Will Smith was also considered to be overweight based on the BMI. I'll have to look up those two sites. Gracis to all. 
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| That would be the one! I should have known that the study guide site would have that, but more surprising is that the site isn't up to date with the new regulation. Anyway, that's the file from the old reg and is easier than doing your own math so I saved it, too! Cheers!
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Splatman....never heard of that...thanks for the info. With a quick search I actually found a place that has an Excel Spreadsheet with the info. Allyou have to do is plug in the measurements and it calculates it for you. Pretty Kool.
Automated body fat Content Worksheet
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| I just do the math. Being in the Army, we have our regulations, of course, and the last version of AR 600-9 had a pretty complicated formula for determining body fat percentage within 1%, so it was pretty accurate. You can google for AR 600-9 but when you find it, don't get the 2006 version, get the older one, measure your neck and abdomen and then do the math. The military doctors always told me that formula was right on and their tests with the calipers were usually within 1% of the formula. Cheap and easy!
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| I picked up a set off of eBay. They were like $5 or something.
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Speaking of fat percentage does anyone know where some calipers are available to check body fat? I haven't checked the proshop at my gym yet, I'm thinking they might be there, but does anyone know of anywhere else?
Maybe even somewhere like wal-mart?
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Hi Craig;
The scale is probably measuring % Body Fat. To calculate BMI it would only need your height and weight. The other comments about categorizing your health by BMI only being valid if you're average are true. % body fat is a much more accurate measure but take your scales readings with a grain of salt. Those scales are sensitive to the amount of water in your body. If you don't consistently drink water from day to day, you'll see the reading fluctuate.
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BDMCCARVER
4/12/07 9:12 P
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| Good job BigDog, you are almost half way there. Keep it up.
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BIG_DOG1965
4/12/07 8:46 P
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| i agree its more of a tool to help give u an idea of your body fat not the gospel
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BDMCCARVER
4/11/07 5:55 P
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| I think BMI is a general rule.It does not take into consideration, skeletal structure and your body build.
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The BMI measure works great for people like myself. My BMI measured using height/weight is ~33. I have a scale that gives body fat% and it reads 33 as well. I never do any strength training and pretty much never exercise (up until now that is!).
Since BMI is so easy to calculate and is a great buzzword to throw around in diet and exercise literature many people may put too much emphasis on the number and pay little attention to other health indicators.
Really only those that are overweight and live a sedentary lifestyle should bother even looking at it. For the rest a body fat% scale may work better.
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| A number based on weight and height alone may be a general indicator, but if you've spent any time at the mall watching people walk by you know that it isn't anywhere near perfect.
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CHRISTOPHERD
3/25/07 5:33 A
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| I think that the BMI scale is just a guide but not too accurate! I am a big guy with a huge steleton and for me to get to my REAL weight I will have to have my flesh totally removed!
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Depending on who you ask, yes and no.
Body Fat % = The percentage of your body made up by fat.
Here's the explanation of BMI from the CDC:
"Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for people. BMI does not measure body fat directly, but research has shown that BMI correlates to direct measures of body fat, such as underwater weighing and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).1, 2 BMI can be considered an alternative for direct measures of body fat. Additionally, BMI is an inexpensive and easy-to-perform method of screening for weight categories that may lead to health problems."
The MAJOR problem with relying on BMI as a health indicator is that it only works for "average" people. Althetes, super skinny people, muscular people, and others, won't get an accurate reading based off BMI. You could take an athlete like Terrel Owens and according to BMI he is OBESE! It strictly relates height to weight. Well, I bet Owens is around 3% body fat, hardly obese.
If your scale gives body fat % it will help you see if your BMI reading is accurate, in other words, Are you Obese, Overweight, Healthy, Underweight, etc.
You'll find the majority of people no longer like the BMI reading for to determine if someone is healthy/overweight.
Matt
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| I think you are right, it is probably body fat. Is there a relationship between BMI and body fat?
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| Does your scale, by chance, measure body fat % as opposed to BMI? They are quite different measurements.
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| I have a scale that measures BMI when you stand on it in bare feet and it passes a small current through your body. Is this accurate? My BMI on the scale is 29, but the charts say it is 35. I lift weights. Could this be why the numbers differ?
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