BMI
TeaJay
Posts: 29
in General Chat
simple, whats your BMI and do you take any notice of it ?
i am at 26.2 so am overweight.
i have been training for 3 months now for my first event. i have gone down 2 trouser sizes, my fat % has dropped (not measured but visually its obvious) and i am starting to feel great.
then i get my BMI measured and i come out as overweight ?
is it not that anybody who does a decent amount of exersize with a decent muscle base will come out ether at the top of there BMI or even over ?
cooments ?
i am at 26.2 so am overweight.
i have been training for 3 months now for my first event. i have gone down 2 trouser sizes, my fat % has dropped (not measured but visually its obvious) and i am starting to feel great.
then i get my BMI measured and i come out as overweight ?
is it not that anybody who does a decent amount of exersize with a decent muscle base will come out ether at the top of there BMI or even over ?
cooments ?
0
Comments
Yes, anybody carrying much muscle will show up as overweight, even obese, on a BMI scale. Body fat measurement using skin fold callipers, or electical resistivity is a better measure.
I work within the nhs, and measure BMI a lot, and i am of the opinion that it is utter crap!!!!
To me its just the lazy way of deciding if someone is overweight. And only works with regular people who don't train!
As you and nivagh have pointed out the big problem is muscle, it weighs a hell of a lot more than fat, and most muscular individuals will come with a lot higher BMI than is representative of their body state.
As nivagh rightly points out, body fat % is a far more applicable way of monitoring progress as far as body composition is concerned. I use a bioelectrical impedance scales, its not terribly accurate, but i monitor that in comparison with my weight to decide how I'm doing.
The best thing you can do is never consider your BMI again!
25.5 though down from 28.5 since I started training for the London 1/2 in October
It is a bit of a dodgy measure IMHO as people like Olympic sprinters (e.g. Maurice Green) measure obese!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4171160.ece
Hmm. Using some publicly available data for Mark Lewis-Francis (on the grounds I think he's just about the muscliest guy in the British squad), he's 182cm tall and weighs 89kg, giving him a BMI of 26.5 which would be overweight.
Try the NHS Direct BMI calucalator: [color=#008000]www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/magazine/interactive/bmi/index.aspx[/color]
however, you say measure your fat %... what is a good level to aim for ?
and what is anybody else...
sorry if this is now getting personal.
I'm 22 and I'm approx 6%, but that is after many years of weightlifting etc.
I personally think a good aim for anyone is the 10% mark. But this question does come up a lot on this forum, and I always give the same response. Whilst it is a good idea and can be helpful to monitor you body fat/weight don't make it the focus of your training/diet.
If you do this you will undoubtedly be drawn into the world of stupid diets, such as low-carb, which bodybuilders use to reduce their bodyfat %. (If you do want a good diet however, try carb substitution, with the basic principle that you should swap every non-complex starchy carbs (white pasta,potatos), for a complex whole wheat version or a legume or beans/peas. Works a treat and will give you more energy to train)
My advice is to carry on the way you are. The way we train with high volume, endurance and high intensity will lead to a gradual drop to a very low body fat %, so just let it happen over time.
Can it work the other way though? Can someone who is obese still have a low BMI? If not then I would have thought it was a quick & simple indicator for further investigation. Admittedly that further investigation may simply be a look at lifestyle without necessarily having to do body fat measurements or other more complex testing.