BMI is a very misleading indicator of health / myLot

Singapore

August 29, 2016 8:29am CST

BMI is a very misleading indicator of health, yet doctors and nurses keep on checking it. Everyone knows that fat does not weigh as much as muscles. Even if a person is a full time athletic with not a single ounce of body fat, his BMI can exceed a person who is overweight and has not much muscles in the body. That is because muscles weigh more, and those who exercise all the time have a body full of muscles. According to an article in Runners World, many champions are obese if you use the BMI method, and many Olympics champions have BMI above 23 though still below 25. The most accurate method to replace BMI is the body composition that tells you how much percent of fats in the body mass and how much percent of muscles in the body mass you have.

BMIs of Champions (Men's Edition)

www.runnersworld.com

Champions come in different shapes.

4 people like this

10 responses

MARILYN

@Marilynda1225 (91169)

• United States

31 Aug 16

My 11 yr old grandson is very trim and muscular but his BMI rates him high for his age. He doesn't have any weight to lose so you are right about this being a very poor indicator for health

2 people like this

scheng1

@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

1 Sep 16

Oh dear, poor thing, his friends must be teasing him about it. I think they should not even use BMI for children and teenagers. They are in growing stage, and some of them have heavy bones.

Sky

@skysnap (20152)

•

29 Aug 16

I think the BMI is more of assumption for some people. I think it's hard to measure healthy body these days.

2 people like this

scheng1

@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

31 Aug 16

Actually it is easy to go for health screening every year that includes blood test, chest X-ray, ECG and other tests.

2 people like this

youless

@youless (114117)

• Guangzhou, China

30 Aug 16

I never pay attention to BMI because I think it is just too simple. I don't think it can reflect your real health situation. Actually doctors here seldom will mention this. But when you have a body check by the machines, then this data will show up.

1 person likes this

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youless

@youless (114117)

• Guangzhou, China

30 Aug 16

@scheng1 Here the blood test is very common. Since it is easy to find out what's wrong with our body.

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scheng1

@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

30 Aug 16

Doctors should get more concern with our blood test, and heart rate. It is very stupid to just check the BMI and then say that a person must lose weight, as if his weight makes him sick.

1 person likes this

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lealuvy2j

@lealuvy2j (1986)

• Philippines

30 Aug 16

This is good news. A lot of people get disheartened when they see that they are classified as overweight in the BMI. For me the best indicator for health is the Blood Chemistry Test Results.You can detect lots of diseases with that test so for me it is better than the BMI.

1 person likes this

scheng1

@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

31 Aug 16

Yes, that is true. Blood test plus ECG are enough to help us find out about our health. If our heart beat is irregular or have some unusual sound, then something is wrong.

1 person likes this

Michelle

@infatuatedbby (94909)

• United States

1 Sep 16

BMI is vague, everyones different!

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (238370)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Aug 17

I agree. I am a life-long athlete and am very "dense." According to my BMI, am "overweight" for my height and just below the "obese" color on the chart. It makes me laugh.

1 person likes this

vanny

@vandana7 (102698)

• India

5 Aug 17

Me too..but I ain't an athlete and I am fat in all wrong places..lol

s sivasubrahmanyam

@shivamani10 (11035)

• Hyderabad, India

29 Aug 16

yes. but it has become an acceptable formula BMI. There are some instruments also in the market . What happens to those instruments? Will it not be a loss to the manufacturer?

1 person likes this

scheng1

@scheng1 (24649)

• Singapore

31 Aug 16

That is true, that is why we must be educated. There is no point blindly listen to the doctors and nurses. Even if our BMI is high,that does not mean we are not healthy.