Body Mass Index

[pufferfish]

Just curious about the 'profile' of Scubaboard divers. On a recent dive trip down south the owner of the resort said she noticed in the last decade divers getting bigger and bigger not only just looking at them, but how much food she has had to serve them.

Here is a link to calculate your BMI in imperial or metric. Don't be shy.
BMI Calculator

 

[cyklon_300]

BMI = 23.7

 

[Nessie]

and I would be allowed to weight 79 kg??? :wacko:

But my dog´s BME is 84, should I put her on a diet

 

[victoriawtx]

BMI=21.1

I work hard to keep myself in decent shape, for diving, as well as the rest of my life.

 

[wetvet]

Interesting poll....if people will be honest. My BMI is 32, but I take exception to the label of obese. I am 5'10" and weigh 225lbs, but when I was playing varsity hockey or doing competitive martial arts, my weight was 210-215 and my BMI was still over 30, even thought my body fat was about 12%. Maybe I am a freak of nature (my wife thinks so), but obviously BMIs dont apply to my body type......I wonder what percentage of the population are accurately represented by this calculation. Sorry if this sounds like a rant, just a personal pet peeve.

Wetvet

 

[wheezy]

What a JOKE... according to this BMI calculator I'm overweight...

Too bad it doesn't take into consideration BODY FAT

I have 7% body fat and yet I'm overweight???

6'5" 215lbs

BMI of 25.5

Uhhh ya... o.k.

 

[King Kong Matt]

wetvet once bubbled...
I wonder what percentage of the population are accurately represented by this calculation.

First of all, my BMI is even a little higher than yours. I was actually very worried about it and brought it up with my physician about a month ago.

His personal opinion (your mileage may vary) was that BMI as an indicator is only marginally useful. As you say, it does not take into account all body types...and it's *relevance* becomes especially questionable when you are off-the-chart tall (makes sense if you actually look at the math behind the index calculation).

As a goof, go to ESPN, pick your local NBA team and go to the player roster where their height and weight are listed. Plug in their numbers and see how many are listed as "overweight" according to their BMI...

Bet it wouldn't seem that way if you were trying to chase them up and down the court.

-kkm

 

[pufferfish]

Wetvet, don't despair as I think Michael Jordon has a BMI of 25. If you look at the link "Limitations of BMI" on the BMI calculator page you will see you likely fall into one of these categories:

"BMI is a reliable indicator of total body fat, which is related to the risk of disease and death. The score is valid for both men and women but it does have some limits. The limits are:

It may overestimate body fat in athletes and others who have a muscular build.
It may underestimate body fat in older persons and others who have lost muscle mass. "

BMI does not take into account one'e level of fitness or distribution of the fat. It is the fat above the hips or abdominal fat that is high risk for heart disease, diabetes, etc.
As they indicate if your waist circumference is greater than 40 inches (35 inches for a woman) and you are obese then it is time to get concerned.

BMI is a rough tool but good for this type of survey and population surveys. I guess the dive resort owner is correct if one looks at this chart.
Weight trends

 

[bwerb]

I don't have a strong opinion on this at all hahaha!

I have a major problem with any simple mathmatical correlation between height and weight which is supposed to tell me how "fit" I am. Total Crap.

It's all about body fat percentages. Get yourself a set of fat calipers and if you are really interested in figuring it all out you could add a scale. Use the fat calipers to figure out your percentages, then use the scale to figure out "total lean muscle mass in pounds". Then when you workout over time, you can see how many pounds of fat are lost and or "replaced" with pounds of muscle (obviously fat and muscle are different and do not become one another).

I think it is far more accurate and a way better read to work using your actual body fat percentage. Otherwise the BMI can call a bodybuilder with 4% body fat "mobidly obese" and a "skinny guy" with 24% bodyfat totally healthy. Neither is accurate or helpful.

Also, in my opinion a scale alone does not tell the story. Unless you work out the lean body mass, you don't really know what's going on. I'd much rather gain 5 pounds of muscle than stay lose 5 pounds but increase in fat %.

For the record, when I was really training hard and playing around with seeing how low I could go. I dropped down to 3.5% body fat with a weight of 168lbs at 5'9". I actually found that with a body fat percentage that low I experienced extreme mood swings and a hair trigger temper. Whoa, this isn't fun. My body was screaming for food. I have found that anything less than about 5-6% for me is extremely unpleasant. Now I understand why bodybuilders cycle, it is definitely not healthy to stay in that state. If you want to really knock yourself out doing this...try to go on carb depletion for a few days while at really low body fat and potassium loading...fun with body chemistry...(please read extreme sarcasm into this...it is absolute torture).

Brian

 

[dsgobie]

20.7