5 ms·
BMI is imperfect, but it's better than the other fast & cheap measurements of obesity. A DEXA scan & full bloodwork would be better, but that takes a lot of tim
by sxp 3y ago
BMI is imperfect, but it's better than the other fast & cheap measurements of obesity. A DEXA scan & full bloodwork would be better, but that takes a lot of time and money. A scale with body fat measurements is nice if you pay for it and use it at home. But basic BMI is good since it's so easy to calculate for *average* people. It's not useful if you're an athlete, but people with that much muscle probably have access to better measurements.
> These omissions are why the AMA adopted a policy in June to downplay the clinical use of BMI, calling it “an imperfect measure” that has been used for “racist exclusion” and that has caused “historical harm”.
That sounds like the root justification for avoiding BMI.
- nradov 3y agoThe scales with electrical body fat measurements are crap, little better than random number generators. I have compared results on a few of those with actual DXA scans and the scales are way off. The readings sometimes also vary by 2% from day to day, which isn't physiologically possible. Don't waste your money.
- RandallBrown 3y agoI don't really care if my scale is accurate, I care if it's consistent. Mine seems to correctly report my body fat going up or down as I gain or lose weight.
- nradov 3y agoHow do you know it's correct on body fat? Unless you have validated it against a known reliable test you can't be certain whether the weight you lost was fat or muscle.
- RandallBrown 3y agoI don't know if it's correct on body fat. I don't care if the body fat reading is correct, or even very close. I just care that it goes up or down. I don't know if my weight is correct either. If I'm getting stronger and the body fat readings are consistently going down that's what I care about.
- nekoashide 3y agoI have an app with my scale and I weigh every morning, the numbers never make sense but the trends do. Like over a whole month I see not only weight loss but other metrics that may be deviating.
- sxp 3y agoThe scales are noisy, but the trendlines they provide are useful and match the visual appearance of my body. The biggest source of noise that I see is when I have a lot of carbs or sugar in a day and then retain water. Then I eat fewer carbs the next day and get rid of the excess water.