6 ms·

Is there anything like this that uses ABSI or some other BMI alternative?

by vqc 12y ago

lost_my_pwd 12y ago
This. I am constantly being tagged as overweight and high risk because of my BMI (5'10" and 175-180lbs but I am very active and the weight is from muscle rather than fat).
- brandonb 12y ago
  I haven't seen one yet, but I highly recommend knowing your cholesterol numbers since those will give a much more accurate result--both BMI and ABSI are very coarse-grained measures of what's likely to be happening inside your arteries.
  - JeremyNT 12y ago
    So now I'm curious; I'd always thought obesity was itself a risk factor, but your calculator does not consider it. Is the "problem" with obesity only its impact on blood pressure and cholesterol? Or does obesity also increase risk in other ways in addition to worsening those factors?
    - bduerst 12y ago
      Obese by what metric? BMI is archaic and a "one shoe fits all" metric. That doesn't mean that BMI is wrong - just that you should do more detailed diagnoses with your doctor to determine your health. If BMI is saying you're obese, then get a comprehensive metabolic panel and lipid panel with your PCP, and go from there.
      - JeremyNT 12y ago
        BMI is itself fine for my line of questioning, because I'm curious as to whether excess quantities of fat impact cardiovascular risk in the general case. Determining things like this is exactly the use case of BMI, since across large sample sizes it is a reasonable proxy for what we are really interested in (i.e. how much excess fat the participants have). Mainly: I'm curious mostly about whether excess body fat on its own impacts cardiovascular health, or whether it does so only indirectly by increasing the risk factors this calculator uses.
        brandonb 12y ago
        Obesity seems to impact long-term cardiovascular health only through the other numbers--i.e., raising your blood pressure and lipids. In the Framingham 30-year risk study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19506114 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19506114), they tried adding BMI to the risk model, but it didn't add any predictive value. But they used it to create a very approximate risk model for people who don't know their biomarkers. Also note that you can appear perfectly thin, but have high blood pressure and cholesterol, and thus be at risk! So know your numbers. A lot of health is only revealed by what's going on within your body.
      - dionidium 12y ago
        Obese by what metric? The back-and-forth of this discussion about BMI is entirely predictable, but doesn't it sort of miss the point? Isn't it possible -- and I mean this sincerely, even though it's wildly simplistic -- to just look at a human and determine if they're carrying around excess fat? A lot of times when I hear people saying that BMI doesn't account for how much they exercise, I'm looking at the person saying it and they appear unfit. On the other hand, do we need BMI to tell us that a fit person is fit? What am I missing here?
        bduerst 12y ago
        If they are morbidly obese, sure. For those who are questioning if they are obese and have health issues, a visual inspection isn't competent.
- pragone 12y ago
  Doesn't matter, you still fit into many of the same statistical categories as other people listed as overweight by BMI. It is unlikely your muscle mass is solely responsible for you being listed as overweight
  - vqc 12y ago
    is this really case even if you're like 10-15% body fat? in that case, wouldn't your muscle mass be solely responsible for being listed as overweight? Darren Sproles is 5'6" 190lb. Does he really fit into the same statistical categories as other people listed as overweight by BMI?
- DanBC 12y ago
  There are three flaws with BMI: • BMI over-estimates obesity in athletes • BMI under-estimates obesity in fat people • BMI over-estimates obesity in tall people. You claim to be "very active" so you might want to try other more accurate measures of body fat. (Although 5'10 at 175 is higher end of normal and probably isn't worth worrying about if it's stable (lol archaic units))

Is there anything like this that uses ABSI or some other BMI alternative?

by vqc 12y ago

Is there anything like this that uses ABSI or some other BMI alternative?

This. I am constantly being tagged as overweight and high risk because of my BMI (5'10" and 175-180lbs but I am very active and the weight is from muscle rather than fat).

brandonb 12y ago
I haven't seen one yet, but I highly recommend knowing your cholesterol numbers since those will give a much more accurate result--both BMI and ABSI are very coarse-grained measures of what's likely to be happening inside your arteries.
- JeremyNT 12y ago
  So now I'm curious; I'd always thought obesity was itself a risk factor, but your calculator does not consider it. Is the "problem" with obesity only its impact on blood pressure and cholesterol? Or does obesity also increase risk in other ways in addition to worsening those factors?
  - bduerst 12y ago
    Obese by what metric? BMI is archaic and a "one shoe fits all" metric. That doesn't mean that BMI is wrong - just that you should do more detailed diagnoses with your doctor to determine your health. If BMI is saying you're obese, then get a comprehensive metabolic panel and lipid panel with your PCP, and go from there.
    - JeremyNT 12y ago
      BMI is itself fine for my line of questioning, because I'm curious as to whether excess quantities of fat impact cardiovascular risk in the general case. Determining things like this is exactly the use case of BMI, since across large sample sizes it is a reasonable proxy for what we are really interested in (i.e. how much excess fat the participants have). Mainly: I'm curious mostly about whether excess body fat on its own impacts cardiovascular health, or whether it does so only indirectly by increasing the risk factors this calculator uses.
      - brandonb 12y ago
        Obesity seems to impact long-term cardiovascular health only through the other numbers--i.e., raising your blood pressure and lipids. In the Framingham 30-year risk study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19506114 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19506114), they tried adding BMI to the risk model, but it didn't add any predictive value. But they used it to create a very approximate risk model for people who don't know their biomarkers. Also note that you can appear perfectly thin, but have high blood pressure and cholesterol, and thus be at risk! So know your numbers. A lot of health is only revealed by what's going on within your body.
    - dionidium 12y ago
      Obese by what metric? The back-and-forth of this discussion about BMI is entirely predictable, but doesn't it sort of miss the point? Isn't it possible -- and I mean this sincerely, even though it's wildly simplistic -- to just look at a human and determine if they're carrying around excess fat? A lot of times when I hear people saying that BMI doesn't account for how much they exercise, I'm looking at the person saying it and they appear unfit. On the other hand, do we need BMI to tell us that a fit person is fit? What am I missing here?
      - bduerst 12y ago
        If they are morbidly obese, sure. For those who are questioning if they are obese and have health issues, a visual inspection isn't competent.
pragone 12y ago
Doesn't matter, you still fit into many of the same statistical categories as other people listed as overweight by BMI. It is unlikely your muscle mass is solely responsible for you being listed as overweight
- vqc 12y ago
  is this really case even if you're like 10-15% body fat? in that case, wouldn't your muscle mass be solely responsible for being listed as overweight? Darren Sproles is 5'6" 190lb. Does he really fit into the same statistical categories as other people listed as overweight by BMI?
DanBC 12y ago
There are three flaws with BMI: • BMI over-estimates obesity in athletes • BMI under-estimates obesity in fat people • BMI over-estimates obesity in tall people. You claim to be "very active" so you might want to try other more accurate measures of body fat. (Although 5'10 at 175 is higher end of normal and probably isn't worth worrying about if it's stable (lol archaic units))