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Well that certainly depends on your particular interpretation of the widely overloaded term "overweight." No one has ever suggested that I'm overweight, usually

Well that certainly depends on your particular interpretation of the widely overloaded term "overweight." No one has ever suggested that I'm overweight, usually saying I'm thin. But when you look at official BMI recommendations, I am actually on the borderline of being overweight, at the very top of the "normal" range. If everyone was judged against these guidelines, it would probably increase significantly the number of people who are considered overweight.

ionised 11y ago
> Well that certainly depends on your particular interpretation of the widely overloaded term "overweight." Yup. The problem with the BMI is it doesn't take into account the variety of lifestyles people have. For example, a lifter is going to weigh a lot more than the average person simply by increased muscle mass and would probably be considered overweight or even obese by BMI standards.
- ollysb 11y ago
  Yeah, BMI should be retired as a useful metric, percentage body fat is far more useful. The problem though is measuring this accurately... (the scales that include the body fat percentage give wildly different numbers depending on time of day, water consumption etc.)
  - narwally 11y ago
    It is a useful metric, but it was never intended to be used for assessing individuals. It's intended use is as a metric for populations of people. It works very well for that.
    - DanBC 11y ago
      It's pretty useful for individuals so long as you make adjustments for people who exercise every day (ie, very few people) or people over about 6'5" (again, not many people) and very obese people (where it tends to under-estimate obesity).
- jgroszko 11y ago
  As a lifter with a BMI of 26, it's not a very useful metric. Last time I measured my BF% with calipers it was around 9%... Edit: Okay checked my spreadsheet, I misremembered. Honestly I don't track it that closely
  - Tankenstein 11y ago
    4% body fat is fatal really fast, isn't it?
  - mromanuk 11y ago
    Highly unlikely that you are at 4%; is my understanding that you can be at 4% BF for a short period of time: http://cdn.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat-percentage-picture-men-women.jpg http://cdn.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat...
    - jgroszko 11y ago
      Yeah not sure how accurate the calipers are, I pay more attention to if it's going up/down than the absolute value.

ionised 11y ago

> Well that certainly depends on your particular interpretation of the widely overloaded term "overweight." Yup. The problem with the BMI is it doesn't take into account the variety of lifestyles people have. For example, a lifter is going to weigh a lot more than the average person simply by increased muscle mass and would probably be considered overweight or even obese by BMI standards.

ollysb 11y ago
Yeah, BMI should be retired as a useful metric, percentage body fat is far more useful. The problem though is measuring this accurately... (the scales that include the body fat percentage give wildly different numbers depending on time of day, water consumption etc.)
- narwally 11y ago
  It is a useful metric, but it was never intended to be used for assessing individuals. It's intended use is as a metric for populations of people. It works very well for that.
  - DanBC 11y ago
    It's pretty useful for individuals so long as you make adjustments for people who exercise every day (ie, very few people) or people over about 6'5" (again, not many people) and very obese people (where it tends to under-estimate obesity).
jgroszko 11y ago
As a lifter with a BMI of 26, it's not a very useful metric. Last time I measured my BF% with calipers it was around 9%... Edit: Okay checked my spreadsheet, I misremembered. Honestly I don't track it that closely
- Tankenstein 11y ago
  4% body fat is fatal really fast, isn't it?
- mromanuk 11y ago
  Highly unlikely that you are at 4%; is my understanding that you can be at 4% BF for a short period of time: http://cdn.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat-percentage-picture-men-women.jpg http://cdn.builtlean.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/body-fat...
  - jgroszko 11y ago
    Yeah not sure how accurate the calipers are, I pay more attention to if it's going up/down than the absolute value.