BMI - Better get ordering..

[NormanD]

I know it's a load of cr@p too.. Having worked in the racing industry for a number of years, a few jokeys for a laugh, had a BMI check and were all told they were overweight

 

[ChrisRicho]

You need to take a more creative approach and instead of losing weight, just grow a bit. Because of the inverse square law its far more effective at lowering your BMI

That is my dads favourite quote.

He never has stood in grow bags yet though!

 

[cloggsy]

BMI is a very out-dated method of measuring...

I shouldn't worry too much about it; your weight will continue to fall (assuming you are taking in less calories than you are burning!?)

 

[2Loose]

Just checked mine, at 147 pounds and 5'8 I am very close to the overweight bracket. My GP is currently advising me on how to gain weight... haha.

 

[Banjo]

Just checked mine, at 147 pounds and 5'8 I am very close to the overweight bracket. My GP is currently advising me on how to gain weight... haha.

At 5ft 8 top of the healthy range is 11 stone 8 lbs which sounds about right. Thats from the NHS BMI tool My link

It seems that some sites throw out different information.

 

[potsy]

At 5ft 8 top of the healthy range is 11 stone 8 lbs which sounds about right. Thats from the NHS BMI tool My link

It seems that some sites throw out different information.

I use the same site Banjo- it tells me I'm a fat barsteward so it can't be that far off

 

[Rubber Bullets]

Just checked mine, at 147 pounds and 5'8 I am very close to the overweight bracket. My GP is currently advising me on how to gain weight... haha.

No idea where you checked it, but you are nowhere near the overweight bracket.

There's no need for online calculators, it is just a simple chart.

You are 10.5 stone and 5'8", that's bang in the middle of the ideal weight range, why are you trying to gain weight if it's not too personal a question?

BMI was never meant to be useful for the whole population, and as has been said it is completely ridiculous for any athlete with a high muscle mass and low body fat, and for certain other demographic groups. A far better measure of 'health threateningly overweight' is body fat percentage, but this is difficult and/or expensive to get this accurately measured, and so BMI along with waist measurement has it's place.

For the majority of the overweight and under-exercised who make up an ever increasing part of our population it is a reasonable measure, and one that might help to give them the impetus to lose weight.

At the beginning of 2010 I worked my BMI out, I am 6'3" and I weighed 17.5 st, I had done little exercise for the previous 10 years, and was very unfit. My BMI put me as just over the Obese line, though almost everyone who knew me was surprised by this, at my height it is possible to carry extra weight without it being so obvious.

It was the O word, along with my headlong rush into middle age, that made me decide to lose weight. 11 months later I'd lost 4 stone. I no longer bother to work out my BMI, it isn't of much consequence any more, but it was a useful kick up the backside and indicator, for a while, of how I was improving.

RB

 

[hotmetal]

Just tried the NHS calculator. Not that I'm bothered by these things - I reckon I know when I'm out of shape without an app or even a pair of scales.
When I cycled everywhere all the time I could eat and drink to the extent that I was awarded the 'Office of Fat B*****dry' award by my colleagues, despite looking like a racing whippet. Mind you, I was young free and single then... Nowadays I have what Mrs Hotmetal calls "the curve of happiness" and nowadays it's "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips". Nothing a few 50-milers wouldn't sort out though - I just need to find the time.

The NHS site said

Sex: Ooh, never knew you cared
Age: No spring chicken
Height: 174cm / 5'8"
Weight: 81.8 / 12st 12lb
About: Time you got back on your bike
BMI: 27

Well, it confirmed what I already knew - Friday night beers and no Saturday morning ride make "middle age spread" something you don't put on your toast. Or to paraphrase another kind of spread: "I can't believe I'm not fatter"
That's why I'll be on the Windsor ride tomorrow later on this morning. (Is that the time?!)