chasm54

I come from one of the fattest countries in the world. But when I visit the States I am always surprised anew by the number of people that are truly, truly fat. I toured extensively n Canada and the eastern US last year and the contrast between the two countries is quite marked.

BMI has its shortcomings. But the reason that Americans score so high is not that most of them are heavily muscled.

thirdgenbird

That is why I said this:

BarracksSi

That's fine, but athletes are so rare that they might as well not be part of this discussion. Every time someone says, "Well, but so-and-so in the NFL has a BMI of 40 and his body fat is negative 5%," it still doesn't apply to anyone we'll see on the street.

thirdgenbird

Last I checked this was a cycling forum

BarracksSi

We've got our Clydesdale/Athena subforum, too. Besides, the really strong cyclists don't post here much, if ever.

thirdgenbird

So most bike forum posters are not athletes?


Im not saying everyone is or should be like an nfl player. It was just one example of how bmi can be missleading. I could site others that swing the other way if that makes you feel better. At the end of the day bmi is worth exactly what you pay for it. if you have health concerns visit a doctor and if you want a meaningful measure of body composition use a tangible unit of measure, not a comparison.

BarracksSi

We range from genuine high-level athletes to just-got-off-the-couch-last-week, and I'll bet that most of us are towards the couch end of the spectrum. I did an informal poll (can't remember which subforum) and asked what level of fitness BF'ers had when they started biking again, and most said that they were lightly active or just plain sedentary.

However, most of the people that reflexively shout "BMI is junk!" are, in non-P.C. terms, fairly rotund. In earlier BF discussions, they always wheel out NFL linemen and say that because they're overweight and get paid for it, everyone else (usually the person doing the shouting) has a license to be as big as they want, too.

Digging into the origins of BMI, you'll find that it came from Belgium in the 19th Century, and is intended for population studies and not individual diagnoses. People can claim that it's a different world now and that measurements over a hundred years old don't apply anymore, but I can't believe that the human genome has mutated this much in just four generations to allow such generous amounts of body fat.

Speaking for myself, now that my BMI is within a normal range (currently 25, down from 31 three years ago), other health indicators -- blood pressure, cholesterol, etc -- also fall within healthy ranges. The doc doesn't recommend that I get started on medication anymore.

thirdgenbird

Very interesting. Bf may be closer to the norm than I would have thought.

Not this guy. That said, the more I work out the higher my bmi gets (and my body fat goes down)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarracksSi

Digging into the origins of BMI, you'll find that it came from Belgium in the 19th Century, and is intended for population studies and not individual diagnoses. People can claim that it's a different world now and that measurements over a hundred years old don't apply anymore, but I can't believe that the human genome has mutated this much in just four generations to allow such generous amounts of body fat.

I don't claim that it is a different world. Fat people are still fat and have a higher Risk of health issues. The point is that high bmi=/= high body fat. Mass/height^2 (bmi) can let you a generalize about a population but it won't tell you much about an individual person without knowing other factors.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarracksSi

Speaking for myself, now that my BMI is within a normal range (currently 25, down from 31 three years ago), other health indicators -- blood pressure, cholesterol, etc -- also fall within healthy ranges. The doc doesn't recommend that I get started on medication anymore.

Your reduction in bmi was likely due to a reduction in body fat. If I got in better shape my bmi would increase by way of muscle mass and my markers would likely improve as well. Like I said, bmi is a yardstick and only worth what you paid for it.

DataJunkie

I'm not an athlete for sure.

RoadTire 

Ha! Update! I'm down to bmi 25 - weight is down to my goal of 155. That's 10 lbs this summer just eliminating a bag of potato chips and 8 oz cashews a day (and similar excessive junk) and biking. I made a point of just paying attention to how my pants fit and only weighed in because of a Dr. Appt.

That puts me in the 19% of Americans not overweight. Now to keep it off during non-bike season.