BMI Charts

Laura,

Believe what you want to believe, That's what everyone else does anyway. "Truth" has become subjective instead of objective. If you could read and comprehend WHAT you read you would realize just how totally dumb your question is. No disputing my point just a random detail that anyone with half a brain could figure out, all in a vain attempt to discredit me. Here's a question for you. If a governmental agency decides to randomly changes the equation to define "poverty" so that the number of people living under the poverty limit decreases dramatically, does that new equation tell you how many poor people there are?

Have a great day, I'm off to the golf course!!

Glad you have enjoyed the information provided, sukamin.

I'm joining in on the tail end of this posting thread and a lot has been said about BMI and other measurement aspects. There are too many comments to direct a response to anyone in particular or to make any judgments about the content. I'll just add my two cents and hope that someone benefits from it. Any questions just reply or ask directly.

I have used BMI measurements over the years but since their practical value is limited I have only used them as a comparison from what they are compared to what they were. The height number should stay the same while the weight number may change (up/down) and the age number will eventually change (can't stop time).

Because I don't find BMI measures to be that motivating I have used 3 others more meaningful to monitor and measure body fat loss: VISUAL with monthly photos, WEIGHT using a digital scale, and DIMENSION using a tape measure (and BMI less so using height, weight, and age).

I use monthly visual photos largely unclothed in the same full frontal pose (head to foot). Seeing with my own eyes from month to month the progress being made was a great motivator. The change is slow at first but becomes more pronounced as greater weight losses occur.

I use the full frontal photos to record body part measurements using a cloth tape measure. By tape measuring body parts I can determine where the body fat is being lost or gained in relation to recording the scale weight. I say lost or gained because fluctuations in body weight can be attributable to water retention due to salt intake or possible medical conditions or treatments. We know that our bariatric food regimen is important to follow not only for health and body fat gain/loss but salt intake can be easily overlooked resulting in water retention. Swelling of lower extremities, especially ankles may be visually noticed but not as much in the calf, knee and upper thigh areas. Only the tape measure will tell if there is an increase in water retention.

The most common and sole measure that many of us tend to use is the old fashion get on the scale method. Weight scale measures are the key ingredient to calculating BMI but the scale can be misleading if not taken with the proper frequency and at the same time of day and keeping in mind that some of that weight may be due to water retention. It's important to know that so calculating and cutting back or a trip to the doctor is needed.

The included photos are examples of frontal photos (with clothes) with body measurements. The included measurement chart shows a 2 year total of measuring scale weight, weight lost, BMI, and total body part inches lost. The other chart shows the 5 year to date weight loss and maintenance.

Adam,

Congratulations on your incredible weight loss, you look great. I think you made some great points. My whole argument concerns the "scientific" claims being made in defense of the BMI chart. It's preposterous to think that the chart is based on anything objective when it doesn't take gender differences into account, or is randomly changed by a governmental bureaucracy. The people who put so much faith in the BMI chart are being led astray by medical "professionals" who are ignoring the most basic fact of biology, men and women are different. A 5-9 man with a "normal" build will ALWAYS weigh substantially more than a 5-9 woman with a "normal" build. There is no one answer to what is an "ideal weight range" is for a group of people of the same height.

Continued success to you Adam and I very much appreciate your input.