Weight vs. BMI: Which One Really Matters?
We all know what to do to lose weight, right? So, why, as a nation, do we continue to put on extra pounds year after year? A new report from the Center for Disease Control revealed that nearly two-thirds of states now have adult obesity rates of about 25%. That's 1 in 4 people. Plus weight is creeping up in all age groups - particularly troubling when it comes to children and adolescents.
Maybe an important area to revisit is just how we determine "obesity". For many years, it was the eyeballing approach - do I "look" fat, or "feel" fat, or have health problems which seem to accompany extra weight? Multiple large scale studies have strongly linked increasing weight with increasing health risk. This has been based on body mass index or BMI (What's your BMI?), a term linking height and weight for a single number used as the marker comparing weight and likelihood of diseases (like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol). Your BMI translates in number that classifies you as healthy, overweight, and obese. You don't have to look particularly "heavy" to be classified as medically obese. In fact, many "overweight" folks agree they want to "lose a few pounds", but don't feel this is a health issue, since they have no medical illness related to their weight.
The big problem here is automatically translating population statistics to our own personal situation. While the BMI has been a major plus in helping to assess overweight and obesity in this country, we've gotten too caught up in the numbers, and not enough in the constellation of factors that also contribute to good health.
New research studies update national health recommendations. But what does that mean for excess weight? It's often forgotten that a number of years ago, a BMI of 27 or less was considered a "heathy" weight. Now, recent large-scale population studies showed that a BMI of less than 25 was now the healthy range. So overnight an entire segment of the population became overweight, without gaining a pound.
While weight is a major barometer of good health, I think it's time we took a broader look at what "counts". I think it's unrealistic for many people to get below a BMI of 25. When the bar is set too high, most of us give up and do nothing. It's just too defeating. We've got to get away from the "all of nothing approach", to the "something is better than nothing approach".
We need to return to a more realistic way of looking at the weight issue. It's the big picture that counts - including blood pressure, blood sugar, blood fats, and the lifestyle activities that support them (eating, activity, no smoking, stress control), with weight being one of the factors, but not the only focus.
Choosing a realistic weight as a healthy one should be the major focus, rather than an idealized weight. For many people, a BMI of less than 25 is not going to be a reality. We need to think more about a goal weight that we are able to maintain (not just achieve!) to support good health and avoid the endless round of self-defeating weight loss and regain episodes.
That's an important step in the right direction, to combating this very real epidemic. Let's use the BMI as a guideline, but not the sole replacement to evaluation of good health.
There are many ways to work at good health. Do you agree? Leave a comment below.
Maybe an important area to revisit is just how we determine "obesity". For many years, it was the eyeballing approach - do I "look" fat, or "feel" fat, or have health problems which seem to accompany extra weight? Multiple large scale studies have strongly linked increasing weight with increasing health risk. This has been based on body mass index or BMI (What's your BMI?), a term linking height and weight for a single number used as the marker comparing weight and likelihood of diseases (like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol). Your BMI translates in number that classifies you as healthy, overweight, and obese. You don't have to look particularly "heavy" to be classified as medically obese. In fact, many "overweight" folks agree they want to "lose a few pounds", but don't feel this is a health issue, since they have no medical illness related to their weight.The big problem here is automatically translating population statistics to our own personal situation. While the BMI has been a major plus in helping to assess overweight and obesity in this country, we've gotten too caught up in the numbers, and not enough in the constellation of factors that also contribute to good health.
New research studies update national health recommendations. But what does that mean for excess weight? It's often forgotten that a number of years ago, a BMI of 27 or less was considered a "heathy" weight. Now, recent large-scale population studies showed that a BMI of less than 25 was now the healthy range. So overnight an entire segment of the population became overweight, without gaining a pound.
While weight is a major barometer of good health, I think it's time we took a broader look at what "counts". I think it's unrealistic for many people to get below a BMI of 25. When the bar is set too high, most of us give up and do nothing. It's just too defeating. We've got to get away from the "all of nothing approach", to the "something is better than nothing approach".
We need to return to a more realistic way of looking at the weight issue. It's the big picture that counts - including blood pressure, blood sugar, blood fats, and the lifestyle activities that support them (eating, activity, no smoking, stress control), with weight being one of the factors, but not the only focus.
Choosing a realistic weight as a healthy one should be the major focus, rather than an idealized weight. For many people, a BMI of less than 25 is not going to be a reality. We need to think more about a goal weight that we are able to maintain (not just achieve!) to support good health and avoid the endless round of self-defeating weight loss and regain episodes.
That's an important step in the right direction, to combating this very real epidemic. Let's use the BMI as a guideline, but not the sole replacement to evaluation of good health.
There are many ways to work at good health. Do you agree? Leave a comment below.
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Yes a BMI under 25 is possible...
In order not to frustrate people with a higher BMI we'll just change the BMI???
Let's just call McDonalds "McNutrition", so we won't feel guilty going there!
Is Denial a river in egypt?
I guess we'll just label dresses in a size Large a size Small to fool ourseves from now on, too?
It is what it is - no matter how you look at it and if 1 out of 4 people is overweight, that means 3 out of 4 are not...ergo...it is possible to maintain a healthy weight.
here here! I agree entierly with Brit. Exercise will take that BMI down for the regular joe. It will also help with stress reduction and you don't even have to do a ton! 20-30 minutes of strength training or walking a day will do wonders for the mind and body, inside and out.
I totally agree! I happen to work out a lot and therefore have a lot of muscle - which we all know weighs more than fat. My BMI is right around 25, but I am not overweight and in great health. I just think those numbers can be very discouraging.
As a person who eats well, exercises 5 days a week (aerobic and strength training) and still sits at a BMI of 29 I heartily agree. People do not come in a one size fits all! I find the first 2 comments very typical....especially for think people who have never had to really work at staying thin. It doesn't have to be one way or the other. BMI is a benchmark indicator, but it is not a tell all. You CAN be healthy and have a slightly higher BMI, you can also be UNHEALTHY and fit in the BMI range. We need to focus a bit more on what we are doing (ie active, sensible eating, regular exercise, low cholesterol and stress levels) and less on the numbers. Does this mean we throw out the numbers? No! It just means it is one more thing to look at. My doctor and I agree that I am healthy, but other people at my BMI (and lower BMIs) might not be. Stop getting so caught up with weight. Take a look at the whole picture. It gives a much more accurate (and healthier) picture.
Since BMI is only a height/weight ratio, bodybuilders have higher BMIs, does that make them more unhealthy than the anorexic? What about big breasted women? Too heavy? or just too top heavy?
BMI doesn't measure body fat,which is the real concern. Neither does weight. They are only gross estimates, at best rough indicators for the average individual.
This also completely neglects that muscle weighs more than fat, and if you're low-fat but high-muscle, you could weigh more than is considered a "healthy" BMI. It also ignores that there are people who are UNDERweight and unhealthy. Did you ever think of that??
Leave people alone. Encourage them to live well, not obsess over their weight or BMI or whatever other outdated, inaccurate crap "nutritionists" and "fitness experts" can come up with next.
This is so true. I used to eat way less healthily, exercise less, and get sick frequently- and I still had a normal BMI! Now I eat more healthily, exercise regularly, and don't get sick often- and my BMI remains normal, barely changed at all. I look a little more toned and have a slightly flatter stomach, but I don't look very different now, and have lost just a few pounds. I'm fine with that, b/c I didn't need to change much on the outside- more on the inside (like my overall health, in the ways that healthy food and exercise improve it.)
My real point, though, is that I used to be much less healthy, but I still had a normal BMI that many "experts" would have praised. BMI is not the sole indicator of health, and I know many people like Nicole who commented above, too- higher BMI but leading a healthy lifestyle. It's one part of a larger picture. Great article!
My parents had an old Encyclopedia Brittanica set from 1968 (Scary in and of itself, I know!), but it listed the older version of weight measurements that gave the three separate listingsof weight/height guide, pertaining to small frame, medium frame and large frame. I think that is the benchmark that should still be used. BMI numbers don't take into consideration how some women may actually be petite (an actual and recognized "size") and how some men may actually weigh more just because they are bigger. I mean, does a man that stands 6'4" need to be at the same BMI that a man that stands 5'7"? What about the fact that I am 5'7", but most of my friends average around 5'2"; should we all have the same BMI? Yes, I am sure that a BMI of 25 is possible and reachable, but there are so many other factors to consider than a single, one-size-fits-all set of numbers.
I am an RN - I feel that the ideal BMI is not practical for most people, and at my height and weight I am considered overweight. I wear a size 7 jeans and am in good shape. If I was at a BMI of 25 I would look much too thin, I would have to lose a lot of muscle. I find it hard to prach a BMI of 25 to my clients. I work in community mental health so I do a lot of diet and nutrition education according to my agency am supposed to use the BMI but certainly find it dificult.
But those that are trying to lose weight should do so in a healthy way, diet exercise and limiting sugars, etc. I use a great website to help my clients: sparkpeople.com