Bmi

stratospheres

Well...is it accurate?

That is, if your BMI is too high/too low according to the scale are you too fat/too thin?

PeakOutput

i would say no it is not as i have been 6'2 since i was 14(21 now) and maybe 5% body fat if that(painfully skinny) and according to the bmi i was overweight.............then i turned 18 and over 2 years went up to maybe 15% bf and i was still overweight

as a general rule for the population it works but on an individual basis its far too broad

maxi-twist

I ****ing hate the BMI, my mums always telling me that im overweight/underweight according to the feckin bmi. Has absolutely no basis for weightlifting id say 80%+ of people who do proper weightlifiting are "overweight"when their really just packed with muscle.

ali.c

BMI is an indicator scale and is based on ratio of weight to height. It is purely a indicator not fact. Different people can be fat/too thin at different body weights. As maxi said the more muscle you had the more you weight, therefore your more likely to be classified os over-weight or obese even though your not fat.

If you are looking for a better indicator you can get your body fat measured.

Sangre

Ignore it if you do any sort of serious training.

justsomebloke

Sangre wrote:

Ignore it if you do any sort of serious training.

however if you don't it, may be a good guide line to suggest you are overweight

rubadub

jsb wrote:

however if you don't it, may be a good guide line to suggest you are overweight

Yes, that and a mirror. I think BMI is better than nothing for most people, the vast majority of people out there are carrying excess fat, not excess muscle. And the people who do carry excess muscle are well aware that BMI is not applicable to them.

arybvtcw0eolkf

stratospheres wrote:

Well...is it accurate?

That is, if your BMI is too high/too low according to the scale are you too fat/too thin?

DEpends on how your BMI is taken.

If you want to be really accurate IMO the BF caliper's is the only way to go.

Meansuring your height against a weight for your sex/age chart is useless.

stratospheres

Thanks for the tips!
I don't do any exercise at all but I'm not overweight!
I checked my BMI and it said I was nearly a stone underweight so I was just wondering!

Sangre

Being underweight is just as bad as being overweight by the by.

stratospheres

Sangre wrote:

Being underweight is just as bad as being overweight by the by.

Oh I know I was just wondering if I should be worried!

rubadub

stratospheres wrote:

Thanks for the tips!
I don't do any exercise at all but I'm not overweight!
I checked my BMI and it said I was nearly a stone underweight so I was just wondering!

How did you calculate that? They usually quote a normal "range". By 1 stone underweight I would take that to mean that if you put on 1 stone you would be barely in the "normal" range. i.e. I am pretty much in the middle BMI for "ideal" weight, if I weighed 1 stone less though I would still be in the normal/healthy range.

I have put on some muscle but have a small frame size (another thing BMI ignores)

stratospheres

It just said the normal range for my height would be between 7st 10 and 9st something?!