BMI seems totally ridiculous....

Ok everyone - go look at my profile picture if you have the time. I think I look pretty normal, average.

 

According to BMI calculators - I am classified as overweight (5'6" and 154 pounds). Which is fine, I guess. But basically I could weigh anywhere from 115-140 to be classified as "normal". 115 pounds? That would mean a 40 pound loss. I really don't feel like I would look very 'normal'.

 

What gives? I want my BMI to be in the low range of normal, but not at the expense of being a skeleton. Just doesn't make sense to me...

Yes you do look pretty average.  I generally do also, and although my BMI doesn't classify me as overweight, it's right near the top of the acceptable range.  BMI isn't the greatest thing, it's just a guideline.  Body fat % is also a good thing to know, because muscle is more dense than fat, so muscular people can have a high BMI while still being quite healthy.  The truth is if you're happy, and healthy, just forget about BMI, haha.

 

If you have a larger bone structure, then 115 would be far too little for you.  Like jill said, BMI is just a broad guideline.  It covers the full range from from a tiny-as-a-bird bone structure (my mother) to big-boned structure (me--I got my paternal grandmother's body type.) 

What you should really look at is your percentage of body fat.  And waiste measurement.  IIRC, if a woman's waist is under 35 inches, she's probably within a healthy weight, for her.

hey...I just wanted to ask...I went to the BMI calculator and entered your stats ...5'6 and 154 and it said you were in the healthy range?  I only checked cause the weight range you have of 115-140 is for someone my height of 5'3...you are taller...dont know if the age has anything to do with it but I entered 25 years....check it out...

Mine says 24.9 - slightly overweight. It's probably because I'm 23. :/

ah ha!!  I see.....by the way by no means was I saying you were older in your pics...actually didnt look at them up close :)  I would really worry that much I think you look great!!!  I really think 40 lbs is wayyyyy too much anyways....

Yes...my BMI according to this website is "slightly overweight" also..I'm 131, 5'2.  I'm pretty sure my bodyfat is relatively low though, as I have a fairly muscular build.  Do you?  I am still aiming to get down to 125, but I think losing anything after that would mean having to lose muscle mass, which doesn't appeal to me.  Focus more on how your body looks and feels, and I think you'll know what weight you should be at.  Good luck.

It does depend on frame size.  A fun, quick test you can do to check your frame size is to take your thumb and forefinger and use them to encircle the opposite wrist.  If they just meet, you're medium frame and you should aim for a mid-point BMI.  If they overlap, you're small framed and you should aim for the lower BMIs.  If they don't meet, you're large framed and you should aim for the upper ones.

I'm 5'6 and, being fairly large framed, I go for 23-25 BMI.  Much lower and I start looking rather scrawny. 

I prefer elbow breadth test over wrist test since there are so many variables (like freakish long fingers or exceptionally scrawny wrist, like me).  Like someone above mentioned, you are pretty average. But for a girl who's on a skinny side, say 5' 6'' but has hip of 34~35 - she'd in lower range of BMI to look good and toned. Everybody have different frame sizes and different comfort weight zone.

But frames aside, BMI is a very VERY general guideline. It's how much mass you have in a unit area. So a body builder and a morbidly obese person might have a same BMI number, but they would look drastically different because fat takes up more space than muscle. So I wouldn't take BMI into account. Like others have said, focus on your body fat % and stuff like that.

BMI is a naturally flawed system of calculating health. Most athletes of either gender would qualify as being overweight simply because BMI does not take into account the fact that an extremely muscular person is going to weigh as much as a moderately overweight person.

It works the opposite way, as well. I don't have a lot of muscle, per se, and I would like to burn most of my bodyfat, but that would probably put me in BMI's "underweight" category. I am smack dab in the middle of a healthy BMI for my height and sex, but I've still got excess flab that I need to take care of.

In other words, BMI is more of a guideline than anything else. Take it with a grain of salt.

Ok thank you for someone else looking at the dang BMI thing.  I am 6' 2" I currently weight 265 (Severly overweight) that is the nice way of saying morbidly obese.  :)  But i was 348 in November.  I never concerned myself with my BMI (mostly because i was 348.  After lossing 85 lbs I decided yesterday to check what a normal BMI for me is.  Well ti says I should weight 190lbs MAX. WTF!  When I was a wrestler in HS i weighed 235.  Geez.......Sounds to me like the bean poles are running the show!

*laughing*  Helliforus, I entered your stats, and my age, and it said I was quite healthy.  So, I guess what they are saying is the younger you are, the more likely and/or desirable it is to be a beanpole. 

I think your goal of 135 is a perfectly healthy one, as it would give you a BMI of 21.8 which is on the low end of normal. 

It looks like you have a little pudge around the belly but honestly if you lost too much weight you wouldn't be as sexy. You have a womanly figure.

True story.

You look great , but do yourself a favor and loose 14 pounds. You will have more energy and you will be classified as normal... It's a win win.

I've found the BMI to be a pretty poor measurement tool.  It says I'm in the mid to low end of my weight for height, but I'm still borderline obese according to the body fat %.  Just take it as a guideline and try to get to a weight you're comfortable with, or if it's something that really concerns you talk to a health professional about what is healthy for you.

Since weight loss occurs all over your body to make you slim everywhere, weighing 115 at your height will make you fashionably slim, not sick-looking. The "visible ribs" don't show up until the "underweight" BMI category. You have nothing to worry about!

I personally like the BMI system, as long as you're not an professional athlete or a professional muscle-builder. The "normal" range (25 pound range "wiggle room" at the Asker's height) is so wide that if someone is classified as overweight have very little reason to believe anything otherwise.

 With regards to fransen's message, yes the younger adults have a lot of pressure to stay thin. Being overweight somehow makes people think you've lost the vigor and energy of youth, and that you've stop being concern with your looks... like you've not bothered to take care of your body. Being overweight makes us look older than we are.

I agree with you about the BMI.  My BMI is 24 which is on the high side or normal... I would like it to be right in the middle.  I have a friend (guy) who is fit and looks great. His BIM told him be was too high as well and that he could/should drop lots of weight too. I think the BMI could be way off due to muscle density not being considered.  PS. I think you look great.  I think most people want to lose a few pounds, just do not go crazy :)

Original Post by selenefn:

I personally like the BMI system, as long as you're not an professional athlete or a professional muscle-builder. The "normal" range (25 pound range "wiggle room" at the Asker's height) is so wide that if someone is classified as overweight have very little reason to believe anything otherwise.

The BMI charts are fine if you are average, but if you aren't, then they aren't.  I'm 6'5".  The BMI tool here says that a healthy weight range for me is between 169 and 210.  Any man who is 6'5" and weighs only 169 would be skeletal, regardless of their bone structure.  Even 210 is on the thin side for me.  And when I weighed 215, I was fit (when I was in the Army), but not athletic looking.  So saying that I have little reason to believe the BMI system that tells me I am overweight at 215 is a load.

It is a very general guideline and taking it seriously, especially if you are not average is, in my opinion rather silly. 

First the Truth about BMI, it all started with an insurance company that kept track of the deceased clients Heights and weights.  Through this research they found the "Healthy" Height and Weight which they devolved into a chart.  This chart was used to determine the price for a person’s life insurance.  It has been adopted by insurance companies on up through doctors.  BMI is good tool for the average person but let’s face it who among us is average.  The waist to Hip ratio is much better and reliable tool to determine your health.  A body fat test will tell you if you are actually more Muscle or fat as were BMI is incapable of telling the difference.  My advice get a Body Fat test done by some one who is certified to do it or use a Bioelectrical Impedance Device.  It basically measures how fast electricity will travel through your body; Muscle is made up of a lot of water so the more muscle the quicker it will travel through your body.  Get the Body Fat test to see where you are at and then decide what is healthy for you.

 BMI is fairly useless for anyone who skews widely from the norm, but it's still a starting point for thinking about your health.

 Only a starting point, mind you. I'm 5'8.5in, 205lbs, and my BMI is 30.7 - but my body fat percentage is around 10-11%.  The CC tools suggested I aim for a BMI of around 22.5 and a weight of about 150lbs, which given my lean mass of 182lbs would require amputation before I even got within spitting distance of that.

 You need to apply some common sense when discussing a statistical analysis tool designed to study population data numbering in the millions.

 Also, keep in mind that "skews widely from the norm" generally translates into more muscle mass than the average person, and consequently a higher BMI without the corresponding rise in BF% and health risk markers that BMI generally correlates to for the average person in the studied population.

Don't listen to the BMI as I think it isn't useful.  You look like a normal weight to me.  Being underweight is not healthy.