HELP with BMI
so i went onto this BMI site for teens a week ago, and i put in my weight at the time (111.5 lbs), and said i had a BMI of 18 and said that it was a HEALTHY weight. and i was still in the 20th something percentile. i thought under 18.5 was underweight?!
btw ive gained and am now ~114lbs, so higher BMI dont worry
For adults 18.5 is underweight.
so its different for teens?
Yup.
Original Post by stephh11:
so its different for teens?
yes, but that does not give you an excuse to lose weight cause it's acceptable to weigh (X)lbs based on your age group.. teenagers who are on the low end of the BMI generally haven't fully developed yet (give them time, their body will catch up)
this is like all these "young calorie counters" who try to justify losing weight because they weighed 85lbs when they were 13, so that should still be acceptable now that they are 14... it doesn't make sense. Let your body grow!! You gain weight when you hit puberty and begin to develop womanly figures, it happens.
I'm not saying that you are like this (I don't know you) I'm just throwing this out there to potentially clear up some confusion
Look at it this way... if you were in the 20th percentile, that means that 80% of teens are heavier than you... that's still pretty low. For best health you really want to be somewhere in the middle of the pack.
BMI is only an indicator of someone's health, it's not the full picture. If someone has always been very thin, eats plenty of good food (2200+ cals a day for a teen), is reasonably active, physically well (e.g regular periods) and not depressed or anxious.... then a low BMI is probably OK but they should expect to continue growing until they're about 21 years old... i.e. filling out and getting a little heavier.
If, on the other hand, someone's BMI is at the low end of the healthy range but they're only staying there by restricting calories like crazy, doing excessive exercise... or if they were experiencing any physical or mental health problems.... then there's a good chance that their body-weight is too low.
Another category would be people recovering from an eating disorder or serious illness. They would usually be advised to get to a BMI of 20 as a kind of 'insurance' against relapse or illness.
If you're in the first camp and you're gaining weight nicely, sounds like you're on the right track
