Body Mass Index question

**cjrmack** · 10-14-2003, 02:57 PM

Has anyone ever calculated thier Body Mass Index or B.M.I.? I am really confused because all the calculators I found online simply had you plug in your weight and height and then spit out a number. Mine was 26.7 which indicated I was overweight. I could lose 10 pounds and still be in the overweight range. Being that muscle weighs more than fat and I have seen stats on guys who are shorter than me but weigh a lot more (Because they have a lot more muscle mass) how can this be accurate? This is really confusing as I do not consider myself to be overweight and if I lost 10 pounds I think I would surely lose some of the muscle gains I have made. Can anyone explain it?

**ponyboy** · 10-14-2003, 03:06 PM

Don't worry about your BMI, especially if you lift. It is an old method used to calculate your proper weight.

The formula used is: weight in kg/(height in m) squared.

General guidelines are that anyone within 20-25 is fine, 25-30 is overweight, over 30 is obese. Many fitness people I know are over 30 and are in fantastic shape. If you are a lifter worry more about your body composition.

**donescobar2000** · 10-14-2003, 09:46 PM

True dat. I'm 5'3 and weigh 180 at 9% BF. My "ideal" weight is about 155.

**vanity** · 10-15-2003, 01:02 AM

If you strength train your body mass index will be off the scale
and you would be deemed morbidly obese or some other such nonsense.

Go by weight or bodyfat%.

**Pepper** · 10-15-2003, 06:55 AM

Yeah, but the insurance companies still use the BMI. I hate those damn charts, they make no sense. I can still stand to lose some fat, but that chart says that I am very obese. I know it isn't true and so does the doctor doing the physical, but the pin heads at the insurance company still use them.

**sara** · 10-15-2003, 08:45 AM

just go by measurments

**cjrmack** · 10-15-2003, 01:47 PM

Thanks for all your responses. It is really stupid that this is used by insurance companies. That needs to change. It is so outdated. How we can still be using this calculation is beyond me.

**donescobar2000** · 10-15-2003, 01:56 PM

Anything pretty much everything is outdated when it concerns health.

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