Is there an ideal BMI?

[Anonymous]

Happy to be down to 24

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, BMI is a ridiculous tool to use and not used by anyone with any knowledge in the field other than for very vague references.

Most professional athletes would be considered "obese" and bodybuilders "morbidly obese" when using BMI and obviously they are not.

For non professional athlete women- it’s very accurate, even if they are generally athletic with more than avg muscle mass. For men, it’s not that accurate if they have a decent amt of muscle mass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21 or 22 is the best bmi. Pick one based on how nice your face looks when you are there.

This! At least, for women

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:21 or 22 is the best bmi. Pick one based on how nice your face looks when you are there.

This! At least, for women

Asinine response.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure it's different for everyone. My ideal BMI is 19. I like how I feel in my skin and how I perform in sports at 19. I have a small frame and I'm a woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, BMI is a ridiculous tool to use and not used by anyone with any knowledge in the field other than for very vague references.

Most professional athletes would be considered "obese" and bodybuilders "morbidly obese" when using BMI and obviously they are not.

It's the best inexpensive measure. If you're willing to spend some money, a DEXA scan is a better measure of body composition and can detect osteoporosis.

[Anonymous]

For me the ideal is 19 as well. I am close to there now (19.6), only 3 pounds to go.

[Anonymous]

I want mine between 24-25. I think that still looks healthy. I don’t want to be “thin” like I used to wish for when I was younger.

But I want to have better proportions overall.

I am at 31 now I can’t work on it until my kids are back in school. Too overwhelmed and time-poor this summer.

[Anonymous]

Mine is 21 now and I feel most comfortable at 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, BMI is a ridiculous tool to use and not used by anyone with any knowledge in the field other than for very vague references.

Most professional athletes would be considered "obese" and bodybuilders "morbidly obese" when using BMI and obviously they are not.

It's the best inexpensive measure. If you're willing to spend some money, a DEXA scan is a better measure of body composition and can detect osteoporosis.

For sure, and nobody would argue with that.

The issue is people inaccurately portraying BMI as fundamentally flawed by focusing on outliers they are not. BMI as a metric nails probably 95% of the US population, particularly women. People just don’t like the answer it gives and want to pretend outliers like muscular body building men and athletes undermine the entire validity of its effectiveness as a tool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, BMI is a ridiculous tool to use and not used by anyone with any knowledge in the field other than for very vague references.

Most professional athletes would be considered "obese" and bodybuilders "morbidly obese" when using BMI and obviously they are not.

It's the best inexpensive measure. If you're willing to spend some money, a DEXA scan is a better measure of body composition and can detect osteoporosis.

A mirror, scale, and calipers are much cheaper and more accurate than BMI.
BMI is for people who flunked 4th grade math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 43F, lost 20 lbs since February (163 to 143). Height is 5’9”. I’m not sure when I should stop trying to lose weight. I’m worried that if I shift my mentality away from weight loss then I’ll gain back at least some of the weight. Obviously I know that an underweight BMI is bad, but aside from that how do I know when to stop losing??

An underweight BMI is not bad IMO. It's actually better. If I followed BMI guidelines I would be undeniably fat looking. I prefer to keep my BMI at 10-12%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m 43F, lost 20 lbs since February (163 to 143). Height is 5’9”. I’m not sure when I should stop trying to lose weight. I’m worried that if I shift my mentality away from weight loss then I’ll gain back at least some of the weight. Obviously I know that an underweight BMI is bad, but aside from that how do I know when to stop losing??

An underweight BMI is not bad IMO. It's actually better. If I followed BMI guidelines I would be undeniably fat looking. I prefer to keep my BMI at 10-12%.

I have never heard BMI expressed in percentage - what do you mean? Are you talking body fat?

[Anonymous]

BMI is such a good measure of health. People forget that being heavy for your height - even if that weight comes from big muscles - puts a strain on your heart and your joints.

The overwhelming majority of people are too heavy but don’t want to hear it. Fat or muscles, we should all be dropping some weight and stay more trim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BMI is such a good measure of health. People forget that being heavy for your height - even if that weight comes from big muscles - puts a strain on your heart and your joints.

The overwhelming majority of people are too heavy but don’t want to hear it. Fat or muscles, we should all be dropping some weight and stay more trim.

No, people with healthy or underweight BMIs should not be losing weight