BMI- how much does it really matter to you?

[Anonymous]

DH has always had high BMI. He's 5'9 and according to the chart, he should weigh 175. He is about 195 lbs, goes to the gym like clockwork 5-6x a week doing weights and cardio, eats his 5 fruits/veggies servings a day, doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, blood pressure and levels are all good. I've seen a picture of him at 175 lbs and he looked emaciated. Our kids are built like him- big boned and muscular so it follows that their BMI will resemble DH's.

How important is BMI to you as an overall measure of health?

[Anonymous]

Not very. It makes next to no sense to take a single number and use that as a measure of "health" for human bodies, in all the different shapes and sizes they come in.

[Anonymous]

People would LOVE to think its usually inaccurate but it usually isn't. Yes some people are outliers but the reality is there are a lot more overweight people with accurately high BMI's than extremely muscular people with inaccurately high bmi's.

[Anonymous]

In your family's case, I'd defer to my Dr on whether it's an issue. A lot of people overestimate how healthy they are, so I wouldn't just go off my own assessment of how healthy my lifestyle is and assume all the extra 20 lbs are muscle. That can be confirmed and other indicators can be assessed.

To your question - how do I use the BMI? I find it helpful in having a reality check. Sure it's not a catch all for one's health status but it is still a useful tool for most people. None of us are body builders in my family so it does apply generally.

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the person.

[Anonymous]

People are build differently. I'm not very concerned with BMI. More concerned with how a person carries the weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In your family's case, I'd defer to my Dr on whether it's an issue. A lot of people overestimate how healthy they are, so I wouldn't just go off my own assessment of how healthy my lifestyle is and assume all the extra 20 lbs are muscle. That can be confirmed and other indicators can be assessed.

To your question - how do I use the BMI? I find it helpful in having a reality check. Sure it's not a catch all for one's health status but it is still a useful tool for most people. None of us are body builders in my family so it does apply generally.

op here. I mentioned all the other indicators such as blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. All are good but the dr. Keeps pressing on that BMI. The nutritionist doesn't so much as long as diet and exercise are good.

I am very petite and Asian and even in my mid 40s, never been overweight.

I just think that BMI doesn't take genetics into account. Some people are just built different than others.

[ThatSmileyFaceGuy]

BMI is far less accurate than getting a proper body fat % done

[Anonymous]

It didn't matter much to me when I looked like a normal weight (I have since graduated to a much higher weight class...). My family are all built very solidly and people used to routinely guess my weight 20 pounds less than it was, including doctors who would express surprise at my weight. BMI is known not to be accurate if you're particularly muscular or otherwise different.

[Anonymous]

As someone else who is quite healthy (I exercise daily, eat a healthy diet, have great BP/HR, etc.) but at the higher end of the BMI healthy range, I don't put much stock in it. I'm naturally pretty muscular; for me to be in the low end of the healthy BMI range for my height, I'd have to look skeletal.

OP, it sounds like your husband's perfectly healthy, just built more solidly than many people.