27 should be considered obese BMI now?!

[Anonymous]

I'm sure nobody will care, but being overweight is actually protective against mortality compared to normal BMI. This is a lit review in JAMA, so not a one-off study. The thinking in the study is that it's because overweight people are less vulnerable to illnesses because they have more metabolic reserve, and it is beneficial for your heart to work a little harder, within limits.

Results Random-effects summary all-cause mortality HRs for overweight (BMI of 25-<30), obesity (BMI of ≥30), grade 1 obesity (BMI of 30-<35), and grades 2 and 3 obesity (BMI of ≥35) were calculated relative to normal weight (BMI of 18.5-<25). The summary HRs were 0.94 (95% CI, 0.91-0.96) for overweight, 1.18 (95% CI, 1.12-1.25) for obesity (all grades combined), 0.95 (95% CI, 0.88-1.01) for grade 1 obesity, and 1.29 (95% CI, 1.18-1.41) for grades 2 and 3 obesity. These findings persisted when limited to studies with measured weight and height that were considered to be adequately adjusted. The HRs tended to be higher when weight and height were self-reported rather than measured.

Conclusions and Relevance Relative to normal weight, both obesity (all grades) and grades 2 and 3 obesity were associated with significantly higher all-cause mortality. Grade 1 obesity overall was not associated with higher mortality, and overweight was associated with significantly lower all-cause mortality. The use of predefined standard BMI groupings can facilitate between-study comparisons.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1555137

DCUM can do with that what they will...

[Anonymous]

I have gone from a 28.5 to 22.4 BMI over the last year with a 40 lb weight loss (thanks Ozempic). I am 5'9" and athletic so the 28.5 was definitely overweight but not obese. The weight was spread all over rather than a huge gut or other concentration. I was pre diabetic though, so that was a problem.

At 22.4 BMI I am a healthy weight but definitely not thin. I could lose another 5-10 lbs.

If changing the guidelines to 27 helps more people face the need to lose weight and get insurance coverage (I did not) then I'm all for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have gone from a 28.5 to 22.4 BMI over the last year with a 40 lb weight loss (thanks Ozempic). I am 5'9" and athletic so the 28.5 was definitely overweight but not obese. The weight was spread all over rather than a huge gut or other concentration. I was pre diabetic though, so that was a problem.

At 22.4 BMI I am a healthy weight but definitely not thin. I could lose another 5-10 lbs.

If changing the guidelines to 27 helps more people face the need to lose weight and get insurance coverage (I did not) then I'm all for it.

you want to say 27 is obese to get Ozempic instead of changing the guidelines and saying overweight people can get Ozempic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

In Japan, a country with an obesity rate below 5%, they consider a BMI of 25 and over to be obese.

Just like how we have vanity sizing in the West, we have vanity BMI. You're definitely overweight if you're 25 BMI unless you are quite stocky with tons of muscle (most people aren't and shouldn't kid themselves). Americans are super fat.

The bolded is information to support that BMI is not a good indicator, not that the numbers are "wrong." The difference is a direct result of the difference in median body type of different types of people. A 25 IS likely to represent a high body fat mass on a certain body type and not represent that on a different body type.

Good lord, shut up. BMI is a tool. Is it perfect? No. But name another tool that can be used for a very rapid, virtually zero cost assessment for health like BMI. Of course something like skin caliper tests and and more accurate testing for body fat percentage is better. But you people miss the entire point. The latter tests require much more time and direct 1-1 contact with a physician or other healthcare worker, which means it cannot be as easily used across billions of people on the planet.




BMI is based on gigantic data sets and statistics. It is a good enough tool to get a ballpark idea of your overall body fat. Yes, like with any set of data and statistics there will be outliers (very muscular people). It is hilarious though that people who are dismissive of BMI always try to claim they’re muscular or that BMI is ‘bad’ simply because they don’t like their number. Get a grip. It is a simple tool.


I love how everyone with BMI >25 claims to be fit and muscular with stocky builds. Yeah sure. Stop being dishonest with yourselves. You all probably have biceps below 12” and can barely squat more than 150 lbs at the gym. Stop deluding yourselves, you are not diesel Mac trucks like NFL running backs. The Japanese have it right. Even a BMI of 25 should be considered obese. They even consider a BMI of 22 - 25 to be overweight. And you wonder why they live so long.

Waist to hip ratio is a much better measure.

I don't think you understand how unhealthy you can be with a healthy bmi and how healthy you can be with an overweight bmi. Nobody is talking about obesity here we are talking about a 27 BMI.

Youre the one who needs to get a grip.

I've been a 20.5 BMI and still wore size large men's gloves and size 8 clothes.

It was not a healthy BMI and my doctor asked me to gain weight every visit. It wasn't until I was unable to conceive that I gained the weight and was a healthy 23 BMI.

Healthy for me is 23-25, size 10.

27 for me, is not obese.

Do I have muscles like an NFL player, not I have muscles like a soccer player or a yoga instructor.

[Anonymous]

I find BMI to be such a weird marker. My very tall, very atheltic husband is often marked as overweight. My athletic teen son, who has not a stitch of fat but is very densely built, also often shows as overweight or borderline overweight.

I was underweight or at the bottom of the range for most of my life. In perimenopause, I suddenly gained about 25 pounds and was then considered overweight, and borderline obese. But if you knew me, you'd still say I was thin. I just developed a little low hanging pot belly which I hid well with clothes. I've lost about 5 of the pounds by cutting back my diet from 1500 calories to 1300 calories a day, but I really don't think I was unhealthy at the heavier weight -- I still walked a lot and was eating pretty healthy (home made food, vegetables, etc.). I just feel like if you are able to walk 5-10 miles, and you are eating a fairly health diet, that is a better measure than what the scale and BMI say.

The people I feel bad for are the ones who clearly can't walk well because of the weight they are carrying. I worked with a woman that literally tipped side to side as she walked because of the weight -- she died at age 50 with either a stroke or heart attack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For goodness sake, my BMI is 25 and I’m a size 8. What world are people living in?

8 is a 14 of non vanity sizes.

Eating disorder chick is all over this thread

Hardly. I'm a 4 or 8 in old school sizes. I am not thin. My BMI is 20. If my BMI was 24, I would indeed be fat.

Thanks for pointing out just how disordered you are.

[Anonymous]

BMI was created when a significant portion of the population was malnourished. Im nourished and muscular. My muscle mass is in the Olympic/bodybuilding % for females and its genetic. I have great bone density and 115lbs of muscle at 5'3 for a female. I dont weight under 150 and wont without compromising muscle mass, which is linked to longevity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Japanese have it right. Even a BMI of 25 should be considered obese. They even consider a BMI of 22 - 25 to be overweight. And you wonder why they live so long.

Both my money and my fat @ss say you've never even been to Japan, and are making some kind of weird cultural argument to justify your skinny fetish based on regurgitated facts, but on the off chance you're not, do consider the eleventy other factors at play in this life-expectancy argument.

One of them, food access and quality, ties directly back into this conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For goodness sake, my BMI is 25 and I’m a size 8. What world are people living in?

Yeah, that's because size 8 for in American would probably be like a size 14 abroad in Europe or Asia. Size 8 is probably undoubtedly a large to extra large if you were to go shopping in say Asia. I wouldn't trust US sizing at all.

This chick has an eating disorder and is all over this page.

When I was American size 8 my doctor asked me to gain 5 lbs.

Yeah, skinnytroll needs some carbs for better brain function.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Japanese have it right. Even a BMI of 25 should be considered obese. They even consider a BMI of 22 - 25 to be overweight. And you wonder why they live so long.

Both my money and my fat @ss say you've never even been to Japan, and are making some kind of weird cultural argument to justify your skinny fetish based on regurgitated facts, but on the off chance you're not, do consider the eleventy other factors at play in this life-expectancy argument.

One of them, food access and quality, ties directly back into this conversation.

Wrong, dimwit. I've been to Japan 5x. Obesity is virtually non-existent there. Clothing sizes are without vanity. Sorry, but your fat ass sized 5 is really a large to extra large.

No one has a skinny fetish. You're just trying to deflect that the argument is now about how much we tolerate obesity. Normal body types are Americans from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Not the fat obese whales we raise these days where kids as young as 12 now how high blood pressure. Stop making excuses.

[Anonymous]

Normal body types:












That's how Americans used to look when they were healthier. Now we try to reframe the narrative after everyone has become obese blobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Normal body types:












That's how Americans used to look when they were healthier. Now we try to reframe the narrative after everyone has become obese blobs.

I looked like that in my 20’s was called olive oil and wore size 8.

You aren’t making the point you think you are making.

My son’s skinny AF, his BMI is 25, he wears XL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is Noro Novodisk’s new strategy. Bernie is pushing on them to cut the price, and they respond by pushing on insurance to cover.

Ahhh now it’s making sense

[Anonymous]

To the person who posted the pictures from the 70s/80s— that’s how teenagers look at my kid’s school in CA. Tan, healthy and active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who posted the pictures from the 70s/80s— that’s how teenagers look at my kid’s school in CA. Tan, healthy and active.

I was a teen in the 70s. We lived on cottage cheese and salad. The Scarsdale diet was big, as was the cabbage soup diet or all sorts of crazy fads. We weren't naturally thin - girls were starving themselves.