I got a beef...with the BMI, or more commonly known as the Body Mass Index. (Shameless plug to vote on my poll to the left!)
The BMI is what is being used today to measure a person's health. The BMI is measured by a very simple equation:
mass (kg)/height^2 (m)
Basically, your weight over your height squared. How can this be a way to measure health? Let me explain. A Belgian mathematician by the name of Adolphe Quetelet created this equation as a way to measure growth for a population. This is fine by my standards. But, in 1972, the Journal of Chronic Diseases decided they need a way to measure the obesity problems they could see happening in Western cultures (that's us). As a population, not individually, they decided the BMI is a good measure for body fat percentage. This was adopted to the norm and was used. Unfortunately today, due to simplicity, the BMI is used on an individual scale for body fat percentage. See the problem? History lesson over.
So where do you lie? Here is a chart for BMI classifications:
<18.5 - Underweight
18.5 - 24.9 - Normal
25 - 30 - Overweight
30 - 35 - Obese Class 1
35 - 40 - Obese Class 2
etc. etc. etc.
Why am I telling all of you this? Because I think the BMI is the worst thing to consider when regarding health. There are 3 categories that specifically the BMI is terrible for: children, elderly, and athletes.The equation is so simple it does not build in for muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat! I dare you to calculate the BMI of any NFL star or NBA center. Clay Matthews, linebacker for the Green Bay Packers, has a BMI of almost 32! That would make him obese class 1. Just in case you don't know who this is or what he looks like, check this out. So instead of using the BMI to check out our healthiness as athletes, let's use something else. Try getting your fat percentage checked, which can be done by multiple devices. An impedance test will take 1 minute and give u a fair calculation of about how much fat you have.
My disclaimer here, is that the BMI can be great to diagnose weight problems when they do actually exist. I am not trying to throw it all out the window. I just don't want our population to get to fixed on having a bad BMI when in reality it is a terrible number representation.
So ultimately what I'm trying to say here is do not get tripped up by some doctor or website or equation is telling you. We are athletes and the BMI doesn't apply to us whether it is high or low (like it is for me, I'm missing part of my leg).
so is there an alternative to use? personally, im a fan of the waist-to-height ratio, as it is a better measure for assessing risk of heart attack, stroke, or possibly death.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Waist to height is good to use, or even just waist circumference can be a good measure for heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. If the waist isn't exactly standard (due to disability), I would look elsewhere where fat can build up such as upper arms.
ReplyDelete'sup Tom-dog!! Stopped by to see what you've been up to here. Hope all's well with you
ReplyDelete