Thanks everyone! I've pretty much thought the BMI scale was crap for years too. I understand it's just a guideline -- the thing that troubles me is that I think because it fluctuates so wildly from person to person, it's an unfair measure to use for underwriting insurance policies, etc.

I'm interested in what this waist-to-hip ratio thing is now. Googling!

The BMI was designed to look at whole populations (45-year-old men, for example, or 24 year old women) for insurance purposes. For those purposes, it's a great snapshot of healthy and not-so-healthy weights and for recognizing changing weight trends within those populations.

It isn't and was never expected to be a measure for individuals. But it's an easy measurement to find and use, and so it was used more and more.

For me, I'm not worried about whether it's accurate. I KNOW I'm morbidly obese, and will be for many more pounds to go. It's really only those folks who are very active and muscular that show with higher BMIs than they should. I'm nowhere near them.

i used the BMI scale to give me a general idea for my goal weight. i chose 165 because it is on the high end of 'normal bmi' for my height. i'm fairly certain i'm large framed (based on the width of my elbow joint) so i thought that was a good starting point. i definitely do not think it is the only (or best) way to determine a person's health and fitness level.

Even though I try to view it as just a guideline, I do get happy when I fall in the "normal" range...

Originally Posted by linJber:
I think, like many other measures of health, it's a good guideline. And there is definitely a different BMI scale for athletes. Your trainer was making a generalization. Look at body builders - they have very little body fat and are very "dense" and if you use only a height to weight ratio, they are overweight and even obese. For those of us who are not so buff, it's a pretty good guideline to use to get you into a healthy range.

Lin

This for me. When I was fit I was in the overweight category for BMI although I had a low % body fat. I have a large frame and large muscles and I'm pretty compact once the weight is off. Even for my weight now I'm in a smaller size than most....this has been very frustrating for me most of my life cause I tried to "FIT INTO BMI" and it just depressed me. I can't go by it. My personal trainer now gives me new pair of eyes. She's only 5 feet tall and is all muscle, low body fat, but she weighs a 140!!! YES You read that right. But she looks like she's 110! Her BMI is overweight too....she's large frame and compact and as well and has always had the same problems as I have....so BMI sucks for me but I can see how it can be used as a tool.....but like everything else in life, taken with a grain of salt and find the balance for you!

I think we're a pretty on to it bunch! We all realise its just another tool, a guideline to help us on our journey. For me its just another number that I get to see getting smaller and I'm looking forward to being able to say I'm overweight and being in BMI over weight and not obese. I also like it for a measure to see how far I've come, from super obese through morbid, severe and now "just" obese.