BMI - American the Beautiful 2

[BendtheBar]

This movie is now available via Amazon streaming. Some talk about BMI.

America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments - YouTube

America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments - YouTube

[kitarpyar]

I think for some people, self image is so much more twisted than how people perceive them. It is sad when they judge their quality of life by the way they look.

[bamazav]

The BMI is a very unhelpful number. It is a formula based upon height, weight and age. It does not take into account BF% or lean muscle mass. Thus, people like me, 6' 187 lbs with about 14%BF is considered obese.

I am also not sure there is that much of an emphasis on begin thin in our culture any more. If that were the case, why are the "officials" now crying that we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic?

[BendtheBar]

When I worked in health care I was involved with quite a few health screenings and pre-employment physicals. Nearly every woman I weighed thought they were fat. 80% were at an average, healthy weight.

As far as the "obesity epidemic", we explored this a bit here:

Training and Overweight Clients

They have changed the standards several times. In addition, our culture is changing in average age, and this is impacting our weight:

Training and Overweight Clients

We are 10 pounds heavier as a culture, but also 10 years older. The average height of males has increased as well during this "epidemic" period. Men are now 1.5 inches taller, partly because they are older.

For every inch of height there is about a 5 pound bodyweight difference, so for men that makes an extra 7.5 pounds simply due to an increase in average height. Add the 10 pound age difference and there's the majority of the "epidemic."

Anyway, I am not implying that our culture hasn't gained weight at all. But I think we need to look at the big picture:

--The government has changed the standards twice.
--The average male height has increase by 1.5 inches during the epidemic period.
--The average age has increased by 10 years during the epidemic period.
--The average weight gain has been 10 pounds in the epidemic period.