I just saw this article on NPR which essentially says that you shouldn’t worry too much about your BMI measurement because it’s bogus. This makes me 
feel better about the fact that my BMI says I’m overweight. He gives the following 10 reasons why it is not accurate.
1. BMI was created over 200 years ago & the inventor said it should not be used to indicate the level of fatness in an individual.
2. It makes no scientific sense.
3. It is physiologically wrong. Often fit athletes are classified as overweight or even obese by BMI.
4. It is logically wrong. A high BMI doesn’t always mean a person is overweight.
5. It uses bad statistics. It doesn’t work with people who are fit & healthy because it assumes a low muscle mass and high relative fat content.
6. It implies more scientific authority than warranted.
7. It suggests distinct cut-off lines between underweight, ideal & overweight. This is wrong.
8. Insurance companies can charge higher premiums for higher BMI people even though it’s not always accurate.
9. It allows doctors to be lazy in their prognosis.
10. It embarrasses the US. Really, we use a 200-year-old, unproven formula to give nutrition advice?
So, there you have it. If you exercise regularly don’t think twice about your BMI. It really isn’t a good indication of anything about your overall health.
This is good news for me. I found it a bit discouraging that I joggle all the time, log thousands of miles a year and still am classified as “overweight”.
Do you buy what your BMI says? Leave a comment and let everyone else know.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
yea, I always believed BMI was a joke…
I used to believe in the old insurance tables (remember them?) and dieted and exercised myself down to 130 pounds when I was twenty. I developed anorexic behavior trying to keep it there and symptoms of starvation. Not good. I eventually realized my “Ideal” weight is at least 20 pounds higher. Maybe more.
Meanwhile, the insurance tables went out of fashion in favor of the BMI tables and I looked at them eagerly for something realistic. Big surprise, they think I should weigh 130 pounds too!
Too bad. There’s way am I buying that baloney again!