BMI thoughts

[gracenprayers]

Hey guys, 50M, new to the group. I’ve been seriously lifting/working out now for about 7 months. I say “seriously” as in moving away from body maintenance and more towards body transformation.

I want to discuss BMI… because I think it’s total bullshit if you have any kind of muscle mass.

I’m currently at 6’2” and 195. Down about 30lbs in those 7 months. Waist is down from 38” to 34”and I’m seeing nice muscle growth while losing fat. So I was pumped to see what my BMI clocked in at. My BMI (25) is still coming in as “overweight”. Slightly, but still a little deflating.

So, I looked at a BMI chart to see what normal range was (BMI of 19-24) and the low end of the scale, a 19, roughly = 150 lbs!!! I can’t imagine being my height and 150 lbs. At my skinniest (high school age of 15, running track, very little upper body muscle) I clocked in at 165, and all I ever heard was how I needed to add weight and I was too skinny.

Is there an alternative metric anyone uses to target a goal weight. I look in the mirror and know I could maybe lose 10-15 more if I really wanted to (but I’m also a middle aged man who enjoys miller lites and bbq’s), so I can live without 6 pack abs being visible.

 

[aramazd]

@gracenprayers I don’t think BMI is intended for people that are into lifting weights to sculpt their bodies. Buy a mirror and ignore BMI.

 

[declansdad]

@gracenprayers https://preview.redd.it/6g2juqcdtgv...bp&s=b6e05abbc53e8d80b9978a60b4b37bfc66677732

This is me, 50yrs old and 6'1" currently weighing in at 198lbs.

My BMI is 26.2 which puts me at "overweight"....

 

[2preciousgirls]

@declansdad Mine is 27.2. Similar situation. 6’ and still have a 32” waist in my mid-50s. BMI means nothing.

 

[growontherock]

@gracenprayers I am 6 feet and I weighed about 143,3 pounds when I was young, incredibly skinny/underweight. But BMI says I was well within the "normal" range (could have dropped another 5 pounds lol, ridiculous); it's just not right.

 

[johnredeemed103]

@gracenprayers BMI is bollocks. Ignore it. It was designed to look at populations to make generalizations. Eg x% of adults in SomeCountry are overweight.

 

[saycomasry]

@gracenprayers I just looked into this very thing a week ago. I’m 67” and weight 172. I can see my abs but the BMI chart says I’m overweight. Google BMI calculation for athletes or bodybuilders.

 

[gracenprayers]

@saycomasry Right???? At 67” you’d need to lose 30 more lbs to be middle range normal. “Normal” goes all the way down to 120-125 at 67”. If I saw a 5’7” man who weighed 120 lbs, I would not consider him to be at a healthy or normal weight

 

[ambassadorcjk]

@gracenprayers If you just started lifting seriously 7 months ago, muscle mass is not enough to affect BMI

 

[gracenprayers]

@ambassadorcjk I was going from a maintenance phase, so I had muscle mass before, I just needed to get the fat off around it. Tends to accumulate in the belly and love handle area. I’d like to get down, ideally, to about 185 pounds. Then start the process of adding more muscle back.

 

[ambassadorcjk]

@gracenprayers The belly from the beers counts twd your BMI. Give up the beers, lose the belly, and it will
Come down

 

[sanj79]

@ambassadorcjk What?

 

[ambassadorcjk]

@sanj79 It takes a long time
To build muscle mass especially as we get
Older. His bmi isn’t high because of his prior
Muscle mass. It’s high from the beers and bbq

 

[sanj79]

@ambassadorcjk In general yes, but he stated that he’s 6’2, 195 pounds with a 34 inch waist. I’m 5’9 lean and the BMI says I’m overweight. He’s not fat, the BMI is a garbage metric.

 

[ambassadorcjk]

@sanj79 Maybe he meant 34 inches under the belly

 

[sanj79]

@ambassadorcjk Maybe the BMI has been proven to be inaccurate https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215

 

[ambassadorcjk]

@sanj79 Yeah we know. I don’t think it was ever intended to be a health test. It’s just a general
Guideline of how big your frame is in general and doesn’t account for muscle
Or, in my case, breast implants ha

 

[kohajesemen]

@gracenprayers Ignore BMI. It is a flawed metric. Just look at your own weight and strength numbers, and set your own goals.

There’s really no need for a general purpose “health” metric as long as you are making measurable progress in other ways.

 

[iessuman]

@gracenprayers BMI is dumb! Has had me at obese my whole life.

 

[desertsun236]

@gracenprayers BMI is a very outdated metric and borderline useless. Unless it says you’re obese, ignore it. But if you get over 30 there’s probably some weight that needs to go, unless you’re a bodybuilder and loaded with skeletal muscle.