(no subject)
This is interesting. Someone in the BBC decided to take to the streets with scales and test a few random people to see how they fitted in with the body mass index. It's interesting to me because the BMI is a strange measurement in many ways, and the government keep quoting it as a guideline when talking about obesity, yet it's actually a lot more complicated than they make out.
Technically, according to the BMI, I think I am probably obese. I'm definitely overweight, though my weight is going down a bit at the moment. However, when I've had medicals done before for insurance, I've been weighed, measured and prodded and been told that yes I'm healthy and yes I could do with losing a bit of weight, but that I shouldn't get hung up on what the BMI states as a large number of medical professionals don't actually agree with it. A large part of the problem they say is due to weight - using weight as a measurement is a bit of an oddity, yes someone can be heavy from fat clearly, but muscle is actually heavier and that is where the problems come in. The BMI doesn't clarify things like that - it gives you black and white answers that don't make sense.
Some of the comments on that BBC article are sensible, some are a little daft, but it makes interesting reading.
Technically, according to the BMI, I think I am probably obese. I'm definitely overweight, though my weight is going down a bit at the moment. However, when I've had medicals done before for insurance, I've been weighed, measured and prodded and been told that yes I'm healthy and yes I could do with losing a bit of weight, but that I shouldn't get hung up on what the BMI states as a large number of medical professionals don't actually agree with it. A large part of the problem they say is due to weight - using weight as a measurement is a bit of an oddity, yes someone can be heavy from fat clearly, but muscle is actually heavier and that is where the problems come in. The BMI doesn't clarify things like that - it gives you black and white answers that don't make sense.
Some of the comments on that BBC article are sensible, some are a little daft, but it makes interesting reading.