Can it be.....?

snappynappy

Can it be that some people just carry weight differently? Yesterday I calculated my BMI and according to that i am slightly overweight,Yet I guess I dont feel that I really "look" overweight. My problem area is in my midsection, I guess you could call it a muffin top. I checked online to see what my "ideak weight" should be, and honestly i havent been that smal since pre-puberty! I grew, things happened, I stopped playing lacrosse and soccer AND I quit the 5 paper routes I had. When I was young I was told my BMI was rediculously low, too low. I think my gym teacher said it was 3(%). I honestly dont want to be as small as I was then, and i dont think it could feasibly happen becuase my body was so different then. I was a beanpole then, now I actually feel healthy.


So can it be that i just carry weight differently than others?

ninja dog

I think so. Some people have bigger or broader shoulders, etc. despite being on the short side, or narrow shoulders, etc. despite being tall.

Those charts drive me nuts, personally.

snappynappy

ninja dog wrote: »

I think so. Some people have bigger or broader shoulders, etc. despite being on the short side, or narrow shoulders, etc. despite being tall.

Those charts drive me nuts, personally.

I am about average height, but I have boobs, thighs and a butt!

The charts annoy me:angry7::thumbdown:!

gU fuGu

dont worry dude BMI's are completely unreliable. one might say your in perfect weight range but another will say your overweight. they're totally unprecise.

WavyVet

BMI can be inaccurate. Read about "waist to hip ratio." This tells you more about fat distribution versus health risks. They even have online calculators that give you your ratio and interpret it for you. I unfortunately have the worse type of fat distribution--apple shaped, with fat on my stomach--whereas most women are more pear shaped and have more fat on there thighs and butt, which is healthier. People with more weight around their waist are at greater risk of lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes than those with weight around their hips.

I think you have to take all these measurements into consideration, and of course if you have concerns consult a medical professional. But if you feel healthy and are only slightly into the "overweight" BMI, you probably don't have much to worry about.

Mamacurl3

bmi calculators are never accurate, they don't take into consideration muscle mass. for instance, you can have two women who both weigh 140lbs both are 5'5. however one is very active and muscular and the other doesn't workout at all and doesn't have much for muscle tone. If both plug their weight and height into the calculator they both get 23.3. Obviously the bmi for the first woman with more muscle mass would be very different from that of the other who has less muscle mass. kwim?

there are so many considerations like WavyV said. Even waist to hip ratio isn't always a good way to measure health (I'm very active, however have always had a wide waist and narrow hips, so whr results put me really close to a moderate risk group and bmi always puts me on the high end of normal body fat percentage for my age group, which are both poor representations of my health, fitness and accurate bmi). Just goes to show, that yes, everyone is different, built differently and there are lots of factors at play when regarding health and fitness.
Here's a decent test online that gives some good explanations as to why the results may vary
http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html#accurate
this test gave me 17.5% which is probably more accurate than the 23.75% I usually get. I had a physical trainer use a body fat caliper on me years ago when I was in college (and definitely NOT as fit as I am now, what can I say I loved my beer ) and got between 19-20%.
I try not to focus too much on numbers, be it on a calculator, scale, chart etc rather on how I feel.