body mass index

[mmcirvin]

A Washington Post op-ed writer complains about the definition of obesity.

The last time I went to the doctor, after remarking on how skinny I was, she measured my Body Mass Index just for kicks, and was shocked to discover that I'm at the extreme high end of the "normal" range, on the verge of being officially overweight by the charts.

I've been skinnier (and fatter too), and I'll be the first to admit I've got a barely visible spare tire developing around the middle. But it's still pretty weird.

Comments

[swinehund.livejournal.com]

I hear you. I'm typicallly in the overweight range, not quite obese. I could stand to lose some weight (ideally 10 lbs), I could lose even 30 and keep at that weight for maybe a week, as I have done when I was living under very stressful conditions and couldn't afford food (so that's 155, and I am 5'10"). Mind you, I can machine-squat 300lbs, and my friends always like to have me help them move. Yet, I am not an athlete, so I can't really lay claim to that as an "excuse" for my high BMI. I suspect it's a bit worse as a girl, because I think I'm supposed to feel like more of an overall failure if I'm not wearing a size 6 (which I couldn't do unless I broke out the bone saw, even at my most emaciated). I can apprecitate more sensitive measures (which I've also had done, and at 29%, I'm in the high range of normal), like the body fat percentage stuff, but I pretty much just have to ignore the BMI stuff, as there's no way I would be "normal" at 125.

The ironic part is, in a more primitive primate culture, this should all be to my advantage, because I could push people around easily and assert a high social position. Maybe it's payback after countless generations of mass-based social hierarchies.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Bah! I heard that, according to the latest goverment standards, Michael Jordan is overweight. And littledevi had some crazy stories about how she was considered overweight because she had *gasp* muscles in her arm that the device measured and of course it couldn't be muscles but fat.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe she just meant you were phat.

-Andy N

[mezdeathhead.livejournal.com]

i like the fact that at the end of that article, there were ads for losing weight and diet products.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Those ads are placed by some sort of content-sensitive algorithm. It frequently does comical or grotesque things like that.

[sanspoof.livejournal.com]

I'm one-third fat!