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General discussion

About that BMI and being overweight

Feb 13, 2004 5:34AM PST
Tom Cruise Is Fat?

I think there's no doubt that most Americans could eat a little better and exercise a little more. But I think this whole BMI nonsense is getting to the point where the average American is just gonna ignore a system that draws some absurd conclusions. According to the government, BMI>30 = obese, then Tom Cruise is obese!

Evie Happy

Discussion is locked

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Re:About that BMI and being overweight
Feb 13, 2004 8:26AM PST

jeez! If Tom is fat I wish I looked that good! LOL
BTW, had company todayHappy Pam baked a cake in the new ovenHappy

Glenda

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Woo hoo!
Feb 13, 2004 8:41AM PST

Might not want to mention your new appliances here. Someone might happen along and accuse you of being privileged Wink

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Re:Woo hoo! LOL! I am priveleged:))
Feb 13, 2004 11:28AM PST

I have a SIL with money! hehehe

Glenda

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Are you sure?
Feb 13, 2004 2:03PM PST
"If Tom is fat I wish I looked that good! LOL" - Glenda

Easy solution; Less time in the office!

And BTW, are you really sure you want to look like TC? Although I think Kim Bassinger, Kim Novak (years ago though...), Anita Ekberg (also years ago), Uma Thurman, Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow look very good, I, as a man, wouldn't want to look like them for obvious reasons...
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Actually Charlie.......
Feb 14, 2004 1:08AM PST

I have lost 2 dress sizes:)) How is your weight loss going, Since you last posted about it??

Glenda

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NT Congrats, Glenda! Good for you!
Feb 14, 2004 1:46AM PST
Happy
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Re:NT Congrats, Glenda! Good for you! Thank you, Cindi:))
Feb 14, 2004 2:26AM PST
Happy
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(NT) easy solution? you have complained that such wasn't working for you.
Feb 14, 2004 3:27AM PST
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On second thought ...
Feb 13, 2004 8:45AM PST
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Re: On second thought ... Don't get your hopes up, short-term!
Feb 13, 2004 12:34PM PST

Hi, Evie.

I'm sure they'll get there eventually. But leptin plays a very different role in rodents than in humans -- there were big hopes when leptin was first isolated in mice, but the effects in human cultures were quite different (I don't recall if there were clinical trials then or not -- this was at least five years back).

-- Dave K, Speakeasy Moderator
click here to email semods4@yahoo.com

The opinions expressed above are my own,
and do not necessarily reflect those of CNET!

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Thought this sounded familiar ...
Feb 13, 2004 12:51PM PST

... from a while back. That must be the reason. I only posted this because it is of interest and sorta in line with the original topic. I'm well aware how long it takes for these discoveries to come to fruition and the long odds against them even panning out to the point of development.

Evie Happy

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Not quite nonsense ...
Feb 13, 2004 10:39AM PST

The BMI does have some predictive ability regarding health. The point to BMI measurement is that for most people the BMI is an easy proxy to use instead of body fat analysis. It is imperfect, but certainly is not useless.

Unfortunately, the BMI misses the mark in people who are heavily muscled. I suspect that Mr. Cruise falls into that category. Mr. Bush may also fall into that category, given what I read once-upon-a-time about his exercise regimen.

Men like Cruise are actually something of an aberration. He has to look buffed up for his job. "Real men" of his height and weight usually have considerably less muscle and considerably more fat than he does. Most Americans don't exercise nearly enough to 'fool' the BMI measurements, so for most of us it works OK as a proxy for body fat.

OTOH, the implication that people who do not look 'overweight' do not have weight problems is simply wrong. Our visual perceptions of appropriate weight have been conditioned by living in a culture where the majority of people eat too much and exercise too little. Most Americans weigh too much for optimum health, but we are so used to seeing overweight people that we tend to regard them as the norm.

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Re:Not quite nonsense ...
Feb 13, 2004 1:04PM PST

Hi Bill,

Granted nonsense was probably a bit strong, I guess I'm just a little biased here myself as I have never fit into the BMI mold. I also think that a response to real obesity shouldn't start with the overreaction of labeling anybody even the slightest bit higher than some minimum weight overweight.

Do we know that there is some optimum weight for everyone? Are all people 5'4" tall healthiest at 120 lbs? That's the problem with this that I see because there are many ways and lifestyles that can result in that weight -- low calorie intake, moderate exercise, etc. This is where what looks normal comes in. Maybe it's seeing more larger people so "normal" seems larger, but I don't really think so.

I don't think you can conclude that someone who does not look overweight but is by some arbitrary formula is necessarily any less healthy than someone who weighs the right amount but has to work daily to do so. I guess it's kinda that "last 5 pounds" thing ... I really don't know if a good case can be made that it's healthier to constantly have to watch every morsel and exercise like a fiend just to maintain that ideal weight when one might look and feel a whole lot better just maintaining a slightly higher weight with a healthy lifestyle.

Evie Happy

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While there is no doubt I'm obese by any medical measurment
Feb 13, 2004 1:29PM PST

and even by how I feel, the chart I just saw tonight about BMI is really too much, IMO.

Oh it may be the healthiest. I remember news stories a few years ago that the best way to live as long as possible was to eat barely above the starvation level. They were interviewing some guy that was only eating what he calculate was bare minimum calories not to get sick.

The chart is in an advertising section, so maybe is exaggerated? Supposely to guage your risk for diabetes, with the lowest risk being a MBI under 25.

The ideal that a 6 foot 3 inch person should weigh less than 200 pounds may be their best guess for to lower your risk for diabetes. But very few outside of the naturally slim will ever meet that strict a standards even in excellent health. I believe the 6 foot person was 183 pounds or less. That's pretty slendar for a 6 foot man. Some are naturally that slim, some of us would be miserable and suffer daily to meet that guide.

I know I need to loose lots of weight and excercise more. But even when I was roller skating 2 to 3 hours for 4 or more nights a week, jogging 2 miles 3 to 5 days a week, and lifting weights 4 days or more a week, I was at or above 225 at 6 feet and half inch. No one looking at me believed it but I was.

Maybe I can live to be a 100+ if I live on a 1200 calories a day the rest of my life. But maybe it would only seem like 200 years in denial.

roger

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My best weight, acheived for awhile, was about 180. At that weight,
Feb 13, 2004 1:55PM PST

I was lean and mean even though I'm only 5' 10". My shoulders are well developed, so 180 was about as low as I should go. Wish I was still there!

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My hubby is your height ...
Feb 14, 2004 1:15AM PST

... and looks great between 190 and 200. When we remet he was at 175-180 -- the result of throwing up from an ulcer and stress from messy divorce. We have a pic from then on our fridge. When friends who never saw him like that see the photo and ask if he was anorexic or something!

Now I put 180 into this BMI calculator for 5'10" and it comes out 25.8 -- overweight. Now granted he could lose about 30 lbs right now, but that would put him at 200 = BMI of 28.7 or edging towards obese.

I simply cannot imagine him weighing 170 = BMI of 24.4 = high normal range.

Evie Happy

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I'm with Evie here that people have a natural weight of their own, BMI or otherwise ...
Feb 14, 2004 3:51AM PST

My friend, also of 5'10" coincidentally, once dropped to 168 lbs and looked drawn, pale and gaunt, and it was clear to me that this was not a healthy weight (this weight loss because of dieting rather than any illness or other stress). He was much fitter and better at 180. The BMI IMO should only be used as an indicator and how one looks and feels is a much better indication of a person's proper weight.

I have the reverse problem of trying to put weight on, which I find equally as difficult, but we won't go into that.

Regards,
Mo

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I'ld be glad to give you some of mine.
Feb 14, 2004 7:05AM PST

Anything to help?Happy

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Re:I'ld be glad to give you some of mine.
Feb 14, 2004 8:38AM PST

Yeah! I'll tell you which bits I need most, and please forward to the following address.... Wink

Regards
Mo