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Big T's Catch Of The Day: Let's ban the BMI

BY Tony Miner  on January 2, 2013 @ 11:34 am (Updated: 11:38 am - 1/2/13 )

OK, the holidays are over. Many of us ate and drank too much and packed on some extra pounds. Millions of Americans are starting some kind of diet this week, and after a few short weeks (days?) millions will fail.

If you want to be totally discouraged about how you're doing, calculate your BMI, or Body Mass Index. It'll either depress you, or drive you to anorexia, because I, along with a growing number of people in and out of the medical profession, think the BMI is bogus.

You know what the BMI is. It's that chart the smug nurse in your doctor's office uses when you come in for a checkup. The one that uses your height and weight, and produces a number that tells you whether you're fat or not.

According to the BMI, I'm overweight. The BMI says I should tip the scales somewhere between about 140 and 180 pounds. Are you kidding me? At 6'1", I'd be dead at the lower end of that range.

I'll totally cop to carrying some extra pounds, but I feel good about where I'm at for a 50-something guy. The BMI doesn't take into account a lot of things, including fat vs. muscle, age, and body type. It also doesn't say if you're an otherwise healthy person with healthy habits.

Many say just measuring body fat is a much better indicator of your overall health. I'd go for that. Or how about what they're trying in Britain? Health officials there are targeting men 35-60 years old, and asking them to do a simple test: Can you look down and see your private parts? If your belly is in the way and you can't, then you have a problem. They call this health affliction "blockage."

The BMI was created by a guy in Belgium in the mid 1800's, but maybe it's time we try something a little more accurate and better suited for our time. What do you think?

Tony Miner, KIRO Radio Anchor
Tony Miner is a news anchor and reporter for The Ron & Don Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 3-7). When he's not telling the Puget Sound community about the latest news, you can find "Big T" cruising through the San Juan Islands captaining his boat StarFire.
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Comments (6)


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  • awbitf wrote...
    Agreed.
    January 2, 2013 11:59 am
    BMI is ridiculous, it wants no mass, be it fat or muscle, and it scales way off for tall people.

    I'm 6'6, and BMI "normal" wants me to be at 190. That's what I weighed as a junior in high school at the peak of my growth spurt. It's quite twiggish, and I would say, doesn't look healthy.

    Yes, I too am admittedly overweight, but my target is somewhere around 240, not 190.

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  • Heidi from KY wrote...
    BMI
    January 2, 2013 12:53 pm
    Tony - I watched my mom eat rabbit food for the about the last 10 years of her life. Her arteries would clog, have the roto rooter done, and then eat like a rabbit and two years later would need the roto rooter. I'm in your age frame and in the past couple months I have had a angiogram of the heart and lung test (after about 30 years of smoking). So since everything is ok, even after those years of smoking and not eating right, I survived. I'll be damned if I start drinking green drinks that I watch on Dr. Oz!!
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  • O-town listener wrote...
    BMI is ridiculous..
    January 2, 2013 1:42 pm

    I'll also cop to extra pounds, but at the same time I have a lot of muscle. My BMI is always in the grossly obese range.

    Also, the test is also called the dickeydo test.. Does your belly stick out further than your dickey do?

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  • Stevebo wrote...
    I need to lose weight...
    January 2, 2013 2:00 pm
    That being said, according to the BMI, I'm obese - which couldn't be farther from the truth.

    Much like others, the BMI isn't remotely accurate for a person like myself. My ideal (optimum healthy) weight should be about 200 lbs. Anything under that and I'd look sickly... yet the BMI wants me to be at 170.

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  • Robert_C wrote...
    The Problem is.....
    January 2, 2013 3:24 pm
    Your wonderful health care provider (Obama Care) will in fact use that bogus index to evaluate your health situation and maybe even deny care because of it, careful what you vote for suckers!
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    Yes
    January 3, 2013 7:35 am
    The BMI is ridiculous. At 6-2, it says I should weigh 170. At 190, I look trim. At 170, I would look emaciated....
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