Fatness drive 2013 - update

[Mich the Tester]

Utter nonsense, I'm afraid. Because of the obesity/weight epidemic most people are not at their optimal BMI - that doesn't mean you can ignore the fact.

It's not a good measure of the individual but a fairly good measure for assessing obesity in the general public. There are too many exceptions to use it on an individual without much more information on that individual's circumstances, fitness, work, lifestyle and build. Not just sportspeople who have high BMI, but many builders, fishermen, farmers, firemen, soldiers and so on who have more muscle bulk due to the physical nature of their work. Waist measurement or better, waist to height ratio is more useful for assessing obesity of an individual.

[sasguru]

It's not a good measure of the individual but a fairly good measure for assessing obesity in the general public. There are too many exceptions to use it on an individual without much more information on that individual's circumstances, fitness, work, lifestyle and build. Not just sportspeople who have high BMI, but many builders, fishermen, farmers, firemen, soldiers and so on who have more muscle bulk due to the physical nature of their work. Waist measurement or better, waist to height ratio is more useful for assessing obesity of an individual.

It's true that muscular people have higher BMI - but this is a site for pasty, lardy IT types, whose high BMI shouldn't be ignored.
Another issue is what happens to excessively muscular people when they get older - they tend to still have a high BMI but its not muscle any more.
And that's why BMI has a correlation with increased mortality in general.
The "best" body type to be to maintain your health throughout life is muscular in a lean, wiry way - look at people like Teddy Sheringham and Giggs who can play pro football till they're 40.

[d000hg]

Your legs have grown; I told you before that if you have visible or measurable muscle growth on your legs then you'll have gained at least 2kg of muscle. Don't worry. Weight isn't what counts and BMI is almost irrelevant for the individual as it's designed to measure weith development in populations; measure your waist instead.

Yeah but my tum doesn't appear any different.

I'd love to have one of those machines that actually measures your body rather than just doing height/weight sums for BMI.

[Support Monkey]

Perhaps you should have another look at the advice I gave you on the other thread? Once I decided to drop a weight class I adjusted my diet and training and lost almost two stone.

I doubt I am far wrong when I say I am not your favourite person but I don't want you to die of a heart attack hence I am happy to give you health advice as I actually know a fair amount about it. Swallow your pride and take it.

Or have a read through this, excellent, fitness and training website:

RossTraining

It's the swallowing bit that caused the issue in the first place

[sasguru]

Yeah but my tum doesn't appear any different.

.

It's hard to lose tummy weight in particular but its possible with two things (1) intensive cardio-vascular workouts that make you sweat (2) eat less and better

[Ticktock]

Yeah but my tum doesn't appear any different.

I'd love to have one of those machines that actually measures your body rather than just doing height/weight sums for BMI.

Do you mean something like this?

Scales with Body Fat Sensors

[MyUserName]

Your legs have grown; I told you before that if you have visible or measurable muscle growth on your legs then you'll have gained at least 2kg of muscle. Don't worry. Weight isn't what counts and BMI is almost irrelevant for the individual as it's designed to measure weith development in populations; measure your waist instead.

I disagree here. BMI is not irrelevant, it might not tell the whole story but it is a useful yard stick for most people.

Measuring the waist is problematic due to a variety of reasons:

People are not necessarily genetically disposed to putting weight on at their waist, d00hg mentioned that he is putting weight on at his chest for example. When you lose weight you will lose it in reverse order of putting it on, hence if he put weight on in his chest last that will be where it is lost from first so his waist measurement would not reflect that.

Are you sure that you are tensing and holding your breath in EXACTLY the same way each time you measure EXACTLY the same band across your body? People seem to vary in opinion of exactly where the waist is so someone who wants to have lost weight might end up slightly kidding themselves.

[MyUserName]

It's the swallowing bit that caused the issue in the first place

[d000hg]

Why do you specifically mention sweating Sas, simply as a sign the exercise is high-intensity or something specific? Lots of people talk of sweating off weight but surely that's only water and therefore a fake weight loss.

Why would 30min high-intensity exercise be better than 60min medium intensity?

[Mich the Tester]

Another issue is what happens to excessively muscular people when they get older - they tend to still have a high BMI but its not muscle any more.

What is 'excessively muscular' ? Is it really true that muscular people tend to get fat as they get older? It's perhaps true that people who have the genes to build a lot of muscle will also have a tendency to get fat if they don't exercise, but I also think a lot of people who exercise and play sports seriously into their 30s also go on and exercise a lot in older age, albeit differently. So you see rugby players becoming runners, rowers becoming long distance walkers and cyclists, and all sorts of combinations; it's really down to the individual. I know that having trained 5-6 days a week for most of my life and having the kind of appetite that supports that, I have to keep exercising. My heart chambers are enlarged and I can eat a lot; I can cut back on food or keep on exercising; the second is easier and I think most sportspeople know that. Can't produce statistics for it as I can't spend all day googling; too much work/CUK bulltulipting to be done!