# Is BMI/ideal weight realistic?



## zuludog (Dec 29, 2016)

Well, Christmas is over, and like many people I'll be trying to lose weight in the new year

I weighed myself this morning, and was 92,6 kg which gives me a BMI of 29,2
That is right at the top end of 'overweight', and just scrapes under 'obese', which is >30
Alright, I knew I could do with losing weight, but I didn't expect my BMI to be as high as that

Interestingly though, they gave my healthy weight as 58,6 to 79,5 kg.
Even when I was in my 20s & 30s (66 now) and doing a lot of serious hillwalking & Munro bagging I was still around 77/78 kg. I think for one summer I was 75/76 kg but that was exceptional

So, are these goals realistic?
At the moment I'm aiming for 85 kg which would give me a BMI of 26,8


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## Northerner (Dec 29, 2016)

Chances are when you were doing all your hiking you were carrying much more muscle mass, which is denser. I think BMI is one rather crude factor to consider, but then you need to consider how your general health, appearance and fitness feels for you  Good luck with losing the excess pounds, but I wouldn't worry too much about dropping lower than you feel comfortable with - chances are you will 'settle' at a weight and further losses will be increasingly difficult because they are not 'natural' and healthy for you


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## grovesy (Dec 29, 2016)

Well a few years ago I thought my chances of a BMI under 25 were zero. Well I am not far off, 26.5. Though it has been done slowly over 3 + years.


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## Austin Mini (Dec 29, 2016)

I am under 25 now I dont work anymore. Things in moderation and seven miles a day walking helped me get there. I do feel a lot fitter and no hypos for two years now.


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## AndBreathe (Dec 29, 2016)

zuludog said:


> Well, Christmas is over, and like many people I'll be trying to lose weight in the new year
> 
> I weighed myself this morning, and was 92,6 kg which gives me a BMI of 29,2
> That is right at the top end of 'overweight', and just scrapes under 'obese', which is >30
> ...



The BMI isn't perfect by any means, but for most of us it's not an horrendously bad scale.  My BMI is quite low, skirting the lower end of my healthy range.  These days, there seems to be a growing preference to pay much more attention to our waist measurements - especially where diabetes (particularly T2) is in play.  Keeping our waist measurements to less that half our height isn't a bad rule of thumb.  

Good luck on the proposed trimming up.


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## Matt Cycle (Dec 31, 2016)

I think only you would know if it's realistically achievable but you can try and give it your best shot.  My BMI is 19 and I'm as skinny as owt and have been all my life.  When I was younger people always said 'you'll fill out as you get older'.  Well I'm 48 now and still waiting.   Doesn't bother me though - less weight to lug around on the bike and makes me quicker up hills.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 1, 2017)

I put down some thoughts on the BMI scale myself on a separate post so it might be worth reading the thread over there too. I've only put on about 2.5 kilos over the festive period but I was at the top end of my "Ideal Weight" so I'm now overweight despite having a 32" waist. As I see it, not only is the BMI a very crude metric that takes no account of a number of variables. Firstly, the huge differences in people's natural build. Secondly, the difference between fat and muscle mass, the difference in density and how having different amounts of each tells you much more about your overall fitness. Then there is the matter of who decides what is underweight, ideal, overweight, obese etc. As far as I know there is little scientific basis for where these lines are drawn so they are somewhat arbitrary. As I mentioned on the other thread, there seems to be a government funded fake charity pushing the idea that 80% of us are overweight. Their press releases are parroted verbatum by the Mainstream Media without a single journalist bothering to do any journalism and maybe pointing out that fake charities have a vested interest in creating imaginary problems that they need more government money to solve.


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 1, 2017)

Here is my personal reading taken a few weeks ago from the weighing machine at the health club:

04/12/16
WEIGHT: 11st10lb - 74.5kg.
HEIGHT: 5' 8.5" - 1.74m.
B.M.I. : 24.6
Your ideal weight for a B.M.I. Between 18.5 and 25 is:
8st 11lb to 11st 13lb
56.0kg to 75.6kg

At the time I commented that this would seem to confirm my view that the scale is hopelessly skewed toward trying to convince us all that we are too fat. Although I am now very lean and fit, I am only just scraping in to the ideal category by the skin of my teeth. If I were to put on just 2 kilos I would be classed as overweight Which, to me, seems absurd. So now that I have put on a couple of kilos I am apparently overweight. This isn't much of a concern as I will abstaining from the booze and steadily increasing my exercise levels toward my big event in July.


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## zuludog (Jan 2, 2017)

Thanks for your comments Chris

I am also considering my waist size. Just as an aside, it's interesting and typical of the way that Britain has dealt with the change to the metric system that I am quite happy using kg for weight, indeed I now have  to think hard to relate it to stones & pounds, and cm for my height. but I still use inches for my waist measurements

When I was around 78kg my waist was 34'' but I don't think I'll achieve that again, at least not without a struggle
Gradually I have had to buy 36'', then 38'' waist trousers. At the moment the 38s are absolutely tight on me, and I wear a belt not so much to keep them up but to prevent them bursting. I am not, repeat NOT going to buy 40'' waist trousers!
Especially as I have a cupboard full of 36s waiting for the day; my target is to get comfortably into 36''

Please could you provide a link or reference to your earlier post on BMI?


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## Chris Hobson (Jan 3, 2017)

There you go:https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/thoughts-on-the-body-mass-index.63331/


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