A rando on Instagram posted a photo of themselves and said their doctor said they were obese because their BMI was too high. They had six pack abs and worked out a lot. Here’s what I told them…
A high BMI is typically a red flag. But not in your case. Obviously today, we all understand the distinction between muscle and fat. But what people are still wrapping their heads around is the distinction between MEASURING muscle and MEASURING fat.
The BMI was developed at a time when most people lacked education about physical fitness. The assumption is/was for a fixed height, your weight variable is reflected entirely by fat. This is not true generally, nor does it appear to be true in your case. One’s weight is a reflection of SOME muscle and SOME fat. For skinnier ppl with six pack abs like you (she was some random Instagram fitness influencer), your weight is likely more muscle than fat.
Two things to understand:
1. Fat doesn’t do anything, muscle does. It burns fat. Fat which would otherwise clog your arteries.
2. Fat just puts weight on your body, muscle burns fat while stabilizing your body. This means your joints and bones experience less chronic stress load, and will last longer.
NOW…
IF you are sedentary for too long, or
IF you begin to overeat for too long,
…EVENTUALLY the correspondence between high BMI and high fat content will become accurate.
I phrase it this way because if you move less and eat more (instead of moving more and eating less) one of two scenarios will occur:
A. You put on fat going to infinity with no loss in muscle, and eventually the fat accounts for more mass than the muscle. (This will require a miracle.)
B. You lose muscle, and it becomes fat.
What you will see, if either A or B happen is that additional symptoms of obesity (and the degree to which you feel them) will correlate with incremental increases on the BMI scale.
For me, I can tell you as a 5’5” male, I’ve been over 200 pounds since I was 18. At my worst I was 234. I couldn’t run to catch a train. At 216.7 pounds (exactly) I begin to experience knee pain while walking. If I keep my weight below this value, I’m basically fine. Not healthy, not happy, but fine. My BMI is 36 at that weight. I have a ton of acne and energy issues. I feel like crap, but my knees don’t hurt each step I take.
Fast forward to today. I exercise often, and track my calories (unless I'm at Disney). I weigh 207 pounds. My current BMI is just below 34 (33.99).
Yesterday, I let myself go completely. I had an energy crash I didn't like at disney after eating a bunch of high calorie foods and cocktails I really liked. So I dropped to the ground and did 20 push ups, turned to my girl and said “babe lemme get some hand sanitizer.” And we kept going at Epcot for the next 10 hours.
THAT’S the difference.
Getting back to the rando who hates her doctor (Write this down kids.)
As body builder, you have to understand how to adjust the BMI for the body you’ve built.
And unfortunately you can only do this by having (or developing) an intuition of your body. Because the adjustment you’re making requires adjusting an absolute scale — which was designed to homogenize a measure of fat levels in individuals in the general population — to reflect individual differences in baseline obesity ON that scale among the people using it. That adjustment is not simple math. Rather, it's simple math INSPIRED BY the reality of what’s reasonable given your body’s shape, metabolism, and ratio of muscle to fat.
BMI isn’t a measurement of shape, but it is a PROXY for a measurement of shape, by way of measuring weight per unit of surface area.
So. My advice, and I’m not a doctor, I just play one on Instagram threads, FIND YOUR BASELINE. Identify WHEN you feel healthiest. And record your weight, habits, and exercise volume (sets x reps x weight used (ignore for non-weighted exercises)). Compare photos, feelings, abilities, and that exercise or calorie log and eventually you’ll develop an intuition for what your healthy weight is.
HOWEVER, — and I say this for the people who are already in shape, but need reassurance —
IF you have six pack abs, AND they are the result of consistent movement routines,
then the BMI is no longer accurate because the excess weight is from muscle not fat.
This is especially true if the following things apply:
1. You move enough to eat a healthy diet and still be in calorie deficit;
2. You are getting enough vitamin D3 or spend enough time in the sun (see Ricketts disease);
3. Your muscles are lean mass, and not just excess fluid from taking a bunch of creatine, Creatine can help performance, but it is not a substitute for the results of having exercised.
Try to eat mostly protein and fiber. Avoid fat. Don’t overdo carbs. Eat less, move more, and you’ll be fine.
Follow @HopelessRehab and @creativename_sooocreative on Instagram.
And now… 20 push ups
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