You Know What Grinds My Gears? The BMI Scale.

Cork · Jan 26, 2010

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704762904575025313433081780.html?mod=yhoofront

I only got 2 paragraphs through the article before I got mad enough to stop reading it. Get the jist of it and then try to not agree with me that BMI is a total waste of time.

These stupid scientists just wasted 9 YEARS on research with a BROKEN measurement. The article basically says that fat people are fat even if they don't weigh a lot. REALLY?!?! I could have told you that in 9 seconds and it took them 9 years!?!?! Wow I am so pised off right now at society and especially the media now who is making a big deal out of it. Like this is some huge fucking discovery... goddamnit. Shit like this just makes me feel like society is taking a nosedive.

mvsf1 · Jan 26, 2010

^^ Some people can't understand having a BMI>30 doesn't mean you are fat. In fact I bet most of us are "overweight" or "obese" regarding that scale.

dilatedmuscle · Jan 26, 2010

lol jokes

tim290280 · Jan 26, 2010

I don't quite understand what has gotten you so annoyed.

The flaws in the BMI have been known since its inception, it is why most practioners also measure your waist and take blood pressure readings when doing a health check. BMI limitations that apply to active/muscular individuals is also known, just that most people don't fit this category.

This study isn't about that, this is about creating the evidential link between levels of obesity and disease regardless of size. By doing so it will actually finally get rid of the BMI as it proves it redundant. I'm not sure if this is linked to the study that shows that body mass is still linked with disease problems in lean individuals or not (being huge is not a great idea).

Skeptic · Jan 26, 2010

BMI isn't really for individual use anyway... it is a good indicator of obesity in populations though.

El Freako · Jan 26, 2010

I'm obese on the BMI scale.

I'm not that fat, just a bit hefty. :bitelip:

MrChewiebitums · Jan 27, 2010

El Freako said:
I'm obese on the BMI scale.

I'm not that fat, just a bit hefty.

i think the term is big boned

Pickle · Jan 27, 2010

El Freako said:
I'm obese on the BMI scale.

I'm not that fat, just a bit hefty.

lol, show me ur abs.

Skeptic · Jan 27, 2010

I'm not fat, I just have a sweet hockey body.

Anabolicus · Jan 27, 2010

We're all fatties!

MuscleMecca Crew

Skeptic · Jan 27, 2010

Anabolicus said:
We're all fatties!

I really am a fatty though :omgwtf:

Cork · Jan 27, 2010

tim290280 said:
I don't quite understand what has gotten you so annoyed.

The flaws in the BMI have been known since its inception, it is why most practioners also measure your waist and take blood pressure readings when doing a health check. BMI limitations that apply to active/muscular individuals is also known, just that most people don't fit this category.

This study isn't about that, this is about creating the evidential link between levels of obesity and disease regardless of size. By doing so it will actually finally get rid of the BMI as it proves it redundant. I'm not sure if this is linked to the study that shows that body mass is still linked with disease problems in lean individuals or not (being huge is not a great idea).

Well like I said, it seems they had this study to figure out that fat people are fat. They should have known that people who are still within BMI guidelines of "healthy" are not neccessarily healthy. Was this to dispute the BMI scale? Maybe I didn't read enough or I misunderstood the goal of the study. I was aggravated because of how much time and money they must have wasted over a 9 year period compiling this data.

dilatedmuscle · Jan 27, 2010

MrChewiebitums said:
i think the term is big boned

Im big boned too.. sometimes i gotta tie it to my thigh.

tim290280 · Jan 27, 2010

Cork said:
Well like I said, it seems they had this study to figure out that fat people are fat. They should have known that people who are still within BMI guidelines of "healthy" are not neccessarily healthy. Was this to dispute the BMI scale? Maybe I didn't read enough or I misunderstood the goal of the study. I was aggravated because of how much time and money they must have wasted over a 9 year period compiling this data.

I think you have a slight misunderstanding of the scientific process and realities of research, from either the way the idiot reporter wrote this or backgrounding. You wouldn't actually spend 9 yrs collating and researching this data. You would collect 9 yrs of data, completely different. Yes it may have also taken you 9yrs to do the study, but I can guaruntee they didn't actually spend much more than a month or two actually doing the research and another couple putting the paper together. So this is more about advancing the understanding of a field rather than spending a heap of time and money doing useless research. There was a gap in the knowlesge that they have filled with this analysis. You can argue over common sense or whatever as to whether that gap needed analysis, but just remember there are plenty of people that are convinced of certain common sense arguments that have been proved false.

Also considering that this is a press release or newspaper reporting of the results I would also doubt that we can draw any real conclusion of the hypothesis tested or goals in mind. I would be more keen to see the original research. My conclusions about the research differed from yours (as outlined in my previous post) and I see this as a good study to sink the BMI, which is strongly supported despite the known flaws. Saying they wasted their time and money ignores the fact that there are large segments of the medical and nutrition industries/communities that strongly adhere to recommendations based on this flawed model. By giving evidence that body fat measures are far more important they take the step towards these groups adopting better measures.

Plus wouldn't it be great if we could walk into a health check-up and not have someone tell us we are overweight by a person who looks like they couldn't run out of sight on a dark night unless they were chasing a donut and their nurse that goes out for a cigarette halfway through the consult?

tim290280 · Jan 27, 2010

dilatedmuscle said:
Im big boned too.. sometimes i gotta tie it to my thigh.

You're either part Australian or lying.

Cork · Jan 27, 2010

Well, regardless of the actual procedure that was used over 9 years, it's still 9 years. And yes you're surely right that this could be used as a nail in the coffin for burying BMI, but do you think it will be?

Ryeland · Jan 27, 2010

tim290280 said:
You would collect 9 yrs of data, completely different. Yes it may have also taken you 9yrs to do the study, but I can guaruntee they didn't actually spend much more than a month or two actually doing the research and another couple putting the paper together.

This is the part of research and science a lot of people miss. Often times the report doesn't take that long to do, neither does the research and data analysis. What takes forever is figuring out how to measure what you are studying, getting the funding to study it, and doing the other things like teaching or reporting that get in your way.

Hypocrisy86 · Jan 27, 2010

BMI = bullshit measurement initiative

Savjav · Jan 28, 2010

tim290280 said:
You're either part Australian or lying.

LOL my aussie brother :rofl3:

PrinceVegeta · Jan 28, 2010

my bmi is 30.6...lolz...im morbedly obese...

You Know What Grinds My Gears? The BMI Scale.

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