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Comment by scarface74 | Hacker News Reader

How many of these people are actually "overweight" as far as health and how many are "overweight" according to BMI?

When I was in the best shape of my life from my mid 20s to my mid 30s, working out 12 hours a week (part time fitness instructor and a runner) with a body fat of 12% (measured with calipers) and a 29-30 inch waist, I was according to the BMI calculations 30 pounds overweight. Even now weighing 10 pounds more and I'm considered "obese", I wear a size 30 regular cut pants.

Where exactly am I suppose to lose 40 pounds from? Realistically, I need to lose about 15.

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There are a couple different calculations you can use. Here's a good calculator I found. http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html

It tells me that my correct weight according to BMI is anywhere from 118 to 159. Now, I know if I weight 159lbs, I'd be fat. 118 doesn't seem especially healthy to me either - I'm at my lowest weight ever right now, 128lb, and my clothes are hanging off me like I'm a skeleton. All the other calculations are telling me 134-138 are right for me, which matches my normal weight. I think I'm down right now because I've been weight training and not taking in enough extra calories to gain weight, but if I lose any more weight than this I'm gonna start chugging olive oil or something. No way am I going down to 118.

>Where exactly am I suppose to lose 40 pounds from?

At your best shape you still had 5% lower you could go on your bodyfat, assuming you are male. It can be rather stricking, I used to be 208lbs and didn't feel like I was overweight at all. Got into endurance sport and dropped to as low as 165. (normally hover around 175 now that I'm not hardcore about it) I can look at pictures and see now where it went, but couldn't have imagined it before.

I think a lot of people in America suffer from skewed expectations. The kind of body mass that is healthy is perceived as sickly and unrealistic at this point. Yet it used to be common, or is common in other parts of the world.

I know it's anecdotal, but from NY to FL to TX to CA, I don't find myself commonly walking amongst people who are too fit to throw off BMI.

Yes, applied to large populations it can be a useful measure. Applied to individuals, it's fairly useless.

Caliper measurements are notorious for underestimating actual body fat percentage. If you can afford $50 it's worth getting a DXA scan to accurately measure composition.

True. But they are much better than the body fat instruments that you hold in your hand or the scales that are suppose to measure it.

There are big problems with BMI. Here is just one article on the topic: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265215.php

Another, broader question is this: what are the health impacts of various body compositions?

See also "Medical Myths Doctors Believe":

https://www.amazon.com/Medical-Doctors-Believe-Michael-Ancho...

What's your weight and height?

5" 5 - 185. Like I said. I know I need to lose 10-15 pounds.

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