|
Forums >
Off-Topic Discussion >
I hit my weight goal ... so a diet question!
Most of you know that I decided it was time to knock off the extra pounds. I am 61 years old, 5'7" and I started at 225 pounds. Obviously, I was obese, when based on the tables. My goal was to get down to 155. I weigh myself every Thursday and today I woke up to 156 pounds. OK, I still have one more pound to go, but it is close enough. I've come a long way. My BMI is down to 24.43. My blood pressure and sedentary heart rate are great. What I can't figure out is what BMI is based on. I weigh myself, first thing in the morning, before I eat and without clothes. That is obviously my lowest weight. I gain at least two pound every day before evening. If I add regular street clothing, that is another 3-5 pounds. Some weight based tables (rather than BMI) are based on weighing yourself in street clothes. What is BMI based on? I have adjusted my goal and decided that I want to get down to 152. I think I can still get away with four more pounds. I was afraid of looking emaciated. I have modified my diet a bit though. I am now looking to lose just 1 pound a week rather than two. I figure it will be easier to "soft land" at 152 if I don't diet quite as hard for the last month. So what is the answer. Is BMI calculated nude body weight or in street clothes? Mar 14 14 12:03 pm Link I think it was originally done as a weight / volume ratio measured by weighing a person and then going into a water tank to find displacement. Muscle is much denser than fat, it weighs more, but displaces less, that makes a lower BMI. It was first done for athletes and the tables were made from that. Mar 14 14 03:52 pm Link BMI is calculated with no clothes on and with shoes off. It is a guide, and a pretty good one. I went from 250 to 184, getting my BMI to under 24. I kept losing and got down to 177. I found out I didn't feel as good in the 170s so I gained some weight back. If I stay in the high 180s or low 190s, I feel great. Any more or less, I feel out of sorts. Use BMI as a guide, but listen to your body. Congrats on the loss. Have you had your blood tested? My blood numbers went from pre-diabetic-a-heart-attack-waiting-to-happen, to as healthy as a 55 year old can be. Mar 14 14 03:58 pm Link In the end, it doesn't matter which weight you use. BMI isn't a terribly accurate gauge of health. It's more useful as a way to track data for entire populations rather than individuals. More accurately, you should be keeping track of your body fat percentage. Mar 14 14 08:21 pm Link Anastacia Nikolaeva wrote: I'd like to have it tested, but according to the tables, my body fat percentage is about 16.25%. I don't know how accurate the tables are, but even if it is off, it does put me squarely into the healthy range. Mar 14 14 09:18 pm Link Friday Art Photography wrote: I presumed that to be the case. I just wanted to verify it. Friday Art Photography wrote: I hear that one. I am on the fence right now for just that reason. I feel incredibly good right now and I look fine. I want to drop six more pounds to get squarely close to a BMI of 24 so I am not at the fringe. On the other hand, my body, particularly for my age, is telling me that maybe it is enough already. Friday Art Photography wrote: No, I need to but I know some things have changed. My blood pressure was never seriously high but it is now very, very normal. My sedentary heart rate is much lower as well. I also have a lot more energy and don't lose my breath like I used to. Mar 14 14 09:22 pm Link @ GPS Studios Have your blood test (full workup). It's worth it. Really. worth. it. I found out that my cholesterol was on the high side (which really surprised the hell out of me given my usual diet). Also found out that my Vit. D was really low (again really surprised since I'm generally walking around half naked in the AZ sun most of the time). Yep. Get a blood workup. Oh, and a big congrats on attaining your goal. Mar 14 14 09:31 pm Link BMI is not relevant for everyone. People with larger bone structures may find that it does not accurately reflect their overall health levels. When I worked training people at a gym, I had a female client that was considered overweight by BMI standards. She could leg press 500-600 pounds, deadlift more than she physically weighed, and was just a really impressive athlete from the fist few months she trained, though she'd never worked out or considered herself athletic before. Obviously, she had to build up to big lifts over a period of a year, but even when I was training her hard and she was working out 4-5 days per week, her smallest weight was 174 and that was at 5'4 tall. She just wasn't someone for whom BMI or conventional measurements of overall health were applicable. She was incredibly powerful, and had a generally nice, hourglass, body shape with broad shoulders. For some smaller-frame people, BMI will show them as healthy, when they actually store quite a bit of visceral/organ fat, and have higher body fat percentages. For example, my best female friend is only 125 pounds, at 5'1, but has a big belly that comes out over her pants, and a very apple-shaped build. BMI shows her to be healthy, but she's at very high risk of a heart attack. Her dad died of a massive heart attack at 42. Her body fat percentage is obviously quite high, though her weight is not, due to her having a smaller than average bone structure. BMI is a questionable way to measure health/size. Mar 15 14 07:02 am Link GPS Studio Services wrote: What tables? Mar 15 14 08:44 am Link Koryn wrote: BMI is actually not perfect for me. I have a long torso and very short legs. I wear a 27-28 inseam pant for it to be the correct length. Because of my long torso, I actually carry more weight for my height than most. none the less, since ideal is expressed as a range for BMI, I just put myself at the "high ideal" range and presume that it is close for me. I am by no means fat anymore. I am wearing a 31 waist pant these days. A 32 is too loose for me to wear without a tight belt. Mar 15 14 08:59 am Link GPS Studio Services wrote: Anastacia Nikolaeva wrote: I use BMI Calculator for Android. I can't find a link to it on the web though. It has tables for BMI, Body Fat Percentage and Waist to Height ratio. It is a good app. Mar 15 14 09:02 am Link Lohkee wrote: I applied for new health insurance on December 2nd. I think it is finally going through this week. I actually plan on doing just what you are suggesting as soon as I am covered. Mar 15 14 09:04 am Link BMI should be taken with a grain of salt. It is useful when applied to a large population, but not so much for the individual (because of differences others mentioned above). At 6 foot 2 inches and 212 pounds my BMI comes in at 27. That is considered overweight. My waist (34) to height (6'2") ratio puts me at the top of the slender and healthy category. So, which am I to believe? Am I overweight or am I slender and healthy? While I haven't worked out much in the last 5 months (I have a herniated cervical disk and healing nicely, now), I do have a lifetime of being very active and working out. A lot! I'll put myself at reasonably healthy with room for improvement. Don't put much stock in the BMI ... how is your strength, ability to do physical work, proportions for your body type, resting, and recovery, heart rate, and BP? Mar 15 14 10:26 am Link GPS Studio Services wrote: So you are one poop away from it. Mar 15 14 11:15 am Link If you don't already cook, learn - it isn't that hard. That way, you know exactly what you are eating and stick with more healthy meals, avoiding all the extra fat, salt and sugar added to prepared meals. I credit preparing all my own meals with keeping the weight off that I lost almost two years ago (55 pounds). I avoid red meat and fried foods and have added more veggies and fish to my diet. I do eat at a restaurant once a week, but nothing too far removed from what I would prepare at home. Good luck! Mar 16 14 03:17 am Link Koryn wrote: I have a BMI of 35. That's seriously obese. It's kind of depressing really. I would need to lose at least 75-80 pounds just to be barely in the "healthy" ranges (BMI 25). So I never measure anything by BMI... Mar 16 14 05:45 am Link There is a simple little gadget that measures body fat, both my DR and health club uses it. It is of course electronic and takes a fold of skin between two electrodes and reads out in %. Seems that fat conducts electricity differently than the rest of our body. Your DR may have that gadget, mine uses it in my annual exam. Mar 16 14 07:40 am Link GPS Studio Services wrote: OK, it's been 3 months since you hit your target. It's time for an update. Jun 16 14 08:03 am Link Over .... Jun 16 14 06:31 pm Link |
