Monday, February 16, 2009

I protest

I am learning a lot about myself, more and more each day. Most recently I have learned that I feel better about myself when I am in control of my eating habits but I still like to eat more than I care. Isn't that the craziest thing?
It's the whole idea of the intellect being unable to overpower the emotion. It's like a smoker that knows that every cigarette is going to bring him closer to death but still he cannot stop smoking. Every alcoholic has the same dilemma as does every morbidly obese person.
I am hoping I don't make it to morbidly obese and that I can nip this in the bud before I get there.
Speaking of obese I would like to discuss something which I think (even as a medical professional) is a totally unfair and unjust measurement of weight.
That is the BMI calculator.
For those of you that are unaware of this system please click here for more info.
I think this chart system is way unfair. It makes no distinction between men and women and it makes us all seem obese. I just calculated mine at 24.9, which by the skin of my teeth is a normal weight. 25 is considered overweight. Actually, I haven't weighed myself in two weeks and I am certain after tomorrow I will be closer to obese :(. But lets say you are 5'7". 135 lbs is considered to be an average healthy weight in mid range of normal. Now I must admit I have never weighed in at 135. I skipped right over those numbers from grade school into high school. Seriously, scales in my house don't go that low.
But I think the BMI is a product of society and a bunch of skinny doctors who think that the average size 12 woman is obese. Give me a break. Not everyone is going to weigh 125 lbs and fit into a size 4. That is just not the reality.
I say we ditch the BMI. All in favor, say I!!!

4 comments:

Yedida said...

Aye. The BMI is really unfair. Especially for short women. What's even worse is that insurance companies base their fees on it and charge you more if you BMI is over a certain amount. :( Maybe if we start a petition...

SaraK said...

The BMI is horrible. I am 5'7" and if I got down to 135 I would look anorexic.

She-nerd said...

sarah, you are exaggerating a bit. BMI is a lot more forgiving than the height-weight charts, which is where you're getting that 135 number. You can actually weigh almost 30 pounds more than that and still be within a healthy weight range. You are not obese if your BMI is over 25. You have until a BMI of 30 for that. it's just a system, albeit with its flaws, that is used along with other measures to determine a person's health status. the error is in giving any one measure too much credence, BMI included.

SK said...

Count on the nutritionist to put a damper on my passionate plea.
I know there has to be some kind of system in place it's just sometimes I wish it were more forgiving. It came up at work today also because we calculate medication doses based on weight. Sometimes a very obese person can end up with a very high dose of chemo and its questionable whether to adjust accordingly.