I was listening to CBC this morning on the way to work and they were talking about some survey that showed that something like 45% of men and 35% of women are overweight, and another 10% of both sexes are obese. The hosts of the show were astonished to realize that their BMI put the them both solidly in the overweight area, with the guy bordering on obese. Both of them remarking “But I don’t think of myself as fat, maybe a little pudgy, but not fat.”
by glangille
So how do people justify their weight to themselves? I have a couple theories. People compare themselves to other fat people, and they have the misconception that their body fat is healthy, or at least not too unhealthy.
by a.saliga
People call me skinny all the time. At family functions I’m encouraged to eat more because of my “skinny” status and the chauvinistic idea that unless you eat until you are in pain when in public situations, you aren’t a real man. Women are supposed to eat one course, men are supposed eat until they rupture something.
by bayat
The reason that most people misjudge their fatness is because they judge their body fat levels by the levels of those around them, not by what is considered healthy. Men will compare themselves to that 55% of overweight or obese men and say “Well I’m not as bad as most of them so I’m ok”. No, you are not ok. You are not healthy merely because there are people who are fatter than you.
by Malingering
The recommended body fat percentage for men is 8–14% and for women is 20-25% (BMI 18.5-25 for both). If you exceed that you are overweight and are unhealthy. The ideal body fat is not arbitrarily selected because it sounds like a nice number. It’s based on statistical evidence. People who fall within the ideal range live the longest and have the least health problems. “But you need a certain amount of fat to be healthy!”. Yes, you need 2–5% for men or 12–15% for women. Chances are extremely good that you are well above that minimum.
by Kyle May
I have no illusions about my health and I don’t let people infer that just because I’m not gigantic, I’m inherently healthy. Despite many people saying so, I’m not skinny. Based on online tests, my body fat percentage is about 14% or a BMI of 23.1. That’s the high end of normal.
I’m not happy with where I am and so I’ve restarted an excercise regime that will get me closer to where I want to be. It’s not really hard, you just have to decide to do it and make the time. Not only does it improve your health and your self-image, but the increased endrophines improve your mood and energy as well. As always, I probably won’t maintain this level of activity forever, but 6 years ago I had a bodyfat of 23% and now I’m at 14%. Progress is slow because I’m not dedicated enough, but I’m moving in the right direction and every year I can say with confidence that I’m in the best shape of my life.
BMI Calculator
Body Fat Calculator
UPDATE: Torontoist covering the survey I mentioned. Link.
Actually, the “high end of normal” BMI is 25 (used to be 27 before they arbitrarily changed it few years ago). Just saying
By: Bee on June 19, 2008
at 3:01 pm
Hehe yeah but I’m close… kinda. Although I suppose I’m still 15 pounds short of a BMI of 25. Whatever, I claim artistic license!
I don’t really trust the accuracy of these online calculators. A BMI calculation is pretty straightforward and hard to screw up, but those fat percentage things can’t be super accurate.
By: laconicreply on June 19, 2008
at 3:06 pm
This is a great post.
It is really funny, most guys seriously are so used to that “overstuffed” feeling, that if they don’t get to that they don’t feel satisfied. I really think it’s a habit.
I used to be one of them! But once I stopped doing that, I learned to hate that feeling.
By: McBloggenstein on June 19, 2008
at 5:48 pm
“A BMI calculation is pretty straightforward and hard to screw up”
Actually that “straight fowardness” is exactly why it is very easy to screw up BMI. It just does not account for the large human variety. Height and total weight just do not give an accurate idea of the percentage of body fat.
One of the biggest problems in highlighted in your post. The original BMI scale has no differences set aside for men and women (those that do have been doctored and vary radically), so a 5′ 8″ man and a 5′8 women should have the same weight range but different percentages of body fat? It just does not compute.
BMI also does a terrible job of calculating “healthy” for the short, the tall, the elderly (they will stay the same weight while losing muscle, bone mass and gaining fat), and those who work out frequently.
Trust me, too many of us are carrying around too much weight but we really need to toss BMI out the window and recommend ways to calculate actual body fat percentages.
By: hypatia on August 1, 2009
at 12:59 am
Agreed with comments about the BMI. The BMI was actually created by a sociologist statistician, not a physician. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolphe_Quetelet) It’s a very blunt tool, considering that it only takes into account weight and height. When one considers the weight of muscle vs. adipose tissue, the added weight of a larger frame vs. a smaller frame, breast weight for women, and other factors which may be different from individual to individual, we can see that it’s not even a very useful tool for what it was originally designed.
Bee is also right that the BMI ranges were altered in 1998, making people overweight and obese who had not been so the day before. I personally don’t think that a tool as crude as a BMI calculator is in any way a good indicator of a person’s health, given that every person (or set of identical twins) has unique DNA that causes his or her body to develop differently from every other person in the world.
Some people are very healthy at higher weights than would be recommended by the BMI. I’m not saying this is an excuse for people not to get physical activity or eat cheeseburgers for every meal, because that isn’t “healthy.” But I tend to think that being healthy–living a healthy lifestyle, having your numbers check out well at your semi-annual check-ups, lack of co-morbids–is the most accurate measure that you are at a healthy size.
By: greengeekgirl on August 1, 2009
at 8:56 am