Trouble in Paradise
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Yeah, that'll work (medical "solution")
Has anyone else seen this article or one like it?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/03/health/obesity-rates-maybe-worse/index.html?hpt=he_c1
Apparently since the BMI number is so arbitrary and not a good measurement of someone's health they're thinking about making a change. And that change is lowering the threshold from 30 to 24 for women and 28 for men for a disagnosis of obesity.
This makes me mad. I hate BMI. Instead of finding something that actually might give people meaningful health information they'd prefer to pick a new random number. Augh. No wonder people are so confused.
Re: Yeah, that'll work (medical "solution")
Continuing on...I can't see how any system could work across the board. I have a low BMI and when we had physicals at work the nurse told me I could gain 5-10 pounds, which is crap. If I gain 5-10 lbs it goes right to my waist, which is not healthy.
It's so individual, but I think Dr's are scared to tell someone they are obese without some sort of system backing them up.
I'd be obese.
This is insane. I'm one of the healthiest people I know. No high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no high sugar, great immune system, can run up the stairs without huffing and puffing...
And I'd be considered obese.
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
My H's BMI now is considered morbidly obese. You've seen him, does he look morbidly obese to you? If they change it, I guess I should just start planning his funeral.
Not.at.all.
Currently Reading: Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Yea. I am considered obese now (5'6", 200 lbs). I have been down to 150 lbs once since I turned 15. I have a few pictures of me from then. All of my friends have said that I look way too skinny in the picture. I have pictures of me at 165lbs. Everyone said I looked so much healthier then. I have a larger frame. I don't look good at lower weights.
They are right though, the BMI chart does need to change.
I understand wanting to change something, but not BMI. People are getting nothing out of being told their BMI. If we changed it to checking other metrics like body fat percentage and lipids or something like that, then you would get a more accurate idea of health, not just size.
And yeah, this would mean that I am 15 pounds away from being obese. I'm 5'6" and 135. I wear a size 6 or below. But, I work out 6 days a week and strength train, so clearly I am too heavy.
The problem here is they said there should be a change because the system is broken, and then they just threw up a new number like it would suddenly make fix the tool.
I'd be one point away from being obese!
I can't stop laughing at that idea.
That would be why you'd need other metrics in there. Like the lipids I mentioned. There would need to be additional bloodwork done. I know people are supposed to be all shapes and sizes, but when you start to stray for what you're made to be (in either direction) there are going to be markers in your medical work ups.
So why are we bothering with the body shape and fat percentages and weight at all? If your blood pressure is fine, circulation is fine, overall health is fine, then why are we trying to find metrics for telling people who feel fine that they're not healthy at all?
Hint: it has nothing to do with health.
Kuus echo here.
You kow your average house cat is supposed to be something like 7-11 lb.
My vet says that if El Gato (my 15+ lb cat) ever got to 7 lb, we'd be doing something suer-de-duper to et her bulked up--she' be dying.
If she were 11 lb...she'd be at her thinnest of her health of her adult cat-life --and probably still underweight for HER frame.She has a high fat percentaage, and some of that is sedentary lifestyle/whatever...and some of that is just HER--how she's built and her genetics.
Why do we have to assign a number for it to be healthy enough?
I think you're focusing too much on fat as part of the metrics I mentioned.
I personally would want to know stuff like that. Maybe I'm weird. I'd want to know my height, weight, body fat percentage, resting heart rate, BMR, blood sugar, etc not because I think any one of those numbers tells me anything, but because I think all of them together mean something. Unfortunately, it's really expensive for me to waltz in to my doctor's office and request that work up, so I only get it when I'm sick... which is not often.
Focusing on your body fat percentage or BMI and calling it the end all be all of health is just as ridiculous as focusing on your resting heart rate and calling that the golden standard. But, it's also absurd to think that those things have nothing to do with health.
You need to look at everything to get the complete picture. Nothing in us works in isolation.
You know what is actually bad for people's health?
Stress.
And you know what is a great way to add stress?
Constantly monitoring your body and looking for something to be wrong. Just f*cking live and be healthy.
I've taken a couple wellness exams through work and the things they check are:
Blood Glucose
Blood Pressure
HDL Cholesterol
Triglycerides
and waist circumference
I think that gives a pretty good picture of overall health and is much more effective than BMI.
Nice. I'm considered obese now...I'm sure on the new BMI scale it will just say 'dead'.
I know I need to lose a lot of weight, but I have low blood pressure, very low cholesterol and hardly ever get sick.
I hate the BMI charts.
On that note, my son is tall and is all muscle (he works out several times a week). His BMI shows him to be overweight. A couple of years ago he became obsessed with trying to lose weight because of that stupid chart. They had talked about it in health class and that's where he found out his BMI. It took a doctor to tell him he was at a healthy weight for his height for him to stop obsessing about it.
I think it's going to backfire and we're going to have more and more kids with eating disorders.
I would also be considered obese and I'm in great health. I work out regularly, eat healthy and take care of myself.
Curiosity and obsession are different things. Am I allowed to be curious? The body is a complex thing, and how we work is interesting.
I don't know exactly how much I weigh, the number I threw out was from my last doctor's appointment 5 months ago. I don't know any of those other numbers either. But, I think that your doctor having a baseline for you and checking against it every few years is probably a good idea.
Wouldn't a record of your normal, taken by a medical professional, be a good way to get an idea of how your body is supposed to be working? You personally, not the numbers that people decide are ideal.
I agree that this is a good way of keeping track of your health. We do a wellness evaluation at work too. Although, one of the things they figure out is BMI. We actually have to get our BMI into a certain range in order to qualify for an insurance break.
Maybe this whole BMI change is being funded by insurance companies.
Definitely this too. You have the people who think, "BMI doesn't mean anything." in one camp and the, "BMI says I'm obese OH MY GOD." people in the other camp.
I just can't wrap my head around healthy people being declared obese because of an arbitrary 6 point drop in a category on an inaccurate measurement. This is going to have serious backlash that they don't seem to have considered.
That being the case, why do you need to lose a lot of weight, or any at all?
Because I know that carrying the extra weight puts me at risk for health issues down the road...especially joint issues. I also get winded too easily.
Part of it is also vanity. I'd like to be able to go into a store and buy something that isn't plus sized.
This part kinda made me laugh: "People aren't being diagnosed [as obese], so they're not being told about their risk of disease or being given instruction on how to improve their health". Shouldn't doctors be telling people about their risk of disease etc. whether they're been officially diagnosed as obese or not? They make it sound like telling a person they're obese is going to suddenly enlighten them on how to be healthy. If a person wants to improve their health they will, regardless of size. If someone is otherwise aware of any health issues they have but doesn't care to change, I don't think labeling them as "obese" is going to magically change their outlook.
Why don't they focus more on the reason why people are obese? Like maybe all the fake crap and additives and sugars that are being injected into our food should be banned?
Maybe fruits and veggies shouldn't cost 5x the amount of a twinkie?
Maybe understanding that Americans need more time away from the office (especially with single/2 parent working households) to properly care for their family to cook a decent meal and not be forced to serve perservative filled foods b/c they are quick/economical and easy?
Oh no, better idea. Let's make more Americans feel like crap about their weight so more eating disorders develop. Great solution.
Yep, I'm considered overweight now too. I work out 5 days a week and eat very well. I have never been in better shape and have never had a pair of size 6's fit better.
What a bunch of crap.