height to weight scale

[overlyverbose]

@down by law

right now i’m sitting at 190 and feel pretty thin. even in high school, when i had my growth spurt, i weighed right at 170, and i was a stick. i have a friend that is a marathon runner, and at 6’-3" weighs about 155, and apparently he’s in the right range, according to the chart. but he’s about the skinniest person i’ve ever seen.

I, too, am a marathon runner. I had to take a break for a few months due to physical therapy, but even when I was going into my sessions, I still did at least 45 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of weight training about 4-5 times a week and 3 times a week, respectively. As a 5’9’’ female weighing in at 185 pounds, this scale indicates that I’m nearly obese; however, my body fat has been measured at 23-24%. I have a fairly large frame and could probably stand to lose a few pounds (maybe 10 - 15, which would be this scale’s high end of "normal), but I’d hardly say I’m in danger of becoming obese.

As has been mentioned before, I this scale is probably more accurate for people who aren’t involved in more extreme sports or even regular vigorous exercise.

[Athena]

@Kiki

I’ve always heard that women that are 5 feet tall should weigh about 100 pounds and you add 5 pounds for every inch you are that’s above 5 feet. According to that I should weight 145 pounds. I don’t think that’s accurate. I’ve seen myself at 145 pounds (3 months after giving birth) and I was a size 10 with a double chin, a fat face and belly rolls. Not ideal IMO. I’m much more comfortable at 120 and size 6!

It’s all how you’re built. I’m 5’6", and my drop dead lowest weight I’d ever want to be (not that I’ve achieved it in years ) is 145. At 145, I wear a size 8, and I look thin but not skinny. I’d still have hips and boobs, a mostly flat stomach, and far from a double chin or fat face. Hell, I think I’d have to get near 190 before I had a double chin (I’ve never gotten above 175, so I’m not sure, but I was far from a double chin at that weight.) As it stands, 155 and size 10 is fine with me, too, but I have 10 pounds to go before I get there!

For what it’s worth, the chart said the highest I should weigh is 144. Sorry, not for me. I like boobs and normal menstrual cycles and muscles.

[taxi78cab]

@Athena

It’s all how you’re built. I’m 5’6", and my drop dead lowest weight I’d ever want to be (not that I’ve achieved it in years ) is 145. At 145, I wear a size 8, and I look thin but not skinny. I’d still have hips and boobs, a mostly flat stomach, and far from a double chin or fat face. <snip>

Thank you! After Kiki’s post, I was feeling HUGE. I’m 5’7" and I fluctuate around 145 lbs. Compared to Kiki at 5’9" and 115 lbs, I’m a giant! Thanks for making me feel normal again.

[Burnt_Sugar]

@Sleel

Body fat is a much better indicator than BMI, but you’ve got to get good measurements. I’ve found from experience that those body fat scales and impedance gadgets are close to worthless for measuring body fat. I’ve lost about 10 kg (22 lbs.) since starting a workout program last year. I’ve lost at least 10 cm (about 3-4 in.) in the waist and have gained noticeable amounts of muscle. The Tanita body fat scale I got last August has registered a change of about 2 percent in body fat; down to 24 percent from 26 percent. No way did I lose only 2 percent and no way am I still at 24 percent body fat. I’m down to mid teens by now. I used another body fat calculator on the net, based on body measurements, and found that I was 6.6 percent, which is also ludicrous.

I ordered calipers recently so I should get a better measurement soon. Too bad I didn’t have them before so I could find out exactly how fat I actually was before I started getting back in shape.

I have a friend (an electrical engineer) who is in a team developing a machine to calculate body fat using some sort of electronic method. Should be pretty useful once it’s released, I would think!

[Coilean]

According to the chart in the OP, I’ve a borderline hieght-wieght relationship (depending on how one measues frame size). FWIW this seems fairly accurate. I do have a bit of belly, love handels, and a pair of chins.

[alice_in_wonderland]

@Kiki

I’ve always heard that women that are 5 feet tall should weigh about 100 pounds and you add 5 pounds for every inch you are that’s above 5 feet. According to that I should weight 145 pounds. I don’t think that’s accurate. I’ve seen myself at 145 pounds (3 months after giving birth) and I was a size 10 with a double chin, a fat face and belly rolls. Not ideal IMO. I’m much more comfortable at 120 and size 6!

Actually, I think it depends how much muscle mass you have. I pretty much fit that add 5 lbs for each inch - 5’8", 140. I wear a size 6 pretty comfortably. At 150 I rocket up to a size 8, but I’m still not flabby, double chinish, belly rolled, etc. I’m assuming I just have more muscle mass (I have a pretty muscular back and butt) than you. Humm, that sounds snarky, and I don’t mean it that way. I been known to box - I’ve got me some pipes.

[Trunk]

@Barbarian

I think the OP’s question need to be modified: Where on the Body-mass-index scale do you fall, and how active are you?

I’m about 5’8" and 142 pounds at the moment, that makes me somwhere between 22 and 23 on the Index. I also cycle for a minimum of 2 hours a week, walk briskly for about an hour, and I usually lift weights for about another 2 hours a week.

If I managed to bulk up to 160 pounds because I hit the gym with more frequency, and I’m walking around with a BMI of 24+, that’s a hell of a lot different than if I pack on 18 pounds of fat on my frame. If I did that, I’d be my dad, who has a developed a massive potbelly in the past decade, but can still run just as fast as I can.

The OP’s question doesn’t have to be modified.

What has to be modified is everyone’s understanding of what BMI means.

If anyone actually decided to follow ultrafilter’s link, instead of just chiming in with their stories, they would have read the following

@Dr. Paprika

What it shows is that high BMIs are correlated to dying from heart disease. That’s it. And the studies include people with high BMIs because they are fat, as well as high BMIs because they are fit or stacked.

There ya go. You show me a million guys who are 6’2" 175 pounds, and a million guys who are 6’2" 205 pounds, and the guys who are 205 are going to have a higher rate of dying from heart disease than the guys who are 175.

Yeah, the 205 guy who is a running, weight-lifting, fitness fiend is unquestionably healthier than the 175 pound couch potato and will probably out live him. That doesn’t dispute what the BMI says in the slightest.