BMI is a general guideline that offers a reasonable approximation of body mass at the population level. That it also offers a reasonable estimate on the individual level, when all other factors are taken into account, is a plus.
Medical practitioners aren’t out there widely telling otherwise obese people with missing limbs that they’re a perfectly healthy weight or that all mass is fat.
When you read unverifiable anecdotes about a dumb doctor telling a power lifter that they are obese, don’t take it as gospel. When your doctor tells you that you’re a perfectly healthy weight because you’re missing a leg, even though you don’t exercise, eat like shit, and have a 50 inch / 125 cm waist, that’s when you start asking questions and find a new doctor. Most of them aren’t like that.
Tbf most of experience with doctors of late has been a vitails, weight, and height check, then waiting 30 minutes for a doctor to come ask me my name, ask why I’m here, check the chart, rattle off the same "you oughta"s and leave within the first 5 minutes of meeting the guy. I am the persistent and fortunate one of people I know and actually go to occasionally despite waiting a few months at a time to find one between my two primary care docs (I signed up with two, because wait times is pretty bad).
The only people who hate BMI are fat people, and US health agencies who hate the fact that the rate increasing out of control.
Fastest way to decrease your BMI is to lose a leg. The fastest way to increase it is to lose two.
Not all mass is fat, and not all mass is the same.
BMI is a general guideline that offers a reasonable approximation of body mass at the population level. That it also offers a reasonable estimate on the individual level, when all other factors are taken into account, is a plus.
Medical practitioners aren’t out there widely telling otherwise obese people with missing limbs that they’re a perfectly healthy weight or that all mass is fat.
When you read unverifiable anecdotes about a dumb doctor telling a power lifter that they are obese, don’t take it as gospel. When your doctor tells you that you’re a perfectly healthy weight because you’re missing a leg, even though you don’t exercise, eat like shit, and have a 50 inch / 125 cm waist, that’s when you start asking questions and find a new doctor. Most of them aren’t like that.
Tbf most of experience with doctors of late has been a vitails, weight, and height check, then waiting 30 minutes for a doctor to come ask me my name, ask why I’m here, check the chart, rattle off the same "you oughta"s and leave within the first 5 minutes of meeting the guy. I am the persistent and fortunate one of people I know and actually go to occasionally despite waiting a few months at a time to find one between my two primary care docs (I signed up with two, because wait times is pretty bad).