What's in a Number?

BMI is often used as the standard to measure people's health, especially in relation to weight.  Weight is almost an insignificant number in comparison to the emphasis placed on BMI.  Sometimes people even forget what BMI actually is:  BMI is the ratio of a person's weight to his/her height.  BMI does not specifically measure the amount fat that is on a person's body, even though I have seen it described that way in various places.

BMI was created to help the medical field get a perspective on someone's health, however, in my opinion, there is currently entirely too much emphasis placed on BMI.  After all, it's only a number.  BMI ignores several factors that are important to determining one's overall health status.  BMI in no way determines body composition (the ratio of fat to muscle), BMI doesn't take frame size into factor meaning all heights aren't created equal.  The best example of this would be the BMI of a body builder which could easily fall into the category of obese.  This would happen because the added weight of the muscle would throw off the weight to height ratio and give the false indication of obesity.

So what is my solution to this problem, you ask?  My solution is to look at the overall quality of a person's health. This includes:

• Diet--not only what the person eats but the quality of the food being consumed
• Exercise--does the person exercise on a regular basis, how is his/her cardiovascular endurance
• Waist to hip ratio--think apple versus pear shaped.  Apple shapes have been associated with adverse health problems. 
• Lab tests--what are your overall cholesterol and triglyceride levels and ratios?

When you don't consider these things you can end up with several falsehoods.  A new term that is often discussed is "skinny-fat"  meaning that someone has a normal BMI but could have elevated blood lipid levels and blood pressure, essentially because they don't take care of themselves.  Just the opposite is possible as well and I will use myself as an example.  When using BMI as a standard of my health, I am obese.  However, I do not suffer any of the diseases often associated with an elevated BMI: my blood pressure is lower than the recommended level, I have no issues with my blood levels, and I have a decent cardiovascular endurance.  I eat a wholesome diet with little to no processed foods.

Overall, my goal is to lose weight, yes, but not so that my BMI can conform but to be the healthiest me I can be.  I know that added weight can place additional strain on my joints and my heart and lungs.  However, the way the weight comes off is equally as important as actually taking it off.  Calories are the ultimate deciding factor in weight loss, but are those coming from wholesome, unprocessed foods or junk foods?  In my opinion, the argument goes back to overall health, not a number--if we put the correct things into our body we will get outstanding results.