Rant on

[djm4_lj]

According to the Cancer Research Campaign, a lot of overweight people are 'in denial' about their weight. But then, the idiots are using BMI as a measure, so they can fuck off. That's the last time I'm giving them any money, the scaremongering bastards.

Comments

[booklectica]

I think I saw something about that in the Metro this morning. It pissed me off, too. "Many overweight people have the nerve to believe they might be perfectly healthy and not need to lose weight. We must find them and teach them the error of their ways or they will DIE." Aaargh!

[cyberpunkgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
I've been convinced I'm the only person to think the whole BMI thing is a load of pants!

And the way they write that it sounds like losing weight is as easy as nipping to the shops to buy a paper (I wish!)

Y'know, I don't smoke, I don't really drink that much alcohol or caffeine, I don't do "dangerous" activities, I exercise a moderate amount and I eat well - I think those are more important that a number arrived at through a faulty equation!

[shreena.livejournal.com]

Looking at their BMI things - have they changed it so that the healthy band is 18.5-25 rather than 20-25 or am I just imagining it? I certainly know plenty of people who are at 26-29 who look perfectly healthy so I've always doubted it somewhat.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

18.5 is indeed sometimes quoted as the safe lower limit, but IIRC, the studies that this is based on actually concluded that it was the safe lower limit for athletes, not for the vast majority of the public looking at the CRC website.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

have they changed it so that the healthy band is 18.5-25 rather than 20-25 or am I just imagining it?

Yes, they have, and there was no justification for it - SFAIR it was entirely arbitrary. Ghods only know what possessed them.

I certainly know plenty of people who are at 26-29 who look perfectly healthy

The evidence that a BMI in this range is a problem is not uncontroversial, to say the least.

[shreena.livejournal.com]

I'm still slightly smarting (three years on) from my doctor weighing me, calcuating my BMI as 24 and then telling me that I was grossly overweight and should start skipping lunch. I was too stunned to find an appropriate response. Should have written a letter afterwards but was too busy at the time.

[kineticphoenix.livejournal.com]

That was incredibly irresponsible of your doctor. I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

Yeah. Fuckers

[purplerabbits.livejournal.com]

It sounds like they're just using the prominence of obesity in the news to hype their own agenda.

Re: Yeah. Fuckers

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

What? But that would be mendacious and short-sighted. Surely not!

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

I just hope that's out of the news by tomorrow or I can predict my mother phoning me to say "I told you so" by the time she's been back in the country an hour.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

That annoyed me when I heard it on the Today programme this morning, too. I switched the radio off in the end.

[kyte.livejournal.com]

I hate the BMI.

A chap I work with is actually in the 'normal' band, though nearer the top of it. Thing is, he's a typically framed Chinese guy (i.e. very slight) with not a spare ounce on him. They think he'd be a healthy weight if he lost a stone - he'd be skin and bone.

*grumbles*

[kineticphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yes, BMI is a big load of crap! Also, there are overweight people out there who do eat healthily and get more exercise than their "normal" weight counterparts.

IMO, having healthy habits and maintaining a stable weight, even if it's higher than the doctor's prescribed range, is far more healthy than yo-yo dieting.

Bastards.

[barakta]

Grrr. There is a difference between severely overweight which I think some of the articles are discussing, and BMI. That article was perfectly reasonable until the BMI bits. I was initially hoping this was BBC distort the news *shocker* syndrome, but if that is their own publication then Ugh.

People like my younger sister will read that and start eating even less than they do now. I suspect her BMI isn't as low as she thinks it should be. She's lucky if she eats one meal a day as it is.