Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 3,354
- Location
- South North West
It's quite fashionable to have a go at the BMI, but it has an *incredibly* broad range of healthy weight (to cover all frame sizes except maybe Goliath or Tiny Tim), and as far as I'm concerned I'd never dream of letting myself get near the top of the recommended range, let alone beyond it. For a start none of my clothes would fit!
There are very few examples (other than extreme body building, which is at the fringes of human behaviour) where BMI doesn't work pretty well IMO. There's always a queue of folk saying they're "special cases" for one reason or another, but that's to ignore the fact that evolution didn't equip us with superhuman joints and organs capable of sustaining long periods of excessive weight. And social norms have shifted a long way in the last 30+ years (I'm 48 -- no idea how I got there! -- and have seen this in action), so "excessive weight" means a lot more than it used to. After all, we compare ourselves with those around us, not some seemingly abstract charts.
IMO if you want an example of what we're supposed to look like "in the wild" you want to study lean Africa marathon runners designed to chase down Wildebeest for hours, not lardy (if muscular) Rugby League players designed to wrestle other lardy rugby players for a while, then stand around panting.
Still, whatever guidelines people like to use, what matters most is the weight each individual person is content with. I feel most healthy and alive (and free from back pain) when towards the bottom end of my suggested BMI. And as both my younger brothers have had knee surgery I intend to stay in this range as long as I can, even if that means ignoring the 10p Cadbury's Creme Eggs I foolishly bought the other day when bargain-itis struck. However others would feel like they were about to snap in half at my target weight.
Hopefully though, whether we all agree on ideal weight or not, we can all contribute advice which might be useful. And in that vein I will add another couple of tips to the pile.
1) I keep a cheap pack of lard in the freezer (so it won't go off). Whenever my resolve is flagging during lean spells I dig that out and have a good hard look at it. It tends to help focus your mind on what you're trying to dump. And if that doesn't work...
2) Weigh out 14lbs of assorted items*, put them in a rucksack, and wear it for a while. That *really* helps remind you what you're carrying around and why to might be a good idea to lose it.
Andrew McP
*Unless you only need to lose 7, obviously.
There are very few examples (other than extreme body building, which is at the fringes of human behaviour) where BMI doesn't work pretty well IMO. There's always a queue of folk saying they're "special cases" for one reason or another, but that's to ignore the fact that evolution didn't equip us with superhuman joints and organs capable of sustaining long periods of excessive weight. And social norms have shifted a long way in the last 30+ years (I'm 48 -- no idea how I got there! -- and have seen this in action), so "excessive weight" means a lot more than it used to. After all, we compare ourselves with those around us, not some seemingly abstract charts.
IMO if you want an example of what we're supposed to look like "in the wild" you want to study lean Africa marathon runners designed to chase down Wildebeest for hours, not lardy (if muscular) Rugby League players designed to wrestle other lardy rugby players for a while, then stand around panting.
Still, whatever guidelines people like to use, what matters most is the weight each individual person is content with. I feel most healthy and alive (and free from back pain) when towards the bottom end of my suggested BMI. And as both my younger brothers have had knee surgery I intend to stay in this range as long as I can, even if that means ignoring the 10p Cadbury's Creme Eggs I foolishly bought the other day when bargain-itis struck.
However others would feel like they were about to snap in half at my target weight.Hopefully though, whether we all agree on ideal weight or not, we can all contribute advice which might be useful. And in that vein I will add another couple of tips to the pile.
1) I keep a cheap pack of lard in the freezer (so it won't go off). Whenever my resolve is flagging during lean spells I dig that out and have a good hard look at it. It tends to help focus your mind on what you're trying to dump. And if that doesn't work...
2) Weigh out 14lbs of assorted items*, put them in a rucksack, and wear it for a while. That *really* helps remind you what you're carrying around and why to might be a good idea to lose it.
Andrew McP
*Unless you only need to lose 7, obviously.
