Let's have a conversation about this, because this is a topic that makes me so incredibly angry.
There are several different measurements that we as fitness professionals take when determining someone's level of health. Depending on the trainer, we take your weight, your height, your age. If it's a good trainer they will also take your pulse, blood pressure, skinfold measurements, and circumference of different body parts.
BMI is calculated simply by using your weight, height, and age (wtf?!). That's IT! This metric has literally nothing to do with your actual level of fitness, your body fat percentage, or lean muscle mass! It leads to misinformation about your health and can be incredibly harmful to people like me who suffer from eating disorders or other mental health struggles.
If your BMI is:
Below 18.5: you are considered underweight
18.5-24.9: you are considered to be in the normal range
25-29.9: you are considered overweight
30 or higher: you are considered obese
Because of this, many people are wrongly labeled "overweight" or "obese". I am personally ringing in at a BMI of 31.9! This is because I have a large amount of muscle mass and I am only 6' tall. I have never felt as though I have looked healthier because I am strong and confident in myself, but looking at this number (which I only did for the sake of writing this) made me feel like I am not doing enough to be in shape.
Like me, there are SO many celebrities that fall into the same category of people that are mislabeled as Obese or Overweight because of their amount of muscle vs. fat. I have taken the liberty of compiling a small list of tastefully shirtless pics of these "obese" celebrities. You're welcome.
Hugh Jackman while filming for the X-Men movies was considered Overweight.
Jason Mamoa while filming for Aquaman was so obviously overweight. I mean, come on...
Chris Evans while filming as Captain America was Obese, and no one can convince me otherwise.
Chris Hemsworth while filming Thor is overweight and is just so hard to look at. I can't believe he let his BMI get so high.
Brad Pitt in Troy was working out like an absolute beast and is somehow still Obese. Guess he has a "long way to go" to be considered healthy!
I believe in you, Brad! You've got this!
Zac Efron over here representing the overweight population the best he can. What courage to be shirtless.
As a person that is considered "Obese", I thought I should post a pic of myself as well.
All this to say that BMI is a bullsh*t metric that should die in a fire. This was created as a way for diet companies to make a dime and it makes me so angry. The fact that we as a society have accepted it as a way to truly estimate someone's "health" is incredibly sad to me and I wholeheartedly feel like we need to put an end to normalizing BMI as a valid measurement.
Absolutely feel free to message me if you have questions on this!