BMI – “Body Myth Influencer”

Check out any pro-ana site and you’re sure to see references to BMI or “body mass index” [see chart at right.]  It’s kind of the “hot thing” in measuring one’s “fatness” (my term.) 

In case you’re not familiar with this means of judging health and fitness, the description of BMI goes something like this (courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from a person’s weight and height. BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people and is used to screen for weight categories that may lead to health problems.

Okay, fair enough.  (I especially like the use of the phrase “for most people”… did someone say “CYA”?)

But here’s the problem:  The BMI doesn’t appear to be reliable, it doesn’t seem to work, and it only fuels the fires of anorexics and bulimics who certainly don’t need another number with which to be obsessed.

Consider this:  A woman who is 5′5″ and weighs 110 pounds has a BMI of 18.3.  Now, anything below 18.5 for a woman is considered UNDERWEIGHT.  But, see, the anorexic isn’t disgusted or worried by that.  Instead, she excitedly thinks, “Hey… if 18.3 is underweight, then 17.3 will be MORE underweight.”  Eventually, she’ll just try to go lower, lower, and lower.  It becomes a deadly game. 

Additionally, some people’s BMIs are terribly skewed.  My husband is 6′3″, athletic and lean.  But according to his BMI of 25.5, he’s overweight.  Hardly.  The guy is fit as a fiddle.

See the concern?

Now, I’m not suggesting that the BMI was created to cause problems.  I know that medical science needs to have certain standards by which they can judge patients’ health.  And there IS such a thing as being too large (e.g., obese.) 

Additionally, it’s conceivable that a savvy physician might be able to use a person’s BMI chart to diagnose an ED early enough to get the sufferer treatment before the disorder totally takes hold.  In such a case, keeping track of an individual’s BMI could be considered useful. 

Still, I’m not so sure that the BMI does anything except make people more paranoid and give dieters another number to “beat”. 

What are your thoughts?  For those of you who’ve had or have an eating disorder, do you check your BMI as soon as your weight changes?  Or is it not nearly as important as the number of the scale?