BMI calculation says I am not overweight when my proportion of body fat puts me under the heading of obese.

The height / weight thing has cheered me. I’m 5’ my waistline is 32 1/2 . I’ll take that ?

X post Tilly

I know that you can be 'slim on the outside, fat on the inside' which can be a problem for health. We are seeing a lot of men in their 30s who exercise and are slim but are having heart attacks, it turns out they have high levels of plaque in their coronary arteries totally unknown to them. This seems to correlate with the adage 'you can't outrun a bad diet'.

Losing midrif flab is very hard post menopause, The trouble with losing weight especially if not really overweight is it usually goes from the face first and people start to look very gaunt.

I was once told I had perfect a BMI measurement by a nurse. (about 5 years ago).
I weighed only 8 stones 4 pounds and everyone said I looked gaunt, old and ill.
Since then I have put another stone on and look much better.
I doubt a nurse would say my BMI was perfect now.
I don’t set a lot of store by it.

I tend to think BMI is a very rough calculation. I clock in as a healthy weight, but I know I have a middle aged roll and could stand to lose 10lb.

It tends not to take into consideration frame size, and muscle density. Someone my weight and height could be very sturdy and muscular, or light framed and carrying body fat.

There is a measurement for body fat using measurements of neck, waist, hips that paints a better picture because it takes into consideration your weight distribution.

Jane is right the bmi rules were arbitrary, but the half waist to height measurenent means i shoukd have a 30" waist, I wish. ! I cant win,

Oh i did mean to mention the tummy....my dh has one too thats why i need to move the buttons

Like you Kate we have been married 52 years and though my dh weighs a little more than then, he still almost fits his Take 6 carnaby st coat, bought in 1966 and keeps trim. If I moved the buttons an inch the coat wouid fit. Its a great coat.
We eat the same, but I am always more careful than him, always have been, we both walk with a group and on our own, his other hobby is sedentary, yet its me with the problem. Quite a big problem, if only i was taller.

Kate1949

It's strange silverlining . My husband has never been overweight. He has always been slim with not an ounce of fat on him. He is the same weight now as when we married 52 years ago. However, he now has a fat tummy. He exercises regularly. Things just change as we age, despite our best efforts I suppose.

Has he lost height at all?
My Mum had osteoporosis and as she lost height through this her tummy stuck out more and more, which really annoyed her!

Mum died at 101, and until the last 18 months had good health although frail.

She was always active, but at 5’3” she was a size 18 - so pleasingly plump.

Almost certainly obese all her latter years doesn’t seem to have made any difference at all.

Yes I've heard that Jane.

Something else I should have mentioned is that even people who appear to have little fat often have internal fat, termed visceral fat around their abdominal organs and this can be very dangerous. It was featured on a tv programme featuring Angela Rippon and Doctor Michael Mosley. Angela appeared to have little body fat and is very active still playing tennis regularly but when measured she had a high level of visceral fat. I believe it is hard to measure visceral fat.

I think the BMI index is outdated as others have pointed out because it doesn’t differentiate between fat and muscle. I think there are scales that measure body fat and these may be more useful than the traditional scales. A more recent measure focuses on the waist and the guideline is your waist should measure no more than half your height. Kate1949 it is inevitable that we lose muscle mass as we age and although your husband’s weight has remained stable it probably consists of more fat and less muscle than it did 52 years ago.

It's strange silverlining . My husband has never been overweight. He has always been slim with not an ounce of fat on him. He is the same weight now as when we married 52 years ago. However, he now has a fat tummy. He exercises regularly. Things just change as we age, despite our best efforts I suppose.

How interesting to be able to have all those tests Monica and find out so much.
I am far too short for my weight and have battled to grow taller ( probably need to gain at least 10") but so far had no success.
Seriously though i think you and kate too with BMi of 22 really don't need to worry too much. As we age our skin gets looser and if i dare say flabbier, Mine feels like jelly. Do check if this is necessary.

Interesting. Thank you. I've long suspected this to be the case. My BMI is currently 22.5 and tells me I am a healthy weight and that I should continue to do what I'm doing. However, I too have rolls of fat around my middle and need lose a bit of weight.