<p>Miami, I agree. Losing the 24 pounds has brought me tremendous relief. I have 4 herniated discs and those extra pounds just seemed to aggravate the heck out of my lower back.</p>
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How did you measure that?</p>
<p>When I was younger, at 5’6" I liked to be 125-135# and worked very hard to be there. As a woman of “a certain age” now if I get below 150# I get worried comments all around looking "too skinny’ which I think means haggard! My face changes and DH says i look older!</p>
<p>I have those larger bones and larger muscles and am athletic looking and not tiny, but not fat.</p>
<p>My point is that for the general population with a high percentage of people can’t point Oklahoma on the US map or name the first US president, simple numbers that are easy to calculate based on simple measurements are OK as general guidelines. Of course they are not even close to perfect, but they make us think about weight and health issues.</p>
<p>It’s definitely individual! I’m very small-boned and have to stay at a weight that might seem low to others – but even 5 lbs shows up immediately. Friends who are bigger boned and more muscular look fabulous at much higher weights, even tho we are similar in height.</p>
<p>speaking of BMI, our city school district has apparently decided that feeding the kids crappy food high in fat isn’t enough, punishing kids for being too loud during class by making them stay in at recess isn’t enough, reassigning kids to schools that mandate a bus instead of walking isn’t enough, but they are going to start having classroom teachers weighing and measuring kids, including calculating their BMI.
[Weighing</a> Third-Graders: Doesn’t the Fat Kid Have Enough to Worry About at School? - Seattle News - The Daily Weekly](<a href=“http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/10/weighing_third-graders_doesnt.php]Weighing”>http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2009/10/weighing_third-graders_doesnt.php)</p>
<p>All I can say is- to what purpose exactly, and are the teachers going to go first?</p>
<p>My kids have never been an oz close to where they could be considered overweight, but kids grow in weight and height at different rates and I think it is cruel to use numbers to hit them over the head with.</p>
<p>Try getting rid of the PE teachers that sit in a chair the entire period for a start.
ok end of rant.</p>
<p>Yes its simple. I never said easy.</p>
<p>BMI is a statistical tool for the population. Its not, repeat, not, for the individual. I am apparently almost morbidly obese, thanks dr. It has nothing to do with ‘elite athletes’ or whatever. Rock climbers would register as undernourished using a BMI system, and linemen would be obese (well, they are).</p>
<p>Lean body mass is one of the finest predictors of overall health and possibly lifespan. Saying “I lost 20 lbs since my new diet” is meaningless. 20 lbs of fat loss? good. 10 lbs of lean tissue loss/10 lbs of fat loss? Wheee…Bodyfat percent is of utmost importance in these matters. # lost is irrelevant without consideration of the type of # lost.</p>
<p>I really hope no one here believes in somatotypes either…</p>
<p>Also, being fit is NOT synonymous with being healthy. Fitness is very specific to your sport. A 330 lb lineman is fit. He isn’t healthy…etc.</p>
<p>My kids had the weigh-ins at their old school. It was done privately. Then parents were mailed the weight and BMI with a graph showing if this weight was considered healthy, overweight, underweight, or obese. One reason they decided to do this in the schools was that studies showed that overweight parents tended to think their overweight children were “a healthy weight.” So, it was meant as a heads-up for those parents who might not be seeing the obvious. Waste of $, imo. </p>
<p>Disclaimer: the following are observations of a skinny person. Get stones ready.
I’ve noticed --over many years of hanging out with moms of young children-- that overweight moms tend to over-feed their kids. “I’m really hungry–aren’t YOU hungry, sweetie?” “How about a little snack, honey–it’s been HOURS. . .” They seem to feed their kids more frequently and feed larger portions than appropriate for the size/age of the child. Maybe there’s an element of “If I’m fat, and you’re fat too, we both must be normal.” Another observation: I live in a neighborhood where everyone is within walking distance of the elementary school. The parents who walk their kids to school are all slim/healthy weight. The overweight parents all drive to school–no matter how short the distance. Coincidence? </p>
<p>The BMI gives a big spread for healthy weight. A 5’7" woman could be anywhere from 118 to 159lbs and be considered “healthy weight.” That doesn’t seem like a narrow window, though there are a few healthy women–both under and over–who don’t fit into it.</p>
<p>If you look at pictures of crowds of people from 50 years ago or more, you will notice very few fat people–and lots of slim people. All the overweight people today don’t have special medical problems. The vast majority of them have 2 things: a surplus of cheap food (already prepared and easily available with a credit card at your local drive-thru or 24-hour grocery) AND a sedentary lifestyle with TV and computers for entertainment. I’ve even noticed a change since the early 80s (when I was in college) among college kids. Gosh, the incoming freshman are already overweight.</p>
<p>I agree with Jolynne, the same weight might be OK for one and not OK for another person of the same height/gender/age. Got to know your own body, your own problems and how to help them. Also, it is imopirtant to enjoy food, activities and not pushing yourself eating food and doing exersizes that you personally dislike. I cannot run, I never could, even in HS. There is plenty of other activities that I like. Find what you enjoy and you will be looking forward doing it, instead of making it another chore.</p>
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<p>OMG, how humilating. I agree that the teacher needs to broadcast his/her BMI.</p>
<p>I also agree about kids and their grow out - grow up - grow out - grow up pattern. There are a few kids we knew in elementary school who were downright chubby and they’re beanpoles in high school…according to their parents they didn’t do a thing but grow taller.</p>
<p>Ok, chubby is one thing-and kids often do grow out of that. But obese is another, and we have a major obesity problem afflicting our population-sadly, a big portion of those are children. </p>
<p>Again, our genes have not changed radically in the last 3 decades, yet genetics and “slow metabolism” are constantly being blamed for our weight problems. Throw out the extremes-the people who stay skinny no matter what they eat and the people who are fat no matter what they do-and look at the rest. What you will find is that lifestyle is driving the obesity “epidemic.” Until we get honest about that, nothing will change. I certainly don’t think schools have any business announcing children’s BMI’s in an effort to shame them into losing weight. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing for parents to be put on notice when their children have passed the chubby line into overweight, just as they would be informed of any other abnormal finding affecting their child’s health.</p>
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<p>I completely agree. Unfortunately, we are constantly being bombarded with weight loss “plans” which completely ignore this fact. Diet is critical to weight managment, but diet alone as a weight loss tool almost always results in loss of lean tissue. This causes an unfortunate cycle of weight loss/weight gain, with each weight gain phase being more extreme than the last.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school does the weighing. It is not done privately. I have told both of my kids that they can politely decline to participate.</p>
<p>On the ‘growing up & slimming down’ thing – at least 5 of my son’s friends were downright chubby all through middle school (son never was). Each & every one slimmed down by soph or jr year of HS, w/a combo of diet & exercise. Although, they continued to eat large amounts of food at my house… :-)</p>
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<p>I think the parents of obese kids know their kids are obese. They don’t need a note home from the school to tell them. They are either at home trying to change their kids’ eating/exercise habits, or they don’t care, but I doubt that a notice from the school would change anyone’s behavior. Son has one friend who was heavy all the way from pre-school through graduaton. The whole family is heavy. And the heavy dad is a doctor. I don’t think a note from the school would change their eating habits.</p>
<p>Public weigh-ins, especially among girls, is known (among athletic coaches at least) as a harmful practice that often triggers eating disorders.</p>
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<p>I think that is a hideous practice. I would tell my kids the same.</p>
<p>It would be fun to have the skinniest kids fill their pockets with rocks for the weigh in.</p>
<p>Loosing 20 pounds for me was not meanningless (whatever it was, fat or meat on my bones). All my health stats improved tremendously and back pain disappeared. Everybody im my family on mothers’ side has died of diabetese. My blood sugar, pressure and cholesterol go down a lot not only with 20 pounds, but with mere 5 pounds loss. I have to admit, I exersize 2 hours every day and I have never stopped even when overweight. Unfortunately, it is not enough for me to feel good, I need to have my weight down also which depends a lot on total calorie intake (at least in my case).</p>
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<p>You’re probably right. I do think that parents might be more receptive if their kids’ doctors would discuss the implications of their obesity with them rather than the school. I read an article somewhere that said that most doctors just don’t want to discuss weight issues with their patients or parents of their patients, so many parents don’t actually know when the weight issue is something in which they need to intervene vs. waiting it out to see if the kid outgrows it. It’s much harder to turn things around once the kid is obese vs. earlier on. I read recently that 18% of American four year olds are obese. Not overweight, but obese. Children are showing up with type II diabetes, which used to be called “adult onset” diabetes. Cardiac surgeons are seeing younger and younger patients. It’s only going to get worse if we don’t make some changes with regard to what we feed our kids and how we allow them to spend their leisure time.</p>