Good day to Barbell Medicine.
I have a question:
I have recently lost 40lbs, down from 220 to 180. My waistline is now 33.5 inches, thus I believe I meet the definition of a healthy sized individual. Additionally a recent physical shows excellent blood work and I have no physical ailments or conditions. My BMI however is in the overweight range, around 27.5 based upon my height. I have no idea about other metrics such as body fat, nor do I particularly pay mind to them as I am relatively lean.
Given the fact I will likely stay around this weight and thus have a BMI that exceeds the normal range, is there any consequences to this?
Should I now be aiming to reduce my weight into the normal BMI range having addressed the other factors?
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Chuck,
Welcome to the forum. Good to see you here.
As you point out, Body Mass Index (BMI) compares weight to height in an effort to identify individuals who are carrying abnormal levels of body fat: either too much (>30) or too little (<18.5). While we feel pretty confident that most people who are above these ranges would likely benefit from an intervention to address their body fat level, the middle is a bit messy.
Specifically, BMI misses about half of individuals who have a normal BMI, but who are in fact carrying too much body fat. In clinical practice, we use a waist circumference to help identify individuals who may be in this range.
In your case specifically, your waist circumference would be instructive to help determine whether further weight loss (nice job BTW) would be likely to benefit you…or not. I’d be using that (waist circumference) as well as the presence of any Adiposity-Based Chronic Diseases (ABCD), such as high blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, or similar to suss out whether further weight reduction is likely to benefit you.
As an example, my BMI is ~ 29, but my waist circumference is ~31” and I have no known ABCD. Therefore, it is unlikely to benefit my health to lose weight from a body fat reduction standpoint.
-Jordan
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