Hey team!
love the work you guys do, not just in lifting but the general societal appraoch to health.
I have (another!) question about Waist Circumference and BMI, relating to having lost significant amounts of weight.
For a bit of Background, I’m a 33 year old caucasian male (1.83 m high, 83kg, waist circumference 95cm, so BMI of ~24.8) (6ft, 183lb, 37.4 inches).
As a kid I was a FAT kid, i’d probably say i was obese from the age of about 10 to around 20, reaching around 115kg in my 20s. Through a period of very unhealthy stress I ended up dropping down to about 80kg by the time i was 22, got it all back up into the 110kg in my mid-20s and then since about the age of 30 I have been dropping weight again but in a much healthier way (the good old combo of proper eating and exercise, it works! who’d have thunk it!)
Now I guess my question is around the use of Waist Circumference and BMI together as a measure of health.
As I understand it, waist circumference is useful because it is a PROXY for visceral fat, and it is visceral fat that leads to poor health outcomes. But does its use as a proxy diminish in the case of someone who has gained, lost,gained, lost a lot of weight, and is carrying a fair bit of loose skin around their midsection?
In other words, would the usual recommendation of getting both BMI under 25 and Waist Circumference under 35inches be a little less applicable in this particular circumstance?
I’m coming at this from much more of a general health perspective rather than seeking to ‘gain’ and increase my bodyweight significantly through training/bulking.
Love to hear your thoughts!
Cheers,