BMI Caclulations

I recently had the idea of trying out some of the Body Mass Index calculators. The answers I got were not exactly pleasing. At 6'4 and 240 lbs, I was told by most of these calculators that I was overweight and by another that I was obese. Only one problem with that. My body fat is at 16-17%. Not exactly what I would call obese or even fat. In fact it is pretty average for a 18-30 year old male.

Of course, being in my 40's that is pretty good. And with it improving each week as I work out, I find it difficult to believe that there could be any single index which tells whether a person is overweight.

A great example is my body building friend John, who weighs 210 but is 5' 9". These calculators would have said he was mortally obese. Problem is, his body fat is only about 7%. So what would we tell him? He's overweight? I don't think so and if you did tell him that, I would not want to be in your shoes.

All kidding aside, when using something such as the BMI as a guide, keep in mind that it is just that; A Guide! The best way to tell how healthy you are besides body fat content is your cholesterol. Mine was recently found to be way to high and the first thing I did was change my diet. This is important in any type of measurement. Make sure you eat healthy and exercise. After that the BMI and other indexes won't matter too much to you.