In a viral TikTok video, American athlete Ilona Maher lately took a stand towards physique shaming, shedding mild on the constraints of the Physique Mass Index (BMI) as a measure of well being.
The U.S. girls’s rugby participant delivered a robust response to a social media commenter who made a disparaging comment referencing Maher’s BMI. The controversy started when the commenter guessed that Maher’s BMI was “30%.” (It’s price noting that BMI is not measured in percentages.)
It reignited the dialog about whether or not BMI numbers do extra hurt than good.
In her video, Maher acknowledged, “I do have a BMI of 30. Nicely, 29.3 to be precise.” She additionally defined that roughly 170 kilos of her 200-pound physique weight is lean mass.
The video has already been considered 4.3 million occasions and appreciated by greater than 629,000 individuals. It resonates so deeply due to the issues in utilizing BMI as a well being metric.
What Dietitians Mentioned About Ilona Maher’s BMI Video
We requested a couple of dietitians for his or her reactions to the video—right here’s what they mentioned:
- Stephanie Nelson, MyFitnessPal Lead Vitamin Scientist & Registered Dietitian: “Ilona was spot-on! BMI doesn’t inform a narrative about an individual’s price or what they will do, a lot much less inform a narrative about how wholesome their physique is.”
- Brookell White, Registered Dietitian: “Yep, you heard her proper! BMI is calculated utilizing somebody’s top and weight. As a result of it’s solely utilizing these two measures, it doesn’t account for muscle mass or physique fats share and subsequently is probably not a very good indicator of weight problems for athletes.”
- Daisy Mercer, Registered Dietitian: “I like her a lot. BMI just isn’t the top all be all and it’s usually a poor illustration of somebody’s total well being. It’s extra necessary to take a look at the massive image and understand we’re all constructed otherwise and have totally different exercise ranges that BMI can’t account for!”
Dietitians are likely to know the details with regards to the usefulness of BMI. Maher mentioned within the video that she mentioned BMI along with her personal dietitian, together with particulars about what the quantity means and its usefulness.
However in case you aren’t totally satisfied, let’s dive a bit deeper into what BMI is admittedly all about.
What’s BMI?
BMI is only a math formulation that divides an individual’s weight in kilograms by the sq. of their top in meters. It was initially developed within the nineteenth century by a statistician to take a look at weight knowledge on a inhabitants—not particular person—stage.
Whereas it has since been adopted by the World Well being Group (WHO) to categorise people into classes like underweight, wholesome weight, obese, and overweight, its usefulness has been extensively debated.
Athletes like Maher usually fall into the obese or overweight classes of the BMI, because of their spectacular muscle mass. A key downside with BMI is that it fails to distinguish muscle from fats.
“BMI is only a comparability of top to weight, nothing extra,” Nelson says. “It doesn’t take note of how a lot muscle an individual has, and by itself, it doesn’t say something about well being, way of life, or particularly price. BMI’s principal usefulness is that it corrects for variations in top when assessing weight.”
So, it’s useful when taking a look at giant populations over time to see if weights are rising or reducing on common, whereas correcting for top. However, that doesn’t imply it ought to be utilized on the person stage
What Ought to You Focus On As a substitute?
Quite than relying completely on BMI, take note of different indicators of well being and health. For athletes, efficiency metrics particular to their sport and place are essential.
For most individuals, the next components are extra necessary with regards to getting a full image of your well being, in response to Nelson:
- Physique fats share (your physician can measure this at your annual check-up!)
- Waist-to-hip ratio (you’ll be able to measure these with a tape measure on a month-to-month foundation to gauge adjustments)
- General weight loss plan high quality (you’ll be able to higher gauge your consuming patterns by monitoring meals, like with MyFitnessPal)
- Way of life habits (you’ll be able to give attention to bettering sleep, rising bodily exercise, and decreasing stress)
- Physiological threat components (like blood glucose, ldl cholesterol, and blood stress)
“In relation to stopping nutrition-related illness, many consultants are likely to care extra about how a lot adipose tissue [or fat] is sitting across the organs for an extended time period,” says Nelson. “That’s the visceral or belly fats some individuals carry round their midsection.
“Different markers to take a look at embody share of physique fats and waist-to-hip ratio,” says Nelson. “However it’s additionally necessary to think about weight loss plan habits as properly. Are you getting sufficient protein, fiber, fruits, veggies, and entire grains?”
That’s one more reason why monitoring your meals might be very useful. You’ll see the way you stack up by way of protein and fiber and have entry to some helpful insights if you use an app like MyFitnessPal. (Obtain the app for FREE immediately!)
Maher concluded her viral video by talking on to her heckler and reminding us all that she is an elite athlete acting on the most important stage.
It’s a robust reminder that your BMI says nothing about what you’re able to. In relation to understanding your well being, it may well by no means be diminished to a single quantity, whether or not it’s BMI or the quantity on the dimensions.
“BMI is just one teeny tiny piece of data and we should always concentrate on its limitations,” says Nelson.
