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What's the healthiest bmi?

I always believed that it was generally thought that the 20-25 range are all equally healthy and a few doctors/nutrition experts thought 18.5-25 was ok but you shouldn't try to get below 20 unless you were naturally that slim.

Anyway, today I read this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8035241.stm

which says: "The WCRF recommends that people try to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight. A healthy BMI is defined as between 18.5 and 25........"

That implies we should all be aiming for 18.5?? In which case mayb i should lose a few more pounds!!

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Reply 1

whitepearlbaby

Nah, doesn't matter. The BMI is crap anyway. You're okay as you are.

Reply 2

Slumpy

Overall, scientists estimate that about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented if people ate healthily, were physically active and maintained a healthy weight.

So, I'm definitely physically, active, I'd say eat fairly healthily, and I'd say I'm a healthy weight(I feel very few people who saw me would call me overweight.)
Yet I've got a bmi of 28.

Basically, there isn't one, but being fat isn't good :p:

Reply 3

Smile88egc

You're risk of type 2 diabetes starts to increase at a BMI of around 23. But at the same time, having a BMI of 18.5 for a person with lots of muscle isn't necessarily healthy either.
You certainly shouldn't use the lowest end of the healthy spectrum as your "target".
Go for somewhere in the middle if you're not overly muscly and you'll do just fine :smile:

Reply 4

Ilora-Danon

Smile88egc

Source Please?

Reply 5

*Star*Guitar*

chocolatecheesecake

That implies we should all be aiming for 18.5?? In which case mayb i should lose a few more pounds!!

It's dependant on your height, though. So 18.5 may be healthy for a shorter person, but underweight for a taller person.
I'm 22.4, which is just in the middle of healthy for my height of 5'4".

Reply 6

*Star*Guitar*

The best indicator of your health is using your body fat percentage, anyway.

Reply 7

aeiou81

*Star*Guitar*

It's dependant on your height, though. So 18.5 may be healthy for a shorter person, but underweight for a taller person.
I'm 22.4, which is just in the middle of healthy for my height of 5'4".

No it's not, BMI is calculated using height so 18.5 is healthy regardless of height. All it means is that someone 1.8m tall is going to need to weight more than someone 1.5m tall if they both have a BMI of 18.5.

Reply 8

Nihilist

*Star*Guitar*

It's dependant on your height, though. So 18.5 may be healthy for a shorter person, but underweight for a taller person.
I'm 22.4, which is just in the middle of healthy for my height of 5'4".

I think you might have confused yourself slightly here , BMI is your Weight in Kilograms divided by your Height in Metres squared. So it's a bit of a height : weight ratio. So around 20-25 should suffice as healthy for all heights.

(to OP)
Having said that I don't believe BMI is a very good source.Ideally you should just try to keep an Active/Healthy lifestyle and be happy with how you look instead of worrying too much about number.

Reply 9

chocolatecheesecake

Smile88egc

You certainly shouldn't use the lowest end of the healthy spectrum as your "target".
Go for somewhere in the middle if you're not overly muscly and you'll do just fine :smile:

Yes that’s what I thought, but seems to contradict what the original quote from the WCRF implies:

"The WCRF recommends that people try to be as lean as possible without becoming underweight. A healthy BMI is defined as between 18.5 and 25........"

Thats why I'm confused :confused:

Reply 10

Slumpy

Smile88egc

Uhh, not really possible.

Reply 11

RightSaidJames

chocolatecheesecake

Why are you confused? If you're within the 18.5 - 25 range then you're healthy. That doesn't mean you should aim for 18.5, it means that if you're already within that range just maintain the status quo.

Reply 12

evaki

Maybe they mean that 25 is as lean as possible for some, since more and more people are really overweight and would consider a BMI of 25 to be really lean?

I've always heard that 19 is the underweight border. I really want to get to 19.2 or something :P I'm not that thin now, and I don't think I'd be too thin at 19 either. It all depends on how your built.
Just focus on healthy eating and exercising and not having too much fat covering your body.

Reply 13

Smile88egc

Ilora-Danon

Source Please?

http://www.obesityonline.org/slides/slide01.cfm?q=fat+mass&dpg=5

Slumpy

Uhh, not really possible.

Being muscly and having a bmi of 18.5 is perfectly possible, eg. runners and athletes body composition.
Many of them dont have enough % body fat to have periods and so cant have children. Some would call that unhealthy....

Reply 14

geetar

I've heard 19-24.

Ultimately, though, BMI isn't much use beyond an intitial general measure.

Reply 15

CalicoP

chocolatecheesecake

It probably depends a lot on your natural body shape / build, so 18.5 will be healthy for some people, but not for others?

Reply 16

thenewromance1234

I felt my healthiest when I was at 19, personally.

Reply 17

Slumpy

Smile88egc

http://www.obesityonline.org/slides/slide01.cfm?q=fat+mass&dpg=5

Being muscly and having a bmi of 18.5 is perfectly possible, eg. runners and athletes body composition.
Many of them dont have enough % body fat to have periods and so cant have children. Some would call that unhealthy....

Any appreciable muscle mass would put you fairly over the bmi of 20.
As I recall, most athletes class as overweight/obese, though admittedly I can't remember where I read this.

Reply 18

Satine

Clements-

I felt my healthiest when I was at 19, personally.

This is a sensible answer. It's going to depend on the person and if you feel healthier at, say, 20 than at 18.5 then for goodness' sake stick with 20.