In a viral TikTok video, American athlete Ilona Maher not too long ago took a stand in opposition to physique shaming, shedding gentle on the constraints of the Physique Mass Index (BMI) as a measure of well being.
The U.S. ladies’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 value 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 said, “I do have a BMI of 30. Nicely, 29.3 to be actual.” She additionally defined that roughly 170 kilos of her 200-pound physique weight is lean mass.
The video has already been seen 4.3 million occasions and favored by greater than 629,000 folks. It resonates so deeply due to the issues in utilizing BMI as a well being metric.
What Dietitians Stated About Ilona Maher’s BMI Video
We requested just a few dietitians for his or her reactions to the video—right here’s what they mentioned:
- Joanna Gregg, Registered Dietitian: “I really like that Ilona loves and appreciates her physique for what it will possibly accomplish and never for her BMI or weight on the size. It’s typically simple to lose sight of that as BMI is utilized in healthcare as a determinant of well being. An individual at a wholesome BMI can 100% be much less bodily match than an individual with an obese BMI. Love your physique for what it will possibly don’t for what dimension it’s! Athletes have to coach and gas at a stage that’s unprecedented within the normal inhabitants and we’d like extra robust ladies like Ilona to indicate our youthful inhabitants what’s really essential.”
- Katherine Basbaum, Registered Dietitian: “An ideal real-life illustration of how BMI, like weight and like age, is only a quantity and shouldn’t be used as stand-alone knowledge to guage or establish a person’s well being standing or bodily health. BMI is a software, not a prognosis, and Ilona Meher is an ideal instance of this reality.”
- Stephanie Nelson, MyFitnessPal Lead Diet Scientist & Registered Dietitian: “Ilona was spot-on! BMI doesn’t inform a narrative about an individual’s value 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 will not be an excellent indicator of weight problems for athletes.”
- Daisy Mercer, Registered Dietitian: “I really like her a lot. BMI shouldn’t be the top all be all and it’s typically a poor illustration of somebody’s general well being. It’s extra essential to take a look at the massive image and understand we’re all constructed otherwise and have completely different exercise ranges that BMI can’t account for!”
Dietitians are likely to know the info relating to the usefulness of BMI. Maher mentioned within the video that she mentioned BMI together 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 absolutely all about.
What’s BMI?
BMI is only a math system 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 typically 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, life-style, or particularly value. BMI’s fundamental usefulness is that it corrects for variations in top when assessing weight.”
So, it’s useful when taking a look at massive populations over time to see if weights are rising or lowering on common, whereas correcting for top. However, that doesn’t imply it must 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 essential relating to getting a full image of your well being, in line with Nelson:
- Physique fats share (your physician can measure this at your annual check-up!)
- Waist-to-hip ratio (you possibly can measure these with a tape measure on a month-to-month foundation to gauge modifications)
- General eating regimen high quality (you possibly can higher gauge your consuming patterns by monitoring meals, like with MyFitnessPal)
- Way of life habits (you possibly can concentrate on bettering sleep, rising bodily exercise, and decreasing stress)
- Physiological threat components (like blood glucose, ldl cholesterol, and blood stress)
“Relating to stopping nutrition-related illness, many specialists are likely to care extra about how a lot adipose tissue [or fat] is sitting across the organs for a protracted time frame,” says Nelson. “That’s the visceral or stomach fats some folks 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 essential to think about eating regimen habits as nicely. Are you getting sufficient protein, fiber, fruits, veggies, and entire grains?”
That’s another excuse why monitoring your meals may be very useful. You’ll see the way you stack up when it comes to protein and fiber and have entry to some helpful insights once you use an app like MyFitnessPal. (Obtain the app for FREE in the present day!)
Maher concluded her viral video by talking on to her heckler and reminding us all that she is an elite athlete acting on the largest stage.
It’s a robust reminder that your BMI says nothing about what you’re able to. Relating to understanding your well being, it will possibly by no means be decreased to a single quantity, whether or not it’s BMI or the quantity on the size.
“BMI is just one teeny tiny piece of data and we should always pay attention to its limitations,” says Nelson.
