A WOMAN who's classed as borderline “obese” has hit out at the “flawed” BMI system.
Hannah, who is 5ft 10in tall and a regular gymgoer, showed off her impressive washboard abs in a pair of low-slung jeans and cropped top in a video on her TikTok page.
As she did so, she took aim at the Body Mass Indexsystem – a “calculation that uses a person's height and weight to estimate body fat and assess whether their weight is within a healthy range”.
In the clip, she revealed she currently weighs 13st 4lbs (85kg), and is classed as “obeseor overweight on the cusp”.
And Hannah continued to urge people to lose their “really intense emotional connection with the scales” – especially if they work out on a regular basis.
“Right we all know BMI is bulls**t but some of you still have this really intense emotional connection with the scales,” she said.
“So I'm here to remind you that if you lift weight you are not going to weigh a teeny tiny amount.
“If you are tall, you are going to weigh more.”
She added that while her video is just stating the “logical”, people are still telling themselves that they “should be weighing 60/65 kilos” at her height – 9st 4lbs to 10st 2lbs.
“That might be right for you, but that might not be right for you,” Hannah sighed.
People quickly weighed in on Hannah's video, with one writing: “I’m a size 10 uk I’m 5’9 and weigh 12 stone.
“Doctor said 10 stone's my ideal weight.
“The average dress size is 12-14 so I’m like why do I have to be a size 8? I like how I look as a size 10!”
“I hate the BMI scale thing. It always said I was severely underweight,” another added.
“People need to care less about weight. It's the body fat % that tells if you're healthy or not,” a third insisted.
“Ok this makes me feel better,” someone else commented.
“I'm 88kg and 5″11.
“I'm a size 10-12 but I hate weighing myself, I feel like a elephant.”
How do you work out your BMI, and what do the results mean?
THE BMI (Body Mass Index) is a calculation that's made using someone's height and weight.
To work out your BMI, you first need to note your weight in pounds (there are 14 pounds in a stone).
Once you have that, divide the answer by your height in inches (there are 12 inches in a foot).
Then, divide that answer by your height in inches again.
That will give you your BMI.
If you have a BMI of under 18.5, you are “underweight and possibly malnourished”.
If it's between 18.5 to 24.9, you “have a healthy weight range for young and middle-aged adults”.
If it's between 25.0 and 29.9, you're overweight.
And a BMI of over 30 means “you are obese”.
While BMI has long been used as a measurement within the NHS, there have been calls to abolish it for some time now, as it doesn't “take into account muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, and racial and sex differences,” researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania.
“I’m a size 14 on my bottoms!” Hannah replied.
“85 isn’t anything when you’re almost 6ft,” another said.
“Factsssss – bmi can suck it for real!” someone else said.
“Honestly pls invented for the average white male,” Hannah said.
“Boy goodbye!”
“Excellent reminder,” another praised.
However, others insisted that the BMI system was never intended to be used for people who have as much muscle as Hannah.
“I think BMI still works for most people who are sedentary,” one wrote.
“BMI is meant for the modern sedentary lifestyle person,” another added.
“Most people don't work out.”
“Anyone with a health or nutrition education learns that BMI in muscular people is only used as a guide and inaccurate,” a third said.
“BMI is a marker used for clinical diagnosis and in your case it would be ignored.”
