BMI accuracy?

Question

I'm a 5'3" female. I thought I was on the lower side of a healthy weight, or even underweight. My friends all joke about how skinny I am and a few of my family members told me to gain weight cause i look anorexic. I decided to weigh myself and look up my BMI. I checked multiple websites and according to all of them, I'm on the heavier side of the healthy range. This sort of confused me cause according to this, I could lose quite a few pounds and still be considered healthy, but when I look at myself, I think if I lost any weight it'd probably be considered un-healthy. I'm a size xs/00 for all my shirts and I range from 0-2 depending on the brand of my jeans. My thighs are pretty much the same thickness as my calves, my upper arms are like the same size as my wrist, and I don't think my stomach could get any flatter. Like, I can already see the outline of my ribs. Unless I cut off my chest and butt, I don't see how I could possibly lose any weight and still be in the healthy range? And it's not like I'm skinny-fat. I work out at least an hour every day and on top of that, I walk an additional 45 minutes or more every day.

Don't worry I'm not paranoid nor do I feel like I need to lose weight because of this. I'm just generally shocked and confused and now questioning the accuracy of the BMI? Also, it doesn't ask if you're male or female and I know men generally have more muscle mass, so I was expecting my BMI to be even lower because of this, but evidently it's not.

◦•●◉✿ plυмdυмplιngѕ ✿◉●•◦ · Answer

BMI is far from the be-all and end-all of determining health. But it can be helpful. Since you chose not to share your age or weight, I would suggest using this BMI calculator https://www.smartbmicalculator.com/ It allows for a few variables and also goes into a lot of detail about what the results mean.

PS If you are under 18 - you need to be looking at a child/teen BMI calculator, not an adult one.

| · Answer

Don't be afraid  to trust to yourself and ... as I noticed from your text "you've already looked inside".
BMI is not even close to accurate!
Your body type has name = "just look at my soul". It is ideal by your explanations, also if your bones are full with minerals, they weight much more than average of the others, so putting some muscles can make better balance and better overall feeling of yours, even BMI would tell you are extreme obese. "Thumb Up".

CantHaveItBothWays · Answer

The BMI is inaccurate for women and gets more inaccurate the shorter one is.  I am a 4'11" woman with a heavy muscle mass due to genetics and a lifetime of physical work.  BMI says I am obese and I would have to lose twenty five pounds to be at the higher end of overweight.  I don't have 25 pounds of fat on me!  I am not about to lose any muscle either.  Medical practitioners are aware of the limits of the BMI charts and can tell an individual if their reading is accurate.

Anonymous · Answer

You don't say what your weight is--that might give a better idea.

Gaia’s Garden · Answer

A healthy BMI is 18.

If you really want to look in a mirror, then look at your clavicle (collarbone). You should be able to see the rounded ends, but not the long bone.

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BMI accuracy?

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