Reasons Why I Hate the BMI Scale
If you search for "BMI" on Google, the first site that pops up is the U.S. National Institute of Health's a BMI (body mass index) calculator. The site reads "Body mass index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women". Except it's not. Body mass index is a simple calculation of height and weight; it has nothing to do with body fat. While one can infer that if someone weighs more, they are carrying more body fat, it's not always the case. The Canadian Diabetes Association describes BMI a bit better. Their website states "BMI is not used for muscle builders, long distance athletes, pregnant women, the elderly or young children. This is because BMI does not take into account whether the weight is carried as muscle or fat, just the number." On a large scale, perhaps BMI can be useful. BMI can show general nationwide trends in body weight and could be useful for statistics. But, BMI loses its usef...