As a society we are very much concerned with our weight and appearance. A common measure still used today to determine whether one is an acceptable weight is the calculation of BMI (Body mass index). BMI is simply ones weight (in kg’s) divided by their height (in meters) squared. Unfortunately there are limitations with this old measure of study.
1. BMI does not take into account muscle mass and fat mass as separate measures. It simply sums up your entire weight. Therefore a person who contains 7% body fat and has a large amount of muscle could be considered morbidly obese when they calculate their BMI.
2. BMI tells no information of fat distribution. As the measure is still used as a health indicator this is a dilemma.
3. BMI does not account for ethnicity, frame size, or bone density

Along side the health limitations are the psychological effects of hearing one is “overweight” or “morbidly obese”. These may indeed have a positive effect kick starting an individual into wanting to begin and adhere to a training program. They may also have a negative effect for someone with lower self-esteem. Karen Harding – a blogger of fat acceptance has put together a slide show showing different people with their BMI ratings. Please take a look at the link and view the slide show (clicking on the I to see the information) to see a visual of the variation in this common method of measure.

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