to think that I'm not overweight?

[CaraDeanna]

Went to midwife the other day. Was told my BMI is 25.3 and I'm overweight... I've NEVER felt overweight. I am fit, I ran a marathon last year in 3 hours, I walk an hour every day, go to the gym regularly, am a size 10, but my midwife is sure I am overweight based purely on my BMI. Is it really that accurate? AIBU to completely ignore this? Never felt fat in my life and am feeling pretty awful!

Honestly, just learn to roll your eyes. It’s the begging of being told ridiculous things by a large number of people

Exactly as AnnieAnoni says. I would add usually by people who actually know less than you - even though its their fucking job

(sorry for swearing. it just reminded me! )

@PenguinCompany life is better if you swear.

Are you doing a lot of exercise that would build muscle bulk? The long distance/marathon running won’t explain it. That tends to be associated with lower BMI rather than higher.

I wouldn't give it a second thought. BMI is purely weight for height and gives no indication of body composition. Health professionals should use it as part of a wider assessment not as an absolute. Your midwife filled in the boxes she was meant to but clearly lacked the understanding/interpretation part. Poor judgement on he part, doesn't mean you're over weight at all.

@RafaIsTheKingOfClay I am a runner and have large thighs and a big bum because of this combined with weight training. I don't solely run marathons and do a lot of sprinting in my athletics club also as I enjoy it. Not as good at short distance but definitely have the thighs of a short distance runner!

Don’t worry about it at all. You sound in great shape. You’re overweight according to bmi, but as others have said it’s not a very reliable measurement of health.

Fwiw I have a similar bmi to you and nobody ever mentioned it in either of my pregnancies. The surgeon who delivered my second at the end of January remarked twice to me how “nice and slim” I was (I’m definitely not)!

I'd like to look back on them and not see this written there, especially if it is inaccurate!

They don't give em back. I asked for mine and they wanted £50 admin fee.

@GymBot mine are online so I just click 'print'

25 is healthy so I wouldn't care about 25.3.

Although, 5’7 and 75 kg - you must be packing some massive guns to be that weight and a size 10!

Love girls that lift.

I wondered if that was the case. You can probably ignore it then.

The midwife wasn’t exactly wrong. BMI is far more likely to give false reassurance for someone in the normal category than incorrectly label someone as overweight when they are just muscular. It’s something ridiculous like 1% of the general population that will have enough muscle to make BMI alone not relevant for them.

@Furano my weight is all on my legs and bum and I have BIG shoulders. Skinny arms believe it or not! I'm a funny shape...

I take the point about 25.3 though. That’s a ridiculous place to draw a line and bother writing it in the notes.

I’m a bit overweight when I’m a size 10 as I’m only 4’ 9” but anyone else shouldn’t be. As others have said, it’s your muscle.

They can become obsessed with weights and measures. I overheard at 8 months gone that DS was ‘too small’ and called them out on it. At my height and my DH being barely 5’ 7” he was never going to be a 10-pounder. 5 lb 9 oz was plenty big enough for me!

Well they do, sort of, that is why there is a broad range range of healthy weight for any given height.

It doesn’t take your personal build into account is the point.

That’s not the only reason anyway - it’s because there’s quite wide range of weight an individual of any build could be and still be healthy.

In other words, I'd ignore the shit out of it.

Absolutely agree with everyone else. Women what lift are fucking epic, and even 'epic-er' for running a marathon in just over 3hrs.

I'm losing weight, down to a BMI of 23 so far, and soon intending to recomp to a more muscly version of me, which I know will mean weight gain and the matching higher BMI.

In comparison, I still have a BF% which is too high (25.5%), my best ever 5k run was 34 mins. I cannot run any further. Yet my BMI (23) and weight (73kg) are lower than yours despite being taller, but because I carry too much fat I am still in size 12 clothing.

It's all relative to a number of factors.

Ignore the nurse.

Ignore her. Most international rugby players are technically categorized as obese according to their BMI measurements.

Because of muscle mass, BMI is a ballpark figure that is good for the general population that are not elite sports stars.

We all generally know when are carrying extra timber, but at the same time I wouldn't be comparing myself to these types of comparisons.

Thanks all! I'm going for a run!

It's not inaccurate. It's stating a fact, that given the parameters of the NHS guidelines for Body Mass Index, your BMI, at 25.3, is 0.3 over the cut off for healthy BMI and puts you in the 'overweight' category.

My bmi at my first booking app was 24 so I was fine. However it's now higher than that so if I have another baby it'll probably get mentioned. Just checked and it's 28 now.

I'm at happy at being 28 considering it used to be 41.1.

I also got to keep my notes.

It's not inaccurate. It's stating a fact, that given the parameters of the NHS guidelines for Body Mass Index, your BMI, at 25.3, is 0.3 over the cut off for healthy BMI and puts you in the 'overweight' category.

However accurate, it means nothing. My blood pressure is on the high end of normal, I have too much belly fat (which is linked to heart disease etc), but my BMI is only 23 so the NHS will consider me fine.

BMI scoring is fundamentally flawed when HCPs don't look beyond that score.

Don't even get me started on using BMI on a pregnant woman. Seriously? So many pregnant women gain a few lbs during pregnancy, yet this HCP feels the need to point out the OP is 0.3 above the top end?

BMI 25.3 is technically overweight. NHS is driven by figures. Computer says yes, so you are.

I'm a 5ft1 size 10 and my BMI is 21-22. You're not going to be overweight in anything but BMI terms. Which is, as others have said, a very, very blunt instrument.

My dh is muscular (ex-athlete) and has a BMI of 29. He is a little heavier than ideal, but you would never, ever look at him and think 'he's almost obese'.

I'm also a runner, a swimmer and cyclist, as well as weight training.

I'm 5'6" with a body fat percentage of 25, so bordering between normal and fit.

I have extremely low blood pressure and a low resting heart rate due to my fitness.

But because I'm muscular I weight 81kg which makes my BMI bordering on obese, so according to my GP none of the aforementioned matters and I need to "lose weight", he even threatened to stop my contraceptive pill

NHS by numbers, it's ridiculous.