To think it’s possible for child to be overweight BMI but not unhealthy?

[NameChangedOct24]

My DS is age 8 and falls into 95th centile overweight BMI on child growth charts. To me he doesn’t look overweight, is it possible that he is still healthy despite the chart and I’m not deluded….ill try to upload a pic.

I haven't seen the picture, but 98th centile for.BMI is v v high.

You need to aim for 50th centile.BMI.

I know he's your son,.you love him and you probably think he looks perfect. But you need to take the rose tinted glasses off for the sake of his future health and wellbeing and get that weight down a bit.

Also @Babababyy

journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-use-bmi-fetishizes-white-embodiment-and-racializes-fat-phobia/2023-07

This article is quite a nice summary of why BMI is a pretty poor tool.

I don’t imagine how with those numbers you could have been “ridiculously skinny”. I was 5’6” and 6 1/2 stone and even I wasn’t skinny enough to be hospitalised. Your aunt sounds deranged.
Even now I’m under 8 stone and I am very healthy looking.

I have an 8 year old who is in clothes for 11 to 12 year olds. She sees paedetrician for digetsive issues and he is happy with her weight. But she is clearly not over weight, completely flat tummy and you can clearly see her ribs when she is naked. I’ve always read see the ribs is the most accuarate measurement. You say BMI but then talk about centile. What is his centile for height v weight? I believe when weight is large than height that is when there is a problem.

My daughter’s measurements are 32.1 kg and 142 cm.

My DS was weighed and classes as obese at school when he was 5. He was quite chubby/chunky but ate really healthily. He thinned out by about age 10 and now is 15 and skinny. It's a pita getting trousers to fit!

I wouldn’t call that very active for a child. Good but maybe average, children would be doing a doing at least an hour of exercise a day, the martial arts classes will involve a lot of standing and watching.

This isn’t true at all. I had a child born on 98 centile for height, she is now on the 90 centile for height and 75 centile for weight. If she was on the 90 centile for height and only 50% centile for weight then she would be under weight.

You’re getting bmi and centile range mixed up.

Not necessarily. It might not be the healthy weight for that person, but as far as BMI goes it would not raise any alarm bells.

Yes, who cares about massively increasing heart disease and cancer risks.

@Floralsofa at age 8 that's a very unlikely possibility.

You can either decide to tackle it in a way that's healthy and helps him with his relationship with food and his body, or give him a life long eating disorder.

I'm pretty sure children should not be given these letters at school, but you're saying they got letters home AND at school?

If parents are triggered by learning their child's weight may indicate future health problems then they need to address that. Stopping the programme isn't the solution for that.

What is your position in this? How are you learning that some girls have developed unhealthy eating patterns?

There are clearly issues in the way it's being handled in your area, but thinking more broadly, how do you think we should be addressing the obesity crisis? I don't know the answer myself, but I'm curious to know what you think?

It really isn't.

BMI adjusted for age is what is used in England to check children at school.

The racial angle discussed in this journal article about BMI of 30 in adults is irrelevant. It's an ethics article with no medical discussion and no evidence of medical training to understand the links between weight and health. Yes there are lots of communities that value large bodies, including white British communities, evidently, but that doesn't provide protection against type 2 diabetes heart disease, arthritis etc etc

It is a kind of racism to say "these kids are a different race, (or class, in the case of white British working class) therefore we won't give them the same standards of healthcare".

If a medical professional says your kid is over/underweight, why ask an anonymous internet forum of non-experts if they agree?

I'm tall and about 9 stone. I'm slim, not skinny. Thanks.

@PuddingAunt did you read the article?

It's nothing to do with standards of healthcare. BMI is an outdated, racist and sexist tool. It doesn't mean anything about your actual lifestyle or health.

I have a high BMI. I am actively losing weight, but according to my BMI I am basically a sedentary beast.

I walk 10k steps a day, gym 4-5 times a week and ensure I'm eating good, whole foods. Lots of lean protein and veg. Yet according to BMI I'm worse off than the girl in my office who's thin but eats nothing but junk and never moves? Health is a complex picture and one number cannot summarise it well enough.

A child can be very overweight but not have any health problems yet. The emphasis is on YET though. Statistically it is highly likely those health problems will come in time so why put them in that position. Bmi is not a good tool for children but also I do think as a society we do often lose sight of what a healthy size looks like so need something like bmi as a starting point.

Just remember that kids store a lot of weight between the ages of 8-11 (different for all kids but that’s the benchmark) before they hit puberty and shoot up. My DD stored a few extra lb at age 9, shot up just as she turned 10. DS at age 11 stored a lot, shot up as he turned 12. DS is starting to store extra now too, he’s ready for his big growth spurt.

I don't think the OP has mentioned that her son is a professional athlete training daily with a professional coach.

My son was a competitive swimmer training multiple times a week. We got to learn a lot about young people's bodies and their weight etc.. Most young athletes are well within the healthy weight range and before puberty there is no reason for high BMI except it being down to excess fat due to excess calories in the diet.

At 8 years old children cannot lay down the muscle that adult rugby players have which causes their weight to b above average. Nor are they training enough to manage that excess weight. They also are not regularly having other measures (such as heart rate, VO2 max etc..) taken to monitor their fitness and health, like rugby players are.

Yes - BMI is not always a helpful measure for pro athletes, and even some v v athletic kids (high level gymnasts, swimmers, runners and those training over 12 hours a week). But for the average 8 yd old it's v helpful and accurate.

Don’t get wrapped around the axle on BMI. Yes, it’s a misleading tool for a small proportion of the population with very high muscle mass, but it’s not magic - it’s a very simple sum that looks at only height and weight. Higher BMI = more weight for height. All the whys and wherefores are individual, but generally speaking, higher BMI = higher body fat, with all the negative health outcomes associated.

I cant see the picture, but the fact is you have a child with a higher BMI, so you need to be really honest with yourself about diet, activity levels etc, so that you can figure out whether you’re looking at a potential future problem that will cause ill health. The numbers by themselves are the starting point, not the end point.

I'm much more concerned that you posted a picture of your child on the internet for loads of strangers to comment on his weight.

If you're worried, go to your GP.

Why? There is a range of ‘healthy’ BMI scores- a score within the healthy range is, by definition, healthy. If every human body was supposed to be a particular spot on the BMI chart then the model wouldn’t use a range.

My son has always been in the health BMI range but because of medication/disability/chronic illness he has lost and gained weight more than your average child, and seen more doctors and specialists… all of whom have assured us he is fine whether he is the light end or the heavy end of the BMI healthy range. He is bobbing along on 90 something for height and weight at the moment on the centile charts.

You wouldn’t be very overweight by any objective standard; you’d simply not be as slim as you’d like to be!

A healthy weight on BMI charts actually covers a wide spectrum from really slim to a little bit plump.

I am 5'2" and weigh 9 stone. I am overweight, whatever a BMI chart says. I can see it in the mirror and feel it when I move.

@Andthesky no you're not. You're in the middle of a healthy weight.

Your BMI does not tell you that you are a sedentary beast. It tells you, you are overweight. It sounds like you are taking steps to lose weight which is great!

Your BMI does not tell you anything about how your fitness compares to your colleague. It simply lets you know that you are overweight. If your colleague's BMI is within the healthy range, then her weight is in the healthy weight range. That doesn't mean she is healthy. Simply that weight is not a risk factor for her health.
Sounds like she has other factors which might be risk factors for future health probs though.

Weight, and being overweight, is only one risk factor for later poor health. There are many others (smoking, eating highly processed foods, lack of exercise). Weight is highly correlated with many health problems though, so great you r losing weight.

If he is 90th centile for height and 90th centile for weight, then he is probably 50th centile for BMI, which is perfect