I’ll give you a personal example to show you how weird this stuff can be.
My body seems to metabolize drugs strangely, so I have learned to warn medical staff that after giving me what would seem to be the right dosage, wait longer than usual before determining I might need more. I’ve had a few too many instances of getting too much medication (including pitocin…a torture device at the best of times) because the initial dose didn’t hit until maybe 20-30 minutes after it was supposed to.
And there are cold medications I cannot take at all because I have a rare-but-known negative reaction to one of the ingredients.
Dosages have to be individualized for all sorts of reasons.
But more of a problem; the figures talk about obesity, but I can’t see any actual weights quoted.
I’ve noticed that. You have to accept that BMI is appropriate, and that a certain level of BMI correlates to a certain level of obesity for the data to be useful. None of this quibbling about “Ponderal indices”.
BMI’s chief advantage is that it’s noninvasive and suitable for large scale surveys. Imagine trying to recruit a random sample of the population in every country and weighing them underwater for fat content-- the cost would be prohibitive.
Sorry, not trolling, just being honest. Shows like the Biggest Loser wouldn’t exist, or dieting books wouldn’t be such a big industry if there wasn’t some kind of problem.
You’re right, The Biggest Loser and dieting books are in no way profit-making enterprises that would somehow benefit financially from creating a culture in which statements like “put down the ham sandwich” are not widely acknowledged to be offensive and stigamatizing.
Thanks for clearing that one up for me. When does “The Biggest Loser” air on my local listener-support commercial-free public tv channel, again? And where can I go to pick up my free diet books?
Absolutely true, and I couldn’t agree with you more, but considering that more than half the people in the US are considered overweight, my statement stands. (source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm)
This isn’t “fat shaming” or being a troll, as I regularly stand up for people of all shapes and sizes to be considered beautiful or good looking.
There are health problems related to being overweight, however, hence my statement that was meant more as lighthearted humor than anything else.
Just as long as you recognize that current medical definitions of “overweight” are inexplicably based on an index that doesn’t apply well to individuals and specifically tell people that healthy weight is a weight below the weight that gives maximum longevity according to that index.
If many people are a little “overweight” that means they are healthier than those who are “ideal” weight.
