So my body mass index is 17.5, which the online calculator tells me is "underweight." (I am 5'5" and 105 pounds, female and 48 years old).

To be honest, I have dropped a few pounds due to stress- yeah, I'm feeling it... the first thing to go is my appetite. Just don't feel like eating much- but what I am eating is clean and raw, for the most part. And I am (robotically) keeping up my activity and workouts, though maybe not as intense; they seem to help mitigate the anxiety/depression.

But my question is what relevance really does the BMI system have in terms of overall health? Is being "underweight" a big deal?

BTW, my body fat is around 14%, according to my fancy-pants scale, which now is probably linked to the fact that the veins in my arms, especially, are prominent and kind of, well, unattractive. Like a roadmap.

So, I may drop more weight before I get my mojo back and am able to turn this around. Anybody else been through this sort of thing?

Sounds like to me your borderline anorexic with those BMI numbers BFL. You want to increase your sweet fruit calories each day and ensure proper hydration. That way you have enough carbs and water so you can sleep/train and ensure your digestion gets stronger vs weaker.

Is BMI relevant? :

Understand that its normal for an athletes body to flucuate 10-15% over the year. So if your an elite athlete and have a BMI of 17.5 for a month or so, thats no big deal as long as you are setting PB's at that weight vs not performing well.

If your not an elite athlete with a BMI of 17.5 then it sounds more like an anorexia/failure to thrive situation. You risk losing your hair, sex drive, well being, digestion capacity, teeth etc. Not a good place to be. Start blending up ripe bananas/dates and having large meals of these for breakfast, lunch and dinner and youll be soon on the right road to health and fitness.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2010 02:14AM by durianrider.

Last spring I got down to 178, thin for me, after a long depressing winter, and then hurt my back doing gardening work of all things. I wasn't really hungry either and felt like I could simply pick any weight, and wondered what 175 would feel like (BMI 22.5), and possibly burned through a little lean muscle mass without getting much of any hunger signal. Summer came and I went back to my usual habits and weight of 190.

The other day out for a short jog I noticed an old tree stump partially grown over at a narrow trail entrance, about 8" high and perfect for catching a pedal or as a trip. I stopped, gave it a kick and decided it might come out with a few more kicks and pulls. It did and the stump was used as a pick to fill in the bucket sized hole. I feel stronger at a BMI of 23.

I always liked the insurance tables. They break it down into small, medium and large frame size, fully dressed in one inch heals, ha, a classic.

Durian, thanks for the info, and advice. I am certainly not at my "personal best" at the moment-- but I'm not sure whether it's more of a "failure to thrive" (i.e. depression) situation, or the fact that I've lost several pounds recently. Oh, I know there is a huge mind/body connection. And when this turns around (as all things do), I am sure I will be back in the pink and feeling stronger.

Um. Can't do the bananas and dates combo though--- way too sweet for me!

loeve, I understand your story very much. It is a curious thing to think about going with the flow and just drifting down in weight because the desire just isn't there. But, like you illustrated, you did feel stronger with a higher BMI.

It should probably happen naturally; life is rough sometimes. It just is.

Buddhistforlife,

My BMI was around 16 a couple of years ago after transitioning for a couple of years. I am 5'7" and about 110 lbs now but was as low as 103 lbs then. I am 56 yrs old and feel better than I ever have in my life.

Richard Blackman The Fruitarian One used to say he looked like "a stick insect on crack" while he transitioned to raw. Some of my friends and family surely believed I was anorexic, even I had to do a reality check myself once or twice.


But I too had and still have stress in my life though I try and manage it as best as I can. The bottom line for me though is skinny or not, I can't go back to SAD, I'd rather be on the thin side than the sick, tired, pain and angst filled person I was before discovering the benefits of LFRV.

The BMI is mathematicly wrong. For a body that maintains the same proportions, the weight grows by the cube of the height (height x height x height). The BMI, using the square of the height (height x height) basicly says that short people should be stockier than tall people.

I did a study where I gathered the height and weight of many tennis players, runners, gymnasts, high jumpers, pole vaulters, .... and women featured in Playboy. They all followed the cube law and not the dumb BMI.

What I came up with is this: weight x 10,000 divided by height x height x height, with weight in pounds and height in inches, should be between 3.7 and 4.7 with women being generally lower. You're at 3.8, a very good weight. There was a cluster of men and women at about 4.3, which I concider ideal for me.

The index numbers are unimportant. What's important is to be strong enough to do the things you want; and also light enough (no excess fat).

i think you need to deal with your stress and depression what ever it is that is causeing you this

without dealing with these things and yo-yo-ing weight loss and gain you may find your self deep into an eating disorder at some point

robotically doing anything, isnt doing it for fun or pleasure

being underweight is a big deal when it starts to attack your musculature system including your most important muscle , your heart

wishing you wellness

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Thank you for all the replies-- yes, this was a general BMI question, but peeling back the layers reveals a deeper, maybe emotional/mental issue that I'm struggling with at the moment. And, for me, the body/mind connection is inseparable.

Sunberry, I agree- raw, living foods are so important; I can't imagine changing how I eat. SAD food doesn't even register as food to me. At all.

Jodi, I agree that performing anything "robotically" is not ideal. But there is that theory that, even if one doesn't feel like doing something active, once the body is set in motion, the inertia is broken and physiology takes over, releasing dopamine, and other psychologically beneficial hormones and chemicals. Yoga kind of works in this way-- a feedback loop between the brain and body.

So....... out I go for a bike ride, into the sunshine. And it does seem to help, even if my mind is not happy about it.. at first. I want to keep a routine.

I also understand that there are issues to be careful about.

Understood.

Good point, Brome.

buddhistforlife, do not let erroneous calculators dictate how you should feel, let your own body decide.


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