Nonmedical things you can do to fight coronavirus

[lurker]

Just done my bmi 26.1 overweight, so thats a load of pineapples.

Pete

I thought you were looking a bit porky last time I saw you :shock: :wink:

 

[thetyreman]

improving diet, more fruit and veg...oh wait there's none on the shelves

 

[Rorschach]

But the issue isn't carbs or this or that, it's overeating. Mike has it right. If you can't "empty" the body of easily accessible fuel from time to time one way or another, you'll suffer consequences from it.

Yes you are quite correct there, it doesn't matter what you eat if you are eating too much of it. What you eat though does depend on your activity level and how your body decides to use the fuel it is given.

 

[Geoff_S]

improving diet, more fruit and veg...oh wait there's none on the shelves

Our local suburban greengrocer has his shelves loaded with fruit & veg. Everyone has to take their turn, they are served one at a time, socially distanced or whatever it's called. He wears gloves and has hand cleaner as well. He says there is plenty of fruit & veg available, helped by the fact that he cannot supply all his restaurant customers at the moment because they are closed.

Mind you, he also has a big sign out front telling people not to touch the goods. Still didn't stop one of the muppets squeezing the fruit to see how ripe it was.

The same seems to apply with our local butcher as well.

 

[That would work]

You cannot know your bmi by just weighing yourself.
Mass index. It's a number that describes the ratio between fat and muscle.
Therefore you could be weighing 12 stone of fat or 12 stone of muscle.
Scales don't know the difference.
I'm often surprised that doctors make immediate relationships between pure weight and b.m.i.

 

[MikeG.]

You cannot know your bmi by just weighing yourself.......

Correct. You have to know your height as well.

The rest of what you said is logical, but not correct. The BMI is a defined index, a ratio of weight to height (squared). You have pointed out its flaws, certainly, but that doesn't mean you can erase them by unilaterally redefining BMI. A better ratio is waist measurement to height. You should aim to have a waist measurement of about half your height. Nobody has excess muscle bulk at the waist, so this is a much better guide than BMI as to whether or not you are carrying an excess of fat.

 

[D_W]

This isn't my area of expertise, but yes on the BMI's flaws, but it's a simple statistic that requires some know-how to use it. Since it's height/mass based, kids look "thinner" by statistic than they are (body fat % comparison, whatever).

There are lots of other associated statistics (female hip to waist ratio comes to mind, at one point at least thought to be a better predictor of morbidity and mortality than even body composition).

Too complicated for preliminary work like this, though, unless someone finds an "invincible" class and then can show that it repeats itself as such after it's been found.

At first glance, the weight statistics looked more convincing, but subsequent pulling of the distribution of weight makes them seem like a risk factor but not an emergency one. Remembering my road biking days, though, with or without coronavirus, I can't think of a good reason not to go back in that direction. I was working ungodly hours back then, so I don't remember "feeling better", i just remember being tired from working all the time. But now I'm just as tired without working as much (mid 40s).

 

[Phlebas]

If I might add something.

BMI is from the 1850s I think. It is for mass studies, not individuals.

It has the benefit of being easy to calculate, but, as MikeG says, there are other measures that are more useful in individual applications.

Measuring your body fat, for example. But that involves time. And pincers, apparently.

 

[That would work]

You cannot know your bmi by just weighing yourself.......

Correct. You have to know your height as well.

The rest of what you said is logical, but not correct. The BMI is a defined index, a ratio of weight to height (squared). You have pointed out its flaws, certainly, but that doesn't mean you can erase them by unilaterally redefining BMI. A better ratio is waist measurement to height. You should aim to have a waist measurement of about half your height. Nobody has excess muscle bulk at the waist, so this is a much better guide than BMI as to whether or not you are carrying an excess of fat.

Hair splitting apart.
An individual could have a "high" bmi
But a healthy fat percentage. That's the point.

 

[MikeG.]

It's not hair splitting. Everything you have said about BMI is correct. It is a very blunt instrument. However it is what it is, and it doesn't claim to be a measurement of body fat percentage, which is what you are talking about.

 

[lurker]

just calculated my BMI
I either need to lose weight...............or grow 12 inches