Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with BMI

My mystifying metabolism, defying all logic

egeanin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:35:58 -0800

Over the last 4 weeks, I've changed both my eating habits and my exercise habits pretty drastically. Yet I'm still at the exact same weight and body fat percentage. Why? At 150 lbs, 5'6, I'm about 20 pounds heavier than I'd like to be. Although I have a healthy BMI, my body fat percentage is stuck around 28%. Having done a ton of research, I set out to lose those 20 pounds four weeks ago by the following methods, and am completely flummoxed as to why there's been no change.

This is what I have done, FAITHFULLY, for 4 weeks:
--45 minutes of cardio, 3 days a week (hard enough to sweat)
--45 minutes of pilates/strength training, 1 or 2 days a week, hard enough to be sore for 2 days following each session
--Cut out most carbs, except berries, occasional whole grains and 1 glass red wine a day
--Restricted my diet to 1800 calories a day. Very strict about this, using measuring cups.
--Keeping a food diary and an exercise diary
--Seeing a personal trainer once a week (with whom I do my strength training)
--Never eating fast food, junk, ice cream, etc (I never did anyway.)
--Drinking 8 glasses of water a day, no matter what

And can you believe it, I've lost NO weight. Not even water weight. My body fat percentage has also not dropped. I HAVE lost some inches, in that I can fit into my clothes somewhat better-- but believe me, it's nothing spectacular. I've gone from a size 10 to an 8-- barely. But that's the only difference.

To put it in perspective, my boyfriend has just done the low carb part with me, and he's lost ten pounds in the last month. Without having gone to the gym once or counted calories.

What am I doing wrong? I don't want to cut my calories too far below 1800 or I know I won't be able to keep it up for long. This is a lifestyle change, not a get-thin-quick plan. But I want to at least see some numeric change after a month's worth of work.

Having calculated my basal metabolic rate, 1800 was supposed to yield a steady drop of 1-2 pounds a week. I know muscle weighs more than fat, but the fact that my bodyfat percentage has remained the same, has me discounting that. I have been very, very good about counting the calories.

Please help! I feel so discouraged. I'm proud of myself for being so disciplined, but this is getting ridiculous. Thanks for any advice or anecdotes about your own weight loss experiences.

Picking a healthy weight after extreme weight loss

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:08:16 -0800

How do I know if I'm at a healthy weight, given some complications? Background: I'm a woman in my mid-30s. I'm about 5'5. Due to chronic illness, I gained a huge amount of weight in my 20s. About 6 years ago, I weighed 235 lbs. Over the course of a year, I lost about 50 lbs through moderate exercise and a pretty restrictive (but safe) diet. I then went on to have two children, the second by C-section. In the past year, through weight training, increased activity and breastfeeding, I dropped to 160 lbs. For three months, my weight has fluctuated from 158 to 162, from week to week, in spite of me eating 1600-1800 calories while breastfeeding a toddler 2-3 times a day and exercising a fair amount, including weight training.

Recently, a close friend took me aside and said that she did not think I needed to continue dieting. This friend is a doctor. She said she is concerned that I have become dysmorphic.

I pointed out that my BMI is a bit more than 26 and that my waist is 33" and that all the online calculators say I still have a lot of body fat and a poor hip/waist ratio. I noted that I also have a small frame and that I thought it was reasonable to drop to 135 lbs.

My friend, who is a doctor, said that she feels I am dysmorphic because I have been dieting. She also said that she does not think I understand what two children, a C-section, and extreme weight loss would make my stomach look like. She said that she thinks my stomach fat is not fat but instead excess skin. She also said that I have extremely muscular legs and that I should consider that I'm still breastfeeding and have a 34J bust. She said that I may also have increased bone density from carrying extra weight for several years. For these reasons, she feels my BMI and waist measurement are not "right".

My personal trainer said before that I have legs that most of her clients would have worked years to get -- if at all. She said there is not an ounce of fat on them. I am now into size 6 pants, although I have a serious muffin top. And I'm in a 34J bra, so I'm pretty trim around the chest.

My friend, the doctor, said that continued dieting could have long term implications for my health and that she doesn't think it's a good idea. She said my body will probably hang on to 10 or 15 lbs till I stop breastfeeding and that she thus thinks I'm already at a healthy weight. My personal trainer has said before that most of her clients hang on to 10 or 15 lbs till they stop breastfeeding.

Is there some way to tell if all this is true? I would have thought I should be aiming for 135 lbs. I will go see my own doctor, but I suspect she's either going to think about the BMI and measurements or else she's going to agree with my doctor friend, since she isn't a specialist in weight loss.

Is there any standard for figuring out if your BMI and waist measurement are thrown off by a history of obesity? Thanks.

XM instead of ASCAP fees?

BrodieShadeTree — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:49:38 -0800

Can a radio service such as XM or Sirius replace the need to pay ASCAP/BMI fees for a business waiting room? Simply put, does the use of a pay service like XM or sirius relieve a business of their ASCAP/BMI obligation? I am told that Muzak, specifically does alleviate the fees as they are 'rolled in' to the service model.

If you're an obese man successful on the dating scene, what are your tips and advice?

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 09:23:27 -0800

If you're an obese man who's been successful in the dating scene, please give me some tips and advice. As always, there's Having come off a bad relationship and a stressful time with a considerably larger physique, I find myself entering upon the dating scene as a morbidly obese guy — this being a new experience for me. (Not that my body was Adonisesque the first time around, mind you — I was more the tall and gangly type.)

I am feeling a little bit awkward and, despite being able to carry on a good conversation and having good listening skills, I am feeling as though (no offense to potential answerers) this obesity makes me an extremely unattractive partner to women, despite the fact that my diverse interests, conversational skills, etc. served me well in that regard in the past.

Obviously, though, this isn't the case — women evidently do fall for and like larger men. So, as suggested, I wanted to put the question to the overweight Mefite men who don't have problems actively dating women ...

Psychologically ... how do you do it? How did you convince yourself that your ... well, not to put it too nicely, but how did you convince yourself that that big ol' potbelly doesn't matter when you found the need to approach a girl for the first time? Unlike before, I find myself paralyzed by a voice harshly critical of my physique at the moment of truth which freezes up most of my "normal" ability to interact with women if a romantic element isn't involved. (And I unfortunately can't "fool" myself into engaging "friend-mode".) I can't have been the only fat guy to deal with this; how do you?

Fashion-wise ... having formerly dressed for a more thin physique, I'm at a loss as to what fashions and style flatter an obese man. My business casual garb also serves as my "nice event" garb, and I have a feeling it's probably not as flattering as other things might be: single-color polo shirt and black Dockers slacks. How do you dress to be comfortable yet impressive (or, failing that, uncomfortable yet impressive)?

And, by all means, if you have any tips or advice unrelated to the questions above, by all means, I would very much desire to hear them and learn from them. Also, if it matters in terms of a generational sense, I'm in my late twenties.

Getting Used to Dating and Sex with a Changed Physique

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 15:02:32 -0800

I have a question to ask of heterosexual women on Metafilter: are you as shallow as I am? Do you find overweight men attractive? I'm a few years out of college in my late twenties with a BMI of 45. I'm not Brad Pitt or George Clooney, but I'm tall; I have a friendly, open, and expressive face; I'm well-read and can hold my end of a convo down pretty well; and I have a decent job that's not a huge moneymaker (no doctor be I) but puts me on the low to middlin' end of "comfortable."

I know I need to get back down to "normal." I'm working on it now, and I do think I'll get there. But I did enough damage to myself (read: gained enough weight) that it's not going to be an instantaneous process (read: probably a good year or two), and frankly, I have no desire to be a monk in the meantime. But I'm finding that some preconceptions and a weird sense of body dysmorphia are dealing a rather severe blow to my confidence. I've not been on the dating scene in a good number of years: my last girl and I didn't break up due to my weight, but the last time I was dating, I was 'normal', and this time, I'm on the scene with a physique that has gone to pot more than a tad.

I wish to God that I could divorce physical attributes from my sexual attraction to someone. Right now, I can't seem to do that, and, as such, I find women who are equally as overweight as I am to be unattractive, and I have no interest at all in them as other than friends, as much as I'd like to be gallant enough to do so. Now, to clarify, I'm not saddled with an unrealistic attraction to stick-thin Paris Hiltons — I am attracted to utterly normal women (frankly, most of y'all out there look pretty damn hawt to me), and I do find attractive women who are curvy or who lean a bit towards the Rubenesque; I'm just saying that the end of the scale where pre-weight-loss Star Jones was, or Roseanne-during-Roseanne, or Edna Turnblatt, wouldn't have done it for me.

And, unfortunately, I'm on the equivalent end of the male scale of where pre-weight-loss Star Jones was. (Award for the most convoluted sentence goes to ... ) I'm John Goodman-in-Roseanne-esque. And knowing that I can't find myself attracted to Star, or Roseanne, or Edna, or women carrying around a similar amount of weight, I find it very hard — in fact, outright impossible — to believe that a woman could look at me, or anyone with my body type, and find her sexual engine getting a little revved up, like a few did here and there with my old physique. Even though my brain knows that supposedly women judge on different criteria, I also know Clooney and Pitt don't sell movies just because they're good actors. So I'm hoping that perhaps the women of Mefi could either say, "Yes, you're right, you're just not sexy at this point, lardass," so I can stop wondering and start getting used to cold showers, or "No, you're not. I know from personal experience that ... " and share, well, what they feel comfortable.

I also know enough to know that women respond to confidence, and that a lack of confidence can show pretty clearly unless you're a good actor. That's another concern, obviously, I'm hoping to address with this question. If I can end up with enough material to quiet the voice in my head — "shut up, you, four out of five Mefite women prefer peppermint mouthwash" — maybe I can actually focus on the other things that terrify me about starting to going up to strange women again, instead of walking into the situation feeling like I'm wearing a strange-fitting fat suit. :-/

Finally, I have one last question. It is more than a bit on the graphic side, and I'll admit it is very likely thinking too far ahead. It's a question central to men's sense of "maleness," for good or for bad. A well-intentioned friend who I could now just friggin' hit over the head with a Nerf bat forwarded me an e-mail forward quoting Dr. Ruth as saying that men "lose" an inch for every 40 pounds gained. Anyone know if that's really the case? It does indeed feel like it's shrunk. And there definitely is also a visual comparative scale thing given that the man's gut hangs above his penis. If you have had an overweight sexual partner, were you satisfied with his length? Flaccid at the moment, it's visually really rather embarrassingly minuscule — and I think my outright nightmare is disrobing in front of a lady and having a woman laugh at its size. Erect, it's still probably a good four and a half inches, but that's definitely less than it used to be; I remember measuring myself in college at about near seven. It's perhaps the very definition of the word "emasculating."

P.S. Obviously, I come across in the above as a bit of a nutcase. That's because I'm cranking down about twelve layers of shielding and actually being quite blunt about the problem with you. Please rest assured that these insecurities are not out and displayed in full force during a date!

How much fat does a sinker have?

shokod — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 03:02:55 -0800

Given that I sink in a pool with my lungs full, how much is my percent body fat/bmi? Possibly relevant info:
- male
- ~84kg, 177cm
- unknown lung capacity but as I bike and swim and don't smoke, whatever is average for healthy 22 year old (6L?)
- happens in waters of varying temperatures (20-30C) and chlorine levels, but not so well in seawater
- naked or with regular swimsuit
- fwiw, I don't sink the second I get in necessarily; rather, if I take a big breath and dive down and lie down (anywhere from .5m-2m), I stay down
Thanks!

Help me find bathroom scale that measures body fat.

ernie — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 07:40:45 -0800

Help me pick a bathroom scale - with decent BODYFAT SENSOR. Lost url of a review from about a year ago that had good info on common models. The googles do nothing for that particular review, however I keep thinking I saw this review on Slate.com (but try as I might I can't find it). It included about 10 different models, ranging from about $29 to $150 and the 'best' one was somewhere in the middle.

I guess I don't HAVE to have find this review in particular, but I liked the style & objectivity of it. These types of scales have the metal pads that measure the resistance in your bare feet and then automagically calculate your body fat. I know this isn't the most accurate way determining body fat, but I'm not interesting dunking myself in a vat or whipping out calipers every Sunday.

So again, I'm looking for something fairly precise (consistent and repeatable) more than accurate. It doesnt have to have fancy multi-user memories or bar graphs ( but I'd love it if it did).

on the review - it was in the same style as one they had sea salt and ergonomic chairs, where at the conclusion the author lists them in ascending order of awesomeness with some mini conclusions on each model, and some arbitrary scoring system. usually these reviews involve a group of the author's friends.

How to deal with criticism of your body

Deep Dish — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:37:19 -0800

So I am about to join a gym. In most ways, I am a rational human being - but this membership comes with fitness evaluation and body composition test and if I have someone tell me that I am a big, fat, pudding of a man I am going to be posting an "ask metafilter" thread about how to hide a body. How do I handle this is a constructive manner? I'm not a total loss, I look okay and have been in exercise programs in the last few years but job demands took their toll on my exericise routines. I know the numbers aren't going to crunch well and my BMI is fairly high. I think I understand my situation well enough, and I am not really in the mood to play nerds vs jocks especially when I have every intention of conducting some lifestyle reforms.

Bottom line is this could yield some good information but I think I am also going to take the criticism badly. In most other ways, I am logical and rational, but how do I take this as advice and not as shameful and insulting?

What do BMI/ASCAP charge?

popechunk — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 07:38:40 -0800

How much does an average-sized restaurant pay ASCAP/BMI to play music? The music would be from a personal CD collection. The restaurant would be in Austin, TX. The restaurant currently only exists in my imagination.

Secondary question: do you have to pay both BMI and ASCAP?

ASCAP or BMI?

General Zubon — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 17:11:58 -0800

What are the differences between ASCAP and BMI? Does anyone consider one performing right organization superior to the other and, if so, why? A question previously posted today about ASCAP made me think of a related query of my own. It's actually a question posed towards me often as my job involves managing songwriting musicians. I am personally registered through BMI and have been happy with them. I recommend them to my artists solely based on my experience. But, when asked, "What's the difference?" what should I say? (I realize there is also SESAC but my understanding is that they specialize in Canadian writers ... we are all based in the USA.)

Should I join ASCAP? (not a simple question in my case)

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 13:53:47 -0800

Should I finally join ASCAP, despite my misgivings about copyright, the music-licensing industry, and certain practices by ASCAP and similar orgs? Yes, the cash would make a real difference for me, given the way ASCAP handles my genre and given my low income overall. (A many-sided question, one I've put a lot of thought into -- but I've made this as concise as I can while hitting the important points. Thanks for listening!)

I'm a young American composer of mostly classical/"concert" music. I come from a very low-income background, so as an adult I'm still learning the right ways to relate to money & finances. I've spent my post-conservatory life making a very simple living with a combo of about half music (small grants/prizes/commissions) and half other work. I'm not at a career point where prizes/etc. just fall in my lap; I spend a LOT of time researching & applying for all these opportunities.

I've missed out on a significant amount of cash over the years because I haven't joined a performance rights organization (ASCAP would be better for me personally, so that's why we're forgetting about BMI here). ASCAP's Concert Music division, unlike most other divisions, makes direct royalty payments for significant performances of your music, plus annual cash awards based on your music's overall "prestige value" (prizes/performances/etc.) -- and the award amounts I hear about from friends with "prestige" activity comparable to mine would definitely make some difference for me each year.

--- So why have I not joined ASCAP?
• I'm still (though decreasingly) attached to my ideal of offering work freely or under alternative licenses rather than perpetuating our current copyright system. (Yeah, I do realize that many anti-copyright activists are financially secure tech-industry types who have a different kind of luxury to hold these beliefs than I have.)
• While ASCAP's Concert Music division itself is clearly a postive/beneficial force in the music world, the popular music division has a practice that disturbs me: their aggressive insistence on getting even very small venues & clubs to pay their licensing fees, typically using threats of lawsuits, which can hold back struggling venues and struggling musicians alike. U.S. law says they can do this, but I don't agree with the law in this case.
• I would benefit from and implicitly approve the business practices of ASCAP if I were a member.
• If I did eventually become high-profile enough without any money or help from ASCAP, I could be a great example for other musicians who don't want to be part of the intellectual-property industry (an Ani DiFranco-like advocate for anti-copyright ideals, as Ani has been for anti-major-label ideals).

--- And what are some arguments that I should join ASCAP now?
• How logical is it for me to refuse to join in the name of supporting struggling musicians, if I'm a struggling musician myself (who's living without health care, etc.)? I'm basically the walking definition of why music licensing and royalties were created. If I'm dedicated to contributing to our culture, I need to generally take care of myself so I can be healthy/productive and live a long life.
• It's not just ASCAP and BMI: in virtually any industry, if we really trace the roots of where our pay comes from, we would likely classify it as coming from business practices that hold someone else back, or as being "dirty money" in some other sense.
• My friends unanimously agree that ASCAP's Concert Music administrators actually care about nurturing and promoting composers and connecting them with opportunities -- in other words, the cash might be the least of ASCAP's practical benefits for me.
• As far as I understand (and I would ENORMOUSLY appreciate any comment/clarification you may have on this point), ASCAP only controls the performance rights of the works you specifically register with them (i.e., you can hold back individual works, so I could do that for any particular piece that felt important to release outside copyright -- or for any particular piece if I planned to have only that piece performed at a venue not already licensed by ASCAP [to make sure the venue would be safe in the event ASCAP noticed the venue because of me]).

So... Currently I don't see any other in-depth discussion of these issues on the web, so I hope this can turn into a great thread with many different viewpoints. (And if you want to email me privately, you can use the anonymous account I set up for this: metaq @ bluebottle . com [remove the spaces].) Thank you!

What powers to ASCAP/BMI have in regards to independent/original music not in their catalog?

loquacious — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:08:33 -0800

Can ASCAP/BMI sue you or levy fees for original music not in their catalog? A) For live public performance of said songs?
B) For recorded public performance of said songs?
C) For offering for download/streaming of said songs?
D) Or other forms of distribution and performance.

I ask because I've heard all manner of nightmares instigated by ASCAP/BMI, from simply playing the radio in a coffee shop (Not covered by "original music in their catalog" directly, but could be for a theoretical all-indie college/public station) to the newer dranonian rules on webcasts, to offering downloads.

Where does their self-given power to hassle the little guys end?

How do I get my doctor to stop lecturing me about my weight?

deadmessenger — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 18:27:10 -0800

How do I get my doctor to stop lecturing me about my weight? First, the background: I am fat. I'm not hugely fat, but I'm definitely a big guy. At 6 feet tall, I weigh 242lbs, putting me at a BMI of about 33. I am aware that I am fat, and I am also aware of the health risks of being fat, having not lived in a cave for my entire life. I also choose to accept those risks, rather than make the lifestyle changes necessary to not be fat.

The problem I have is this: Every time I go to the doctor, I get "the lecture". If you've ever been overweight, you know what I'm talking about - my doctor insists on going through the entire schpiel about how fat I am and how fat is bad, and I'm getting quite sick of hearing about it. It doesn't matter what I go see the doctor for, whether it can even remotely be connected to my being overweight or not, I still get the lecture. I've given my doctor the counter-lecture ("Thank you for bringing my weight to my attention, doctor. I am aware of the problem, and I couldn't possibly care less"), but he still insists on lecturing me on every visit. Making it worse is that my doctor once weighed about 300 pounds, a fact that he reminds me of each time he's delivering his lecture.

I'm finding myself not going to the doctor when I probably should, simply to avoid the BS that goes with it. So, here's my question: How do I convince my doctor to lay off the lectures? Is this just a "doctor thing", and will I just have to get used to tuning them out?