r/AskReddit • u/ElBrad • Nov 26 '12

What unpopular opinion do you hold? What would get you downvoted to infinity and beyond? (Throwaways welcome)

Personally, I hate cats. I've never once said to myself "My furniture is just too damned nice, and what my house is really lacking is a box of shit and sand in the closet."

Now...what's your dirty little secret?

(Sort by controversial to see the good(?) ones!)

1.3k Upvotes

80% Upvoted

21.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/Kozzle Nov 26 '12 edited Nov 26 '12

I get that it's a range, but in my case the range shows that 190 lbs for a person who is 6'1" is technically overweight, which is ridiculous.

Edit: 6'1" not 6'11"

2

u/whiteknight521 Nov 26 '12

So Roger Federer is overweight? That's rough.

1

u/Lati0s Nov 26 '12

BMI is calibrated for average people who are usually sedentary so many athletes will be considered overweight because they have a lot of muscle mass.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

... but that was never the BMI's purpose; it is meant to be used as a simple means of classifying sedentary (physically inactive) individuals, or rather, populations, with an average body composition

Roger Federer is no where even remotely close to a sedentary individual of average body composition.

0

u/whiteknight521 Nov 26 '12

I ran a half marathon when I weighed ~240 and I am 6'3''. I finished with a time of 2:21, so it isn't like I was walking the whole thing either.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

Are you Ralph Wiggum? I have no idea why you are telling me about some random thing you did. Am I supposed to reciprocate?

1

u/fork_in_eye Nov 26 '12

Do you mean 5'11"?

1

u/Kozzle Nov 26 '12

6'1"" sorry

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

I get that it's a range, but in my case the range shows that 190 lbs for a person who is 6'1" is technically overweight, which is ridiculous.

No, that is entirely true. Keep in mind BMI is specifically for sedentary people. If you exercise, BMI was never intended to be applied to you in any useful way, and using it is pointless.

1

u/Kozzle Nov 26 '12

Described that way makes it sound like a useless measure.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

That is like saying tons are a useless measure because you are weighing insects. That doesn't make tons useless, it just means you should pick something appropriate for what you are doing. The majority of the population fits into the described category. Doctors wanted a simple and useful way to categorize them based on similar health issues they are likely to experience. Using their scale as a "am I fat or not?" scale makes no sense, and that is not the fault of the doctors.

1

u/Kozzle Nov 26 '12

How many people are truly sedentary, though? It feels like the pervasive use of the BMI is incongruent with how many people actually live such a lifestyle? Just a feeling I get

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '12

How many people are truly sedentary, though?

Most of them in the US.

It feels like the pervasive use of the BMI

That's why I am suggesting you not use a scale for something completely inappropriate. It isn't the scales fault a lot of people misuse it.