BMI B.S.

Sitting in class today (I gave the students the day off to prepare for the Excel final), a few students were talking about their sophomore health class. One of the topics they were talking about was body mass index, or BMI. According to a little formula that you can quickly figure out through a "BMI Calculator," you can figure out whether or not you're underweight, normal, overweight, or obsese.

I'm already dismissing this BMI thing as bullshit. More than likely, you're going to be classified as "overweight," as I am. My BMI is 28.4 -- within the range of "overweight" which is 25.0 to 29.9.

Just think about professional athletes -- they train during the off-season, eat healthy enough, and more than likely, they will be considered to be overweight. We all know that muscle weights more than fat and pro athletes have more muscle than most.

I could stand to lose a few pounds (after 10 years from graduating from high school, I've only gained 30 lbs. -- most of it is just from "filling out" and lifting in college), but it's almost ridiculous for a person like myself to get down to a "normal" range. The last time I was "normal" was when I did in fact graduate from high school. At that point in time, I'll bet that a stiff breeze could blow me over.

I consider myself to be in good health (due to a survey that I did take, I have the body of a 20 year old and being 27, that's something to say), I usually watch what I eat (I rarely eat junk -- my guilty pleasure is beer), and I do take supplements. I could exercise a little more, but I walk all day at school and during the summer, I'm hopefully going to play some softball.

The BMI really needs to be revised. Critics may say that America is full of fat people, but come on!