Out of curiousity I clicked the link for the Revolution Health sponsor. I always get a kick out deeply flawed devices like the BMI index. I will give you some background. I'm 6ft (1.83m) tall and 225lbs (102kg) to 230lbs (104.5kg). I weigh more than I look and since I hit my growth spurt, I've always been overweight according BMI. Anyway according to the BMI calculator at this site http://www.revolutionhealth.com/calculators/body-mass-index-bmi I am obese. Hilarious. I know it says that BMI can be thrown off by muscle mass but that doesn't account for it. I will show you below.

Darc Requiem

@age 27

Height: 6ft (1.83m)

Weight: 225-230lbs (102-104.5kg)

BMI: 31.2 (Obese)

I could stand to lose 10lbs (4.5kg) maybe 15lbs (7kg). I am hardly obese. I have pics to prove it. Ha ha

Darc Requiem

@age 17

Height: 5ft 11in (1.78m)

Weight: 197lbs (90kg)

BMI: 27.5 (Overweight)

I didn't have the muscle mass I have now in HS, but I had very little body fat. I know everyone isn't familiar with American Football but I played in HS. We had 5 hour practices held in the summer called two-a-days because they were like two normal practices but held back to back. Even after a month of those I'd only get down to 190lbs (87kg). Yet the BMI says I'd be overweight and near obese.

Darc Requiem

@age 14

Height: 5ft 10in (1.75m)

Weight: 175lbs (80kg)

BMI: 25.1 (Overweight)

Okay now here is what really shows that BMI is a crock. At 14 I had less muscle mass than at age 17 but my body fat level was the same. Yet it still shows me has being over weight and outside of the optimal weight range.

Sorry for the long drawn out post but I just wanted to know how BMI can be taken seriously. I remember a report that came out using BMI to determine which National Fooball League players were over weight. If I'm considered obese, I'd think someone with a lot more knowledge on the subject would have debunked this method of computing proper weight. Just for the hell of it, I tried to find out what the maximum weight, according to BMI, that I should be. 184lbs (84kg), yep according to BMI I'm anywhere from 41lbs (18.5kg) to 46lbs (21kg) overweight.

Yeah, BMI is crap. I won't say that I'm in peak condition ('cause if I did, that would be really funny), but I eat right and my lack of car means that I have no choice but to be at least *somewhat* active, and I'm... ok, I'm like 5'9" (175 cm) and hover around 190 lbs (about 85 kg), but I don't think anyone would call me fat.

BMI doesn't take into account body types. Personally, I'm stout. My shoulders are broad for my height, and my legs are stocky. Do I have a gut? Yeah. Do I have manboobs? A little. But BMI would call me obese.

Screw them. The military says the only thing wrong with me physically are my eyes (which suck). I trust a person who's looked at me way more than a glorified slide-rule.

sorry, but 6 ft 230 lbs is obese. You can try to say it's ok because the other people around you are also fat, but that doesn't make it good or healthy. I agree that the overweight part really isn't very overweight, but when you hit obese it isn't healthy. Everyone isn't created equal, and some people get overweight easily, that's just how it is.

BMI is a calculation tool that is based on averages but fails to consider several important factors ... Gender, Age and Body Fat % are three important things which should be included in an obesity calculation.

Basically, an 20 year old man who is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds is (probably) no where near to being as overweight as a 65 year old woman who is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds; they both get the same BMI score though.

Probably but not necessarily ...

Body Builders can often be (about) 6 feet tall and 220 pounds with only 6% body fat, you can be 230 pounds with 10% body fat and be reasonably healthy.

 The scale says I'm healthier at 125 pounds than I am at 200.  Now, that's basically telling me that it's better to be anorexic and suffer from malnutrition than it is to eat a little too much.

Numbers are numbers.  So long as you live right, your weight and your height mean nothing, taken alone.

HappySqurriel is correct. It doesn't take into account muscle weight, bone density, and huge boobs.

I'm 6'3 and currently 260lbs. I know I'm overweight, but I'm hardly "obese". BMI, as a lot of people have already stated, don't take into account numerous variables. For example, I'm a very BROAD man. I'm not skinny like some people, my chest is about 44 inches, or so, not 100% sure. My bone structure is different than a lot of people and according to MY height, my ideal weight is 185lbs. Have you ever seen a man with a chest my size at that weight? It looks wrong. I start looking funny at 210lbs, 220 is my ideal weight in my eyes and one day I'll get back there. :P

 You are one of the reasons my 5'4 (1.6m) 120lb (54.5kg) friend thinks she needs to lose weight. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm coming off as offended because I am not, but you don't know who is around me. Only one of my friends, he is 6'2 (1.85m) 250lbs (113-114kg), the rest of my friends are smaller than me. My younger brother who goes to the gym for frequently than I do and has less body has a higher BMI of 32.2 than I do. He is 5ft 10in (1.75m) and 215lbs (98kg). My best friend is 6ft 1in (1.85m) 155lbs (70kg). Another one of my good friends is 5ft 11in (1.78m) 190lbs (87kg). So outside of my 250lb friend none of my friend can be consider fat. He is 20lbs overweight BTW. So you say I'm obese? Lets see what everyone else thinks. Photos below, if you don't want to see me in tank top don't look.

not bad, can't see anything but your chest and above though. Being pretty musclar helps.