Comments on: Should body mass index (BMI) be used as a college graduation requirement?

By: Marilyn Wann

Marilyn Wann — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:01:00 +0000

Thanks for the healthy (and health-enhancing) skepticism, Dr. Tuteur!

I invite you to acquaint yourself with the work of fat rights activists, fat studies scholars, and Health At Every Size healthcare professionals and researchers. To start, I recommend…

Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Health, by Linda Bacon, PhD

Fat Studies Reader, edited by Sondra Solovay, JD, and Esther Rothblum, PhD, just published by NYU Press

And my own, still-in-print classic…
FAT!SO?—Because You Don’t Have to Apologize for Your Size.

Thanks. Medical doctors have created a world of hurt, bigotry, and discrimination with their focus on weight and weight loss. If you offer public skepticism for the hysteria-mongering, you stand to make a significant contribution to social justice and public health.

By: Sam Gaines

Sam Gaines — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:21:26 +0000

Lynn,
I had a similar experience to yours after cancer surgery and a year of chemo — lost 40 lbs., and when I felt well enough to return to the gym, I eased myself back into it. Started putting weight back on gradually, without intending to, even with a restricted diet and 6x intense workouts/week. Even at my reduced weight, I still was considered obese — and I hadn’t been in shape like that since my high school athlete days. It’s terribly frustrating and depressing. I’m trying to get down to the weight BMI says I should have given my age and height, but it’s kind of ridiculous to imagine it possible — unless of course I go through extended chemo again.
The gym I belong to has an interesting approach: it directly appeals to all body types by branding itself the “no judgment zone” and keeping monthly rates low. All kinds of body types there. I think they’re onto something.
I believe we should always pursue good healthy habits, but also realize that weight and obesity are not, as is frequently cited, a simple matter of “calories in/calories out.” BMI is, as I understand it, an old scale created by an insurance company, based on little evidence (and all of that dating back to the early 1970s) and is remarkably simplistic for evaluating a complex issue.
As a university policy, I can see mandating group exercise (as simple as walking, even) for students, both as a way to encourage good health and as a valuable stress relief. Getting a positive message out there about the benefits of exercise per se, without stigmatizing anyone, would go a long way toward this.

By: Aestivate99

Aestivate99 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:54:06 +0000

shaming people is a stupid approach and shameful itself. I wonder how many grants this school hoped to get to put this all in place? Everyone is giving them out for just about any project you can dream up.

By: Anon

Anon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:44:27 +0000

It is well known that some very overweight women have been sexually abused in their past and consciously or unconsciously, want to be unattractive to men. They don’t want male attention.
I saw this with a friend…she was happy and felt protected at 115 kilos. She started losing weight at 42 probably because she felt less threatened by men. She’s now 67 kilos and getting on with life.
It is indeed a complex area and lots of factors come into play.

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:32:09 +0000

I lost a heap of weight after a serious illness. I didn’t consider myself “fat” beforehand but I was overweight. My new weight is still “overweight” according to the BMI..I’ve never been lighter in my adult life and I’ve never been fitter. After the illness, I took up weight classes, kick boxing and pilates.
I find that depressing…
My doctor said to forget about it and don’t worry too much about the scales either…go on my appearance and how my clothing fits…at size 12, I certainly don’t feel or look fat. (Australian size)
This proposal is outrageous and you have to question the ethics of the people involved in that decision. It should cause a storm of protest from everyone.
It’s like designers who don’t make dresses over size 10 or 12 because they don’t want “fat” people in their clothing. Never admitted, but I’ve worked in the industry.
Overweight people are talked down to, made fun of and people judge them all the time.
Why not offer gyn classes for overweight students? Something constructive for a change….this idea worked well at my University….overweight people often feel embarrassed in classes staring into the gorgeous backside of a size 8…these classes also offered a supportive environment.

By: David Deitsch, RN

David Deitsch, RN — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:15:49 +0000

Getting back to the original question. Why are the college administrators limiting graduation requirements to BMI? Clearly this does not go far enough. They should also set criteria number of dental carries, hemoglobin levels, SMAC panel results (nothing outside normal allowed!), and the results of genetic testing for vulnerability to future pathologies. This will ensure that the benefits of higher education are limited to tall, lean, blond-haired, blue-eyed specimens of physical superiority fit to lead society and reproduce superior offspring. Hmmm. Wait a minute. didn’t someone try this around the middle of the last century? Anyone remember how that worked out?

By: David Deitsch, RN

David Deitsch, RN — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:14:56 +0000

“If you are obese, then you need to take a fitness class? It makes perfect sense to me. Doesn’t the fact that a person is obese indicate that they need to learn more about health and fitness?”

No, it does not. People flunk math classes because they do not know enough about math, so remedial education can solve their problem. Do you really think that obese people are obese because they do not know that eating a lot of food and getting little exercise results in obesity? Obesity results from complex interactions of genetic, metabolic, psychological, and sociological factors, with a side-dish of personal preference. Since obesity is not caused by inadequate education, more education will not result in a change in outcomes.

By: TD

TD — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:10:57 +0000

Hey, cool it. It seems all they did was say that if you’re overweight, you need to take a gym class. At most colleges I know of, EVERYBODY has to take a gym class.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:13:16 +0000

30 is a very generous BMI. There may be muscular types with a BMI of 30 who aren’t really overweight, but not that many.

There are not that many athletes heavy with muscle in the general population (though the percentage of such is likely higher in university student age people than all adults), so BMI works reasonably well for population studies. But such athletes heavy with muscle are why BMI is not a good measure of fatness for an individual. Even relatively crude body fat percentage formulae using waist size in addition to height and weight would be an improvement for individual assessment.Note also that some population studies have found that African Americans on average tend to have slightly lower body fat percentage for the same BMI, or slightly higher BMI for the same body fat percentage, compared to European Americans on average.

By: Chemist

Chemist — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:24:35 +0000

That could be a great idea. Body mass index during college gradualtion will help students to cope up with their weights and put up an healthy lifestyles