This flickr set is one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. It does a good job of illustrating the amazing, beautiful variation of the human form. And, in my opinion, also illustrating why the BMI is just a marketing tool for gastric bypass programs. Which can kill you a lot quicker than diabetes and a heart condition can.
tended by poet Frances Donovan
Garden of Words 
The BMI is shit. According to it, I’ll hit “normal” at the same weight where I stopped having my period due to starvation when I was homeless and eating 3 meals a week.
NO THANKS!
N.
Aw, c’mon. All the cool kids are getting dysmennorhea!
I read somewhere that if BMI meant anything Arnold S would be considered grossly overweight. That settled it for me right there.
What he would be is “morbidly obese”, as in “fat enough to die from it. Why? Because BMI doesn’t take muscle mass or skeletal structure into account at ALL. I’ve been “morbidly obese” for a long time. And yet, every year I do a 3 day charity bike ride, which I train for all spring and summer. And I started running last month, in anticipation of competing in my first triathlon. And I live a very healthy, active lifestyle. To the point that my doctor has frequently mentioned that I’m one of the healthiest patients he has ever had.
Yup, just about to keel over dead from being fat. That’s me. đŸ˜›
Which can kill you a lot quicker than diabetes and a heart condition can.
*nod nod nod* My friend who had gastric bypass has had an AMAZING array of health problems as a result. Lots of scary stuff. And guess what? She gained more than 30 pounds of her weight back. Why? Because even if most weight loss surgery programs require some kind of counseling before you do it, it certainly isn’t enough to solve all of the emotional problems that went into being that overweight in the first place. And by forcing the body to the lose the weight without requiring slow, learned behavior change, and by having the weight come off so fast that the person can barely adjust mentally, it makes it VERY easy for the weight to just come right back. (The statistics on people who get gastric bypass and then gain back all of their weight, effectively stretching out their nonexistent “stomach” are frightening.)
Yeah, I just keep off the scale altogether. When I was in the hospital they tried to weigh me once a month but I always refused. Sometimes it would cause me to get in trouble with the staff.
“Get on the scale.”
“No.”
“What do you mean “no?”
“I mean NO.”
“Are you a patient at this hospital?”
“Yes, and I’m here voluntarily which means I can refuse cetain aspects of my treatment.”
Every month the same damned thing. I’m so glad I’m out of there.
Preach, sister.