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Comment by lotsofpulp | Hacker News Reader

Based on my experience looking at people, and what they are eating and doing on a day to day basis, conclusions from population wide BMI statistics are not affected by people who are too muscular or have high bone density.

The Alaskan lumberjack is not representative of the data. What is representative are people who do not sleep right, eat right, or exercise right for the purposes of preventing and delaying health issues.

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I agree from a population wide standpoint even a simple glance at your local [crowded event] is enough to tell you the population at large trends toward unhealthy. My point though is that it's inadequate from an individual standpoint, which is the most important for said individual interested in maintaining their own health.

It's also interesting that you mention sleep, as that's a very important health factor that would barely present itself in any type of measurement based on weight.

The thing is BMI is intended to be a population level measurement and never meant for single individuals — the variations are just too much for it to be useful when applied to the general population individually.

It is useful for individuals. People don’t realize they’re overweight anymore, because everybody else is. BMI tells them an objective opinion that doesn’t change with the times. It is useful because its inaccuracy is small compared to how overweight people are.

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