BMI is a general guideline that offers a reasonable approximation of body mass at the population level. That it also offers a reasonable estimate on the individual level, when all other factors are taken into account, is a plus.
Medical practitioners aren’t out there widely telling otherwise obese people with missing limbs that they’re a perfectly healthy weight or that all mass is fat.
When you read unverifiable anecdotes about a dumb doctor telling a power lifter that they are obese, don’t take it as gospel. When your doctor tells you that you’re a perfectly healthy weight because you’re missing a leg, even though you don’t exercise, eat like shit, and have a 50 inch / 125 cm waist, that’s when you start asking questions and find a new doctor. Most of them aren’t like that.
Tbf most of experience with doctors of late has been a vitails, weight, and height check, then waiting 30 minutes for a doctor to come ask me my name, ask why I’m here, check the chart, rattle off the same "you oughta"s and leave within the first 5 minutes of meeting the guy. I am the persistent and fortunate one of people I know and actually go to occasionally despite waiting a few months at a time to find one between my two primary care docs (I signed up with two, because wait times is pretty bad).
BMI is a general guideline that offers a reasonable approximation of body mass at the population level. That it also offers a reasonable estimate on the individual level, when all other factors are taken into account, is a plus.
Medical practitioners aren’t out there widely telling otherwise obese people with missing limbs that they’re a perfectly healthy weight or that all mass is fat.
When you read unverifiable anecdotes about a dumb doctor telling a power lifter that they are obese, don’t take it as gospel. When your doctor tells you that you’re a perfectly healthy weight because you’re missing a leg, even though you don’t exercise, eat like shit, and have a 50 inch / 125 cm waist, that’s when you start asking questions and find a new doctor. Most of them aren’t like that.
Tbf most of experience with doctors of late has been a vitails, weight, and height check, then waiting 30 minutes for a doctor to come ask me my name, ask why I’m here, check the chart, rattle off the same "you oughta"s and leave within the first 5 minutes of meeting the guy. I am the persistent and fortunate one of people I know and actually go to occasionally despite waiting a few months at a time to find one between my two primary care docs (I signed up with two, because wait times is pretty bad).