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Old 03-09-2006, 03:24 AM   #11
Nex
 
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

An average BMI 25 would be already on the verge of being overweight.
Normal BMI values (by the book) are 19-24 for women, 20-25 for men.

Here is a very good table by the way.

Another very quick (but also very rough) way to calculate weight would be broca's formula:
"optimal weight" weight(in kg) = height (cm) - 100

or modified broca:
"ideal weight" weight(in kg) = height (cm) - 100 -10%.
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Old 03-09-2006, 06:33 AM   #12
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by Asta Kask
25 is a modern value. 15-20 is closer to the people of yore.
I might go for 20; 15 seems improbable. At my height, 5'8" or about 1.70 m, BMI 25 gives 159 lbs.; BMI 20 gives 127; BMI 15 gives 95! Someone that thin is probably chronically undernourished and in poor health—not likely to make a plausible adventurer. It's to be hoped that most adventurers eat a bit more regularly than that off of their ill-earned profits.
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Old 03-09-2006, 06:55 AM   #13
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nex
An average BMI 25 would be already on the verge of being overweight.
Normal BMI values (by the book) are 19-24 for women, 20-25 for men.
Well, in the first place, if we're talking modern Americans, a lot of them are at or above BMI 25. And not necessarily all of them are plump; you can get that high a BMI by being highly muscular, too.

There was also that Norwegian survey I've seen described in a couple of places (1.8 million subjects followed over 10 years), which found that optimal longevity went with BMI 25-30. BMI 18-20 gave about the same expected lifespan as BMI 35! Presumably "overweight" is meant to be "too heavy for optimal health"—but optima should be based on empirical data rather than cultural biases, and that's a pretty big empirical result.
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Old 03-09-2006, 10:38 AM   #14
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
There was also that Norwegian survey I've seen described in a couple of places (1.8 million subjects followed over 10 years), which found that optimal longevity went with BMI 25-30.
As far as that goes, BMI is a generic application and isn't always a great individual guide. There's a couple of points of BMI which are easily attributable to body frame and people who have large blocky bone structure vs. people who have fine birdlike bone structure may have a much as a 3-4 point BMI variation difference at the same health level.
Not even to mention that muscle, and a certain level of physical/weight training is very beneficial, but it may increase BMI, since BMI doesn't say anything about body fat %.

Norwegians, as a whole, tend to have large blocky bone structures, which means without any further detail, they'll have a BMI a couple of points above average with the same level of body fat.

There's also certain biological adaptations in people from Northern climates, see the Eskimos/Inuits, which give populations in those climates the ability to have higher body fat %, (as blubber protection from the cold? *grin*), with less detrimental health effects.
Results from people in those cold climates cannot be directly ported into population groups in temperate climates.
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Old 03-10-2006, 01:59 AM   #15
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
Well, in the first place, if we're talking modern Americans, a lot of them are at or above BMI 25. And not necessarily all of them are plump;
you can get that high a BMI by being highly muscular, too.
No. But thats not what I said either.
I am talking about averages, not single individuals-
in average people with BMI 25+ are a little heavy set (don't anyone take this personal).

While it is true that high muscle mass will give wrong results in individual cases, this is not relevant for an average number. BMI is not meant to judge individuals with any precision but groups of individuals.

See here for a backup of my BMI 25+ claim:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/reprint/72/5/1074

Quote:
There was also that Norwegian survey I've seen described in a couple of places (1.8 million subjects followed over 10 years), which found that optimal longevity went with BMI 25-30. BMI 18-20 gave about the same expected lifespan as BMI 35! Presumably "overweight" is meant to be "too heavy for optimal health"—but optima should be based on empirical data rather than cultural biases, and that's a pretty big empirical result.
While this isn't uninteresting it isn't on topic.
Those people would have the overweight disadvantage in gurps terms.

Anyway- the key to getting recommendations is: you can't rely on a single study, especially when it wasn't a whole country being observed but a few spots. What are the environmental circumstances in the picked places of this study? What does "optimal" mean here- do they live longer than the others in that place, or do they live longer than the average in the country? (and so on).

BMI was not created out of cultural biases.
Disease risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and CVD all increase with BMIs above the 25 threshhold.
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Old 03-10-2006, 03:46 AM   #16
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nex
BMI was not created out of cultural biases.
Disease risk for type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and CVD all increase with BMIs above the 25 threshhold.
Yes, but below 20 also increases the risk for CVD and other diseases. People who are seriously underweight are at greater risk for breaking bones, etc. Too much isn't good, but it's not as unhealthy as too little (for Western Europeans - other populations seem to be more vulnerable to diabetes type II among other things.)

As for BMI 15 - well, I've been there and done that. In my youth (when I was about 18) I weighed about 105 lbs. I'm 6' tall. I looked like a poster child for the new Biafra diet-plan... Today I'm still 6' tall but weigh about 200 lbs., so a little overweight, but I'd rather be this way.
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Old 03-10-2006, 04:47 AM   #17
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

Quote:
Originally Posted by Asta Kask
Yes, but below 20 also increases the risk for CVD and other diseases.
When it comes to CVD this article indicates otherwise. What is your source on this?

Not to say that below 20 isn't bad.. just that there are other risk factors.
And yes, being slightly overweight is probably healthier overall than being slightly underweight.. but few people are in first world countries-
thats why there isn't so much medical public information in that direction.
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Old 03-10-2006, 06:55 AM   #18
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

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Originally Posted by Nex
When it comes to CVD this article indicates otherwise. What is your source on this?
This is OT, but the article doesn't say anything about severely lean people. They haven't looked at anyone below BMI 19,1. But it's very possible that you are right; I'll dig and see what I find. Anyway, being too lean isn't healthy either (there's a reason anorectic people die...)
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Old 05-15-2019, 01:11 PM   #19
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

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Originally Posted by thastygliax View Post
Assuming proportionate change in all three dimensions, growing 1 foot will result in a weight of (7/6)^3 * 200 lbs., or roughly 318 lbs; shrinking 1 foot will result in a weight of (5/6)^3 * 200 lbs., or roughly 116 lbs.
er how do I input that into my comps calculator? (particuarly "cubing" a number)
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Old 05-15-2019, 01:28 PM   #20
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Default Re: Calculating Weight in Relation to Height

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Originally Posted by Bathawk View Post
er how do I input that into my comps calculator? (particuarly "cubing" a number)
Is it a scientific calculator, or does it just add, subtract, multiply, and divide? And do you have Excel or another spreadsheet as an option?
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