NHS BMI calculator vs Smart BMI calculator 🍎

[Moomin8]

nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-we...

smartbmicalculator.com/

Hi Peeps 🙂

I have been trying to work on my fitness and weight to improve my health, regarding cholesterol levels and RA. I looked on the NHS bmi calculator and to have a healthy bmi, I would have to lose shed loads of weight 🤔 Now, I am an optimist, generally, but I am not a magician! 😅 So, I thought....surely, this is too generalised. I am lucky to have had 3 children and am not a spring chicken anymore, so my bmi doesn't need to be 25. I looked and found an alternative bmi calculator; a smart bmi calculator. I'm actually in the green on that one! 🥳 I'm sticking with that. 🥳But still going to work on my fitness and healthy eating.

[NannyNooNoo]

Ooh, I’ve just done mine - soooooo much more reassuring than the NHS one! I know I need to lose a bit, but the NHS response sends you into a real ‘OMG the end is nigh’ moment! Like you, I’ll carry on trying to eat healthily & exercise though x

[Moomin8 in reply to NannyNooNoo]

Yes, I agree! The NHS one made me feel reet miserable 😅

[Lolabridge]

The standard way to calculate BMI is to divide your weight (in kilograms) by the square of your height (in metres) 🤓. The value obtained should not be different on any website, although the interpretation of it may be. 🙄

I'm not going to work out mine until I finish the Prednisolone next week and can start trying to lose weight again. Having short legs is a distinct disadvantage too! ☹️

[Moomin8 in reply to Lolabridge]

Hope you're feeling a little better soon.

[Lolabridge in reply to Moomin8]

Thanks Moonin and I hope you’re doing ok too.

[Jewels94]

Thank you for posting that. I’ve been feeling really miserable about my weight as I’ve put so much on after the past couple of years, due in part to steroids. This made me feel so much better as apparently I’m at a healthy weight. Still not happy with my weight though, but at least it’s not as bad as I thought

[helixhelix]

Don’t understand? Your BMI is your BMI no matter what website you use to calculate it. So are you saying that the other website says that people with a BMI over 25 are ok?

I remember reading that older people are “allowed” to be a bit heavier tho’.

I tend to go on how I feel tho’, rather than a calculated figure.

[Moomin8 in reply to helixhelix]

No, I'm not saying that per se. I just feel that it is somewhat outdated.

This makes an interesting read:

sciencefocus.com/comment/bm...

Personally, I think it is very important to be mindful of our health and what we eat, so will continue to try my best to follow a healthy and mindful path.

[Hidden in reply to helixhelix]

Whilst I accept and agree that BMI has limitations, I couldn’t make any sense at all of the reasoning as to why they’re saying their interpretation of health risk is more appropriate than the standard. My BMI is very slightly higher using the SBMI (25.1 vs 24.8), but whereas technically I’m overweight at 25.1, it says I’m healthy. Given that being overweight is more about the mental and emotional relationship with food than anything, and that denial is an issue, this mismatch without adequate explanation as to why it’s healthy and the NHS interpretation is wrong concerns me. I’m not actually overweight in so far as I’m maintaining the 10st weight loss I achieved 5 years ago and have at least half a stone excess skin, so I’ll take 25.1 and be happy with it, but I do worry it’s false reassurance for others. Playing around with it, I could gain 10 pounds and still be considered healthy according to the SBMI, but my BMI would be 27. If that was 10 pounds of abdominal gain, which my gain tends to be as I have a metabolic disorder, there is no way that would be an acceptable and healthy place to be.

[Moomin8 in reply to Hidden]

I do understand what you are saying. Thank you for taking the time to reply. And well done with your amazing achievement 🙂

[Hidden in reply to helixhelix]

how you feel….That’s how I do it

[AgedCrone in reply to Hidden]

Yep…..if the Zip slides up without breathing in …..you’re OK!

[Moomin8 in reply to AgedCrone]

😂😂😂😂

[AgedCrone in reply to Moomin8]

👍👍👍

[Fruitandnutcase]

Just done mine too. Love that smart calculator! I’m the same as you - there’s room for improvement and I’d really like to lose 2.5 - 3.5 kg but I’m a size 10-12 which is good.My BMA is the same for both charts - the difference is in how they interpret that figure.

I’m still going to work on myself to get within the green on the NHS one too though but it is cheering to see what the smart chart says 😊.

[Moomin8 in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Good for you 😊As you say - they both give the same BMI reading, they just give (in my opinion) a more realistic interpretation.

[Flinda]

Why is it that when my fridge is full of salad food I tend to visit the fish n chip shop? Very odd, but true. x

[Moomin8 in reply to Flinda]

😂😂I think it's because you need to pre-prepare your salad so that it is more like having a takeaway 😉

[Boxerlady in reply to Flinda]

I'd try buying a smaller portion at the fish and chip shop and having a salad with it. When I had IBS problems with fried food and hubby fancied fish and chips, I used to have the fish with frozen peas I cooked at home (don't like mushy peas) and leave the batter - it's just liked steamed fish then. 😉

[Maggsie in reply to Boxerlady]

Our local chippy offer fish without batter if you ask. Its lovely, you get the lovely mouthfeel of fried fish but no stodgy batter 😁

[Runrig01]

Thanks for this. It makes perfect sense to me that your age should factor in more. I’ve never been keen on the nhs bmi calculator, as everyone is lumped together, whereas SBMI is factoring in your age. I will continue to try and get my weight down, which is challenging with life long steroids. However it was reassuring that they reassure if your blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels are good then your health is not at risk. Nhs one just states you are at risk with a high bmi, yet many such as athletes have a higher bmi due to larger muscle mass. So I will definitely use the SBMI. Would be good if they enhanced it to include your BP, cholesterol and sugar 🤪👍

[ABwn]

Have just done mine. Love it. Like you I'm in the middle of the green. I'll also still try to increase fitness and make sure I eat healthily. Thanks for sharing the link. Enjoy your weekend.

[Hidden]

I was initially sceptical, but it’s good! Also, giving a goal weight was useful, as their suggestion seems achievable. Small steps…

[Moomin8 in reply to Hidden]

My sentiments exactly 🙂