Your “dumb BMI”?? The BMI is not dumb, maybe just dumb to use it in the wrong way.
The BMI is only about height and weight and does not take into account the age/gender of the person or the actual composition of the weight (body fat percentage) so it does not apply to light unfit people with a lot of fat reserves (high body fat percentage) or to heavy fit people, with a lot of muscle mass (low body fat percentage). A 110lbs unfit person with little muscle mass and a third of the body being fat reserves (skinny-fat people, NWO = Normal Weight Obese) could have a low “healthy” BMI number but still be as unhealthy as obese people and at risk for the same obesity related diseases so the BMI would not apply here either. While athletes all end up in the overweight or obese categories while being very fit, again, they should ignore the BMI, which is a very good tool but not when misused.
Originally, the BMI was a simple tool used for population studies among sedentary people. It did not take into account body fat percentage and muscle mass because it was assumed that sedentary people (not exercising…having a desk job…using a car instead of walking or biking, etc…) would not be athletic. The BMI was never even intended to be used for individual diagnosis of fit people. I don’t brush my hair with a toothbrush and then complain that it does not work that well and deduct that toothbrushes do not work!
Nowadays, the BMI is used by doctor in some cases, along with a visual examination. If a sedentary person has a BMI that goes higher every year and the person is obviously out of shape and gaining fat reserves, it’s easier for the doctor to say “you need to eat healthy, exercise and lose weight because your BMI is too high” than to say “you need to eat healthy, exercise and lose weight because you’re fat”.
Also a BMI that goes lower and lower for teenagers could be a sign of an eating disorder, like anorexia…again, visual examination is always needed. And a BMI that goes lower and lower for a very thin adult person who looks in great shape could be a sign of an exercise addiction.
Growing teenagers (under the age of 20) should NOT use the adult BMI but should use the BMI-for-age, which uses percentiles and comparison with other people the same age/gender. A 5’5, 110lbs adult woman (BMI 18.3) would be underweight while a 5’5, 100lbs 15 years old girl (BMI 16.6, same height but weighing 10 pounds less) would have a healthy weight because her body is still growing and she’s supposed to gain weight as she reach adulthood.
I’m a 5’5 woman and I’d rather weigh 126lbs (BMI 21), doing my aerobics (walking/jogging, biking, swimming…anything that makes me sweat) and anaerobic exercises (weight training) while eating whatever I want, feeling strong, in good shape and being thin (with a flat stomach)…than be 120lbs (BMI 20) with a little belly (between a big bulging pouch or a cute little one), not exercising, out of shape, feeling weak, having to count my calories intake, or even worse, be 111lbs (BMI 18.5, still normal weight), too thin with a soft flabby belly and skinny arms, not exercising, out of shape, feeling weak, losing my appetite and scaring my friends. In my case, getting a lower BMI is when I start to worry about my physical condition.
Don’t worry about how much weight you can lose or gain on a scale, only worry about losing fat reserves and gaining muscle mass. It’s all about how you feel, how strong you are, how you look (thin and toned and not flabby), not about how much you weigh. It’s about how fast you can walk/jog a mile or how much you can lift a weight.
There are many reasons why you could have a protruding stomach while still being thin overall. I suggest that you do some research about abdominal distension or distended abdomen. You could simply have weak abs that are not strong enough to keep all your guts in, so you would need to do regular and reverse crunches with very good form, pressing your back flat into the floor the whole time and keeping the belly in, so you develop flat abs and not protruding abs. Doing as many reps as you need to feel the burn, very slowly, and then rest at least a day or as long as you need for the soreness to be gone and as soon as it does, do crunches again (older people might need 5 days of rest. I’m still sore from a special session I did last Thursday). You would get a flatter belly by adopting a good posture all day long, keeping your stomach in at all time, sitting, standing, lying down, walking…it would be hard to sustain for a few minutes at first and you would have to remember yourself to do it. I bought a special ring just for that purpose so each time I would look at the ring or realize I was playing with it, or somebody would notice it….boom I would pull in my stomach in! Then after a while, it becomes a habit and you start getting complements about your natural good posture. Also position the rest of your body, chest out, shoulder back, necks and back straight in the right way too. It is harder for shy women to position their chest out and their shoulders back because suddenly they get more noticeable boobs and get unwanted attention from guys. Now, if you’re crouching to hide your boobs, it’s harder to flatten the underbelly part or your torso.
Once you take care of your abs (it should take about 2 months to get strong flat abs and good posture) you can look in your diet. Some particular food could make you bloat and not bloat someone else (like dairy products for people who are lactose intolerant). You have to keep a food journal with everything you eat; even herbs and meds and go by elimination. You might make other discoveries like you’re fine eating tomatoes but if you add vinaigrette to it; you’ll get painful canker sore in your mouth or if you eat tomatoes with couscous, you’ll get excruciating stomach cramps in the middle of the night.
If you eat very healthy, make sure that you eat enough to cover your Basal Metabolic Rate and that you don’t eat too much fiber with water or swallow too much air (aerophagia is associated with chewing gum, smoking, drinking carbonated drinks, eating too fast) unless you know how to burp and fart like a cowboy!).
Women’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR):
655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) - minus (4.7 x age in years)
If you still don’t’ achieve a flat stomach after all that, you might go to a doctor who will refer you to a GI (gastrointestinal) doctor or a gastroenterological specialist who will eventually refer you to GY (gynecologist) doctor.
You could have fibroid tumors in your uterus or just suffer from pseudocyesis (false pregnancy) or any diseases on a long list of diseases.