BMI and alternatives for weight 'screening'

[Martin109]

You have used a* in place of a^ which confused me and made a nonsense of my calculations!

Sorry.  Not being a mathematician, I have probably misread that.  It's not x*y, but x to the power of 1.5, which I don't quite understand.

The article full text states:

BAI =     Hip   
             Height^1.5  - 18

or

BAI =       Hip    ====
             Height √  Height           - 18

I think that's supposed to be height * square root of height?

[Martin109]

http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/body-adiposity-index-calculator.aspx  Makes things a bit easier.

I come out at 23% which is right at the limit of 'healthy' for my advanced years.

Hahhahahhahahhhaaahhahahahhahahaahahah would be most people's reactions to that judgment if they saw me. Out on my bike the other day a small child refererred to me as 'that skinny man' while he was waiting to cross the lights with his mum. She told him not to be so rude!

(Thing is, the reading is probably an accurate portrayal as all my excess flubber sits on my hips and nowhere else.

Ah!  That IS a bit easier!

[hellymedic]

I come out at 32%, which is the same as when I was assessed with skinfold calipers as a student. I see waist:hip ratio does not get a look in.
Mine's 0.7...

[simonp]

I come out as 17.5% which is not far off from what the body fat scales currently say. Feline comes out as 22% which is slightly lower than the scales said. So I'd say those numbers are not unreasonable. Fat calipers said 18% in late 2009 but I'm 3kg lighter now.

[benborp]

The BAI calculator has me at 21.0% - borderline to overweight. Whereas my BMI is 19.1. The last time I was accurately assessed for body fat it was around 8%. I know that I'm no longer as lean as I was but you would need a pair of callipers to tell. A casual observer would say I didn't have a scrap of fat on me. Perhaps that BAI calculator is never going to 'flatter' a group whose favoured activity develops their glutes?

[hellymedic]

The BAI calculator has me at 21.0% - borderline to overweight. Whereas my BMI is 19.1. The last time I was accurately assessed for body fat it was around 8%. I know that I'm no longer as lean as I was but you would need a pair of callipers to tell. A casual observer would say I didn't have a scrap of fat on me. Perhaps that BAI calculator is never going to 'flatter' a group whose favoured activity develops their glutes?

Indeed not as it only relates hip circumference to weight. The assumption is that any excess is fat but there's nothing to balance this. Big bones and muscles would give the same BAI as loads lard on a small frame.

[benborp]

A few months ago I came across a more involved BMI calculator that used a couple of other simple metrics to account for build and level of fitness. I think I might have come across it via the BBC website. Trouble is, they seem to run a new BMI story every couple of weeks and I can't find it now.