The United States has been considered one of the most obese countries in the world for years. Americans are also known for having high standards for the body. In the mindset of U.S. citizens, along with some other cultures, to be labeled obese is one of the most morbid stigmas a person could acquire. While it is true beauty isn’t everything, it is no secret that it is what most people strive for.
   So if you work so hard to maintain a generally healthy exercise routine and eat healthy foods, wouldn’t you be mortified if you went to the doctor and noticed that you were placed in the “obese” category anyway? Is that possible?
   Most people are unaware of how their weight is classified when they go to the doctor and are even more unaware that the classification method that health professionals use is skewed in some cases. This might lead to a self-degrading thought process. The first thought that comes to mind is, “I’m not working hard enough.” But for the person that already strives for a healthy lifestyle, this thought process can be dangerous. Many people might even become self-conscious. This can lead to a number of things detrimental to a person’s health such as depression, overtraining or even development of an eating disorder. From this point of view, it is easy to understand why these problems are in need of so much attention. But how is the weight classification system skewed?
   As an efficient way of weight measurment, most health professionals use the Body Mass Index Scale. This scale consists of a chart that compares weight to height. Any exercise physiology text will tell you that your BMI can be found by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height squared in meters. As observed by the formula alone, the BMI scale does not take other bodily factors into account. HealthGuidance.org posted an article titled, ““Body Mass Index Chart Wrong?” states some of these factors and how it affects the population.  “Body Mass Index Chart Wrong?” points out that the key to understanding why some of the most fit athletes in the world are classified as obese is that fact that,“BMI doesn’t distinguish muscle from fat.”
    What does this mean? It means that a person with a high percentage of muscle can easily be placed in the obese category, even if their body-fat percentage is below average. Any exercise physiology text will also state the general rule that muscle is “more dense” than fat, which might explain why some individuals who do not exercise daily are considered to be in the perfect weight range. This means that the research behind obese countries isn’t completely accurate either. Like most wide-scale data research, researchers used the BMI scale measures because it is impossible to determine the overall weight of a country by only selecting a limited number. This doesn’t mean that you need to stop exercising in order to fall out of the obesity range. Actually, muscle still remains in the body even though it is no longer being used. Over a period of time, unused muscle can lead to actual obesity.
   Whether or not an accurate measurement of body mass will be discovered is still up for debate. BBC News published an article titled “BMI: Does the Body Mass Index Need Fixing?” It points out the same flaw HealthGuidance .org did that alternate formulas have been proposed. But it will take a lot of time and experimentation to be sure that the formulas are accurate enough to change the classification system the health field has relied on for years.
    In the meantime, where do we draw the line between health and obesity? The answer is simply not to rely on one type of weight measurement. HealthGuidance.org suggests using a measure of body-fat percentage or following the simple guideline that your waist should be half your height. But these methods might have flaws as well. There are other bodily factors to take into account and, unfortunately, not many accessible methods can do it all.
   The main purpose of articles that inform people of how the BMI Scale operates is to help others not to feel so self-conscious about themselves. The goal is to keep other measurements of weight in mind, maintain a healthy lifestyle as much as possible and not to let a simple classification method get to you to, the extent that it becomes unhealthy.