BMI - Fact or Fiction?

I went to the doctor's the other morning. I thought I was coming down with strep, and after the bout I suffered from last year, I thought it best to nip it in the bud before it really took hold.

This was a new Doctor. Not the (lovely gay) one who prescribed all those steroid precursors when I first came here (and who goes to my gym). It wasn't even that old curmudgeon I saw when I had those stomach issues a few months back. This was a nice straight new young one, a referral from a co-worker in fact.

Unfortunately, younger, straighter and nicer does not necessarily equal better!

I like doctors who attempt to treat the cause, not the symptoms. I had barely taken a seat and he was thrusting scripts for migraine and heartburn pills at me, not that I'd even asked for them (he had read my history you see). This guy was one of those "over prescribers." There's no attempt to deal with the underlying issues and to treat you as a person. He's simply one of those doctors who throws drugs at you to make you feel better.

And then came the kicker... and I could tell this was coming... the height-weight issue!

"Although you're quite muscular, you're still considered overweight, and really need to lose more than a few pounds!" I could seem him consulting his chart and confirming his calculations as he spoke.

My Body Mass Index is over 30, which means that yes, I am obese! I am, in fact, a lard-ass! Forget the fact that I have rock-hard pecs and perfectly peaked bis (OK, so my abs could do with some work), technically I am a porker-bitch!

According to this Doc, I should shed 30 to 40 lbs and return to the waif-like state of how I looked when I was 21-years old. Is this guy crazy? Could you imagine his horror if I'd have come in at my 194 lb all time high (I've since wasted drastically away)? Does he not realize that I have to hit the almighty 200 before I can get a new tattoo?

But let's get serious for a second, this BMI malarkey is archaic and doesn't pertain to the more muscular builds of today. Weren't these numbers and calcuations conceived in the 50s when people were smaller, diets were simpler, and people didn't workout as much as they do today. Or is it true, am I just obese?

And by the way, I didn't have strep!