Weight vs Health

[Arakhor]

Even when I was 18 and running daily and weight lifting 3 days a week minimum I still had an obese BMI.

So... "even when I was doing things usually guaranteed to throw off the BMI, I still had a weird BMI."

 

[Akka]

Your weight alone is pretty meaningless - a somewhat well-muscled person can reach this with rather low amount of fat.
Your beer belly is more telling, but that doesn't seem like true obsesity. Still, exercizing and keeping watch on the amount of fat/sugar you eat cannot be bad.

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

So... "even when I was doing things usually guaranteed to throw off the BMI, I still had a weird BMI."

Yeah, you're right. I was an offensive lineman. Even when fit I'm not exactly in normal size range.

 

[Traitorfish]

It's not uncommon for a person who starts out being overweight and then loses fat by doing workouts to actually gain BMI, simply because the muscle mass that is being generated weights more than the fat that is being removed.

Eh, that tends to be a bit overstated. If they're starting with an average amount of muscle and an above-average amount of fat, most people will burn fat quicker than they gain muscle, so if they find the reverse, they're probably over-estimated how effective their workout routines are as fat-burners, and they're neither adding muscle or shedding fat at the rates they imagine.

 

[Zelig]

"Average" might not be the best descriptor there, particular in reference to North Americans, since the average person is fat and weak.

 

[Traitorfish]

Fat and weak people would still tend to lose weight overall, though, if they were training to burn fat. For the great majority of people, an overweight body relinquishes a pound of fat more readily than it packs on a pound of muscle.

 

[Akka]

Eh, that tends to be a bit overstated. If they're starting with an average amount of muscle and an above-average amount of fat, most people will burn fat quicker than they gain muscle

It depends on how much they eat at the same time

 

[Ryika]

they're probably over-estimated how effective their workout routines are as fat-burners

Or it's simply not the focus of the workout.