CDC data shows that 18% of men with high BMIs are not actually fat.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...n-is-bmi-misleading?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
The news isn't so good for women. Only 3% of women with high BMIs have low body fat percentages.
This makes sense. Lean body mass is more variable in men. You'd expect a simplistic tool like BMI to fail more in a more diverse sample.
On a personal note my BMI has always been in the "obese" range -- even when I was in good shape. When I was in the Army my body fat was measured at 16% but my BMI was still 34.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...n-is-bmi-misleading?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
The news isn't so good for women. Only 3% of women with high BMIs have low body fat percentages.
This makes sense. Lean body mass is more variable in men. You'd expect a simplistic tool like BMI to fail more in a more diverse sample.
On a personal note my BMI has always been in the "obese" range -- even when I was in good shape. When I was in the Army my body fat was measured at 16% but my BMI was still 34.
