| Tango01 | 03 Oct 2018 9:21 p.m. PST |
"A 2018 RAND report on health promotion and disease prevention has painted a grim picture of the military's physical fitness and sleep standards. The study, featuring roughly 18,000 randomly selected participants across each of the service branches, showed that almost 66 percent of service members are considered to be either overweight or obese, based on the military's use of body mass index as a measuring standard. While the number of overweight service members is a cause for concern, it correlates with the obesity epidemic plaguing the United States, where, as of 2015, one in three young adults are considered too fat to enlist, creating a difficult environment for recruiters to find suitable candidates for military service…."
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66 percent of service members are considered to be either overweight or obese ?!?!?!? Wow….he report uses data from 3 years ago, but you have to wonder if it has gotten worse.
The RAND report is here …. link Amicalement
Armand |
| emckinney | 03 Oct 2018 10:06 p.m. PST |
BMI gets really messed up when people are heavily muscled. "3. It is physiologically wrong. It makes no allowance for the relative proportions of bone, muscle and fat in the body. But bone is denser than muscle and twice as dense as fat, so a person with strong bones, good muscle tone and low fat will have a high BMI. Thus, athletes and fit, health-conscious movie stars who work out a lot tend to find themselves classified as overweight or even obese." link I suspect that the rate of obesity among combat infantrynis about zero. I'm trying to think of an Air Force officer that I've seen in the last 2 years who was obese, and I can't remember seeing one. (I used to work at a facility that was essentially part of LAAFB's Space & Missile Systems Command. Whole wings of buildings were devoted to offices for USAF personnel, who were overwhelmingly officers, so I had a pretty large sample to observe. |
Oberlindes Sol LIC  | 03 Oct 2018 10:15 p.m. PST |
We've seen a steady climb in the obesity rate in the USA over the last 20 years, at least. It makes me so depressed that I'm going to have another beer. And a bacon doughnut. |
| Thresher01 | 04 Oct 2018 1:43 a.m. PST |
Yea, BMI is just silly for very fit, heavily muscled people. They should just measure their fat. That can be done with a water test. |
| soledad | 04 Oct 2018 3:22 a.m. PST |
Agree. BMI is misleading for those who train alot. Better to have tests and if you pass the tests it does not matter what you "look" like. |
| Lion in the Stars | 04 Oct 2018 3:22 a.m. PST |
Let's have fun with an extreme example: Yao Ming. I'm pretty sure we'd all agree that a professional athlete is the farthest thing from 'fat'. Yao Ming is 7'6" tall and 311lbs. His BMI is 27, considered to be 'overweight'. Shaquille Oneal is 7'1 tall and 326lbs. His BMI is 31.7, considered to be 'obese'. For fun, here's me when I left boot camp: 5'"11.5" tall, 192lbs. That's a BMI of 26.8, considered to be 'overweight'. I had a 6-pack showing at the end of a workout, which means my body fat % was less than 8%. I wore a 48" sport coat, had a 30" waist, and a 17" neck (Hello, Spenser!). I was at the maximum allowed weight for my height. The problem with the Body Mass Index is that it's weight in KG divided by height squared. Not height cubed, or even height^2.5. |
 StoneMtnMinis | 04 Oct 2018 6:14 a.m. PST |
They probably had a majority of E-7's and E-8's in the sample. Plus there is no distinction for combat as opposed to non-combat occupations. Dave |
| Kevin C | 04 Oct 2018 7:13 a.m. PST |
There is a problem with using the BMI to determine physical fitness. I have a student who just completed his military service. He is built like some super solider on one of those science fiction movies. The muscles on his arms are probably twice the thickness of my leg muscles. And despite the fact that he doesn't seem to have an ounce of fat on him, I imagine give his bulk (which is pure muscle) he would rate very badly using a BMI index. Nevertheless, I pity any enemy soldier who had to face him in hand to hand combat. By the way, if this thread were posted on the Blue Fez, I would be happy to explain why I don't find RAND reports reliable when it comes to certain issues. |
| Tango01 | 04 Oct 2018 10:59 a.m. PST |
Interesting points…. Amicalement
Armand |
| soledad | 04 Oct 2018 11:47 a.m. PST |
One of my workouts is a 250 meter run with a 200 pound dummy. Then three circuits consisting of 15 pull ups 250 m run, 25 hand release burpees and another 250 m run. maximum allowed time 28 minutes. According to BMI I am overweight with a BMI of 29. Bmi might work but not for people who work out. |
Old Glory  | 04 Oct 2018 1:38 p.m. PST |
My BMI is perfect as far a weight, however I am 4 inchs to short? Regards
Russ Dunaway |
| Thresher01 | 05 Oct 2018 12:08 a.m. PST |
In a survival situation, the heavy ones will outlast the skinny ones, since they have more fat reserves. |
| Tired Mammal | 05 Oct 2018 4:22 a.m. PST |
"In a survival situation, the heavy ones will outlast the skinny ones, since they have more fat reserves." Bigger targets though. Tastier too. On a more serious note If you look at photos from WW2 it is quite noticeable how much thinner the troops were then. |
| Lion in the Stars | 05 Oct 2018 10:23 p.m. PST |
Well, yeah. Modern military rations are a lot more calorie-dense. WW2 C-rats were just basic canned food. |
paints up some Israeli mortar vehicles.
