Confident student bucks outdated body standards by refusing to calculate her BMI
One Indiana student thinks the body mass index is an outdated, inaccurate way to measure health, and she isn't afraid to say it.
On a school take-home assignment, the eighth grader was asked to define BMI (body mass index), then calculate her own. Instead, she wrote a wrote a passionate short essay, slamming the mode of measurement and asserting her own body positivity.
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The girl's own BMI, which is measured by dividing weight by height squared, puts her in the "obese" range -- even though she's an active, well-balanced athlete whose doctors have given her a clean bill of health.
"How could someone who stays fit, eats healthy, and has a low metabolism be in danger of heart disease and diabetes? Oh, that's right, because she isn't in danger of obesity and heart disease," she wrote in the essay, which was posted to Facebook by a family friend.
Many scientists agree. While it's still a common way to measure health, the medical usefulness of BMI has become increasingly dubious in recent years.
The mode is intended to measure how much of a person's body is composed of fat based on the ratio between height and weight; however, many people -- including this student -- argue that BMI is far too simplistic a measurement.
For one thing, they say, BMI doesn't distinguish between different types of fat. For another, it can't distinguish fat from muscle, thus incorrectly placing some muscular individuals into the "obese" range.
But this student isn't letting that categorization affect her confidence. ""My BMI is none of your concern because my body and BMI are perfect and beautiful just the way they are," she wrote.
You go, girl.
[H/T: Upworthy]
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Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
