I visit family in other states and I get comments like “I can’t believe you are so thin.” For context I am a healthy weight and I eat what I consider a reasonable diet. I sit and smile while I watch them drink soda and eat pure sugar and salt. I don’t care about your life choices but don’t act surprised by someone that’s a normal weight.
Well obesity according to what metric? The notoriously outdated and inaccurate BMI?
BMI is honestly a terrible tool for individuals, (meh but I get it for larger societal groups). Everything on me is bigger than average. Size 14 US shoe, size 3x helmets. 2x gloves. My wingspan is significantly wider than I am tall (6’5" vs 5’10"). Even my bones are far wider than average. I’m no bodybuilder but I hike extremely steep hikes for fun and at least my ass and thighs have a bit of muscle.
My weight has varied over the years but even when I’m so thin I’m constantly getting questions of, “Are you alright? You’re way too thin.” I’m still just into the overweight category. For me to get to a "healthy"BMI I’d have to be sickly thin. So I just take care of what I think makes me healthy. And at 51 my only medication is a Zyrtec every day but I’m still technically solidly overweight.
That’s my point. According to BMI, the likes of Dwayne Johnson are obese so that’s why it’s worth asking what standard of obesity the graph is referencing.
If BMI is bad for measuring individual health, why would it be at all good for measuring a large population?