Well according to one of the world’s leading news broadcasters anyway, the BBC have felt the need to report on this story where a girl of 11 gets all upset (surely not, it’s not like 11 year old girls to want to be the centre of attention, I’ve got one, I know!) because her Wii Fit said her BMI was over 25 she was overweight. I’m sorry Tabea, but the correct medical definition for anybody with a BMI of over 25 is overweight. Nintendo did not invent BMI as a way of measuring our bodies, it’s the same way your doctor will measure you, a gym if you join and countless other health experts! The only mistake if any is that children shouldn’t take any notice of BMI (it’s not for children) but that’s for her parents to teach her, not a Nintendo game! Sometimes I despair at the world. Brain Training on the DS once called me stupid, has anybody got the phone number of the BBC news rooms, I MUST let the rest of the world know now?
Why BMI Is Pointless
BMI or Body Mass Index is the ratio of our weight compared to our height. For average adults it provides a “rough” estimate of how we fit on the normal, overweight and fat git scale. If you do any sort of activity however then it is pointless. The BMI figure takes no account of how our bodies are made up, this means that most professional athletes would be classed as overweight or more likely obese. This is enough to tell you that BMI as a measure of the state of our bodies should not be trusted, in fact I completely ignore it. One pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day, one pound of fat does nothing. Personally I’d rather have plenty of muscle, be a calorie burning machine but have a BMI of whatever, it can call me obese, chunky or anything else, I don’t really care.
At the end of the day Wii Fit is a game, nothing more, nothing less. If you presently do no activity then starting to do a little on the Wii Fit should help. If you think it’s going to change your life or you want to use it as your own personal trainer then I think you need your head read. The Wii Fit package costs around £79, to put it into perspective my own weighing scales cost more than that! It is not professional fitness equipment.
