Wake up and smell your BMI

I don't know if you are aware, but there has been a lot of fuss over some Australian beauty contestant Stephanie Naumoska whose height is 5'11" while her weight is only 108 pounds (BMI is around 15.1). I will not post pictures; those who are interested can easily find them on the net. They look scary, no healthy human being looks like that, whether she does or does not have an eating disorder.

While browsing CNN news clips, I accidentally stumbled upon the one with comments from a model Roshumba Williams about this situation. She said that the girl might not realize that she is underweight and might be in denial. Aside from the self-promoting and self-congratulatory tone of a very annoying Ms. Williams, who is not only a model, but also - get this? - a life style expert and an author of 2 books, Ms. Williams said that while being 5'11'', her healthy weight is 125 pounds. That's when the fatty accountant in me smelled something fishy, and I quickly crunched the numbers.

Drumroll!!! With these figures Ms. Williams' BMI is 17.4, well below 18.5, which is a cut-off for normal weight, and also below 18, a cut-off established by the Madrid fashion show a few years ago. So, in fact Ms. Williams is underweight, and as a life style expert, should know that. To be considered at healthy weight, Ms. Willaims needs to be at least 10 pounds heavier. While I will not tell her to eat a sandwich and claim that she is, in fact, unhealthy (after all, BMI is not fool proof in assessing health), presenting her weight as healthy is very misleading to the audience. The whole thing cemented my belief that the entire industry is in denial about their weight, health and self-image.

And by the way, what IS a life style expert?