This kid is fat (according to the City of New York)

[Ptarmigan]

This kid is fat (according to the City of New York)
http://nypost.com/2014/05/22/nyc-says-this-girl-is-fat/

Gwendolyn Williams is a pencil-thin, bubbly 9-year-old who is a perfectly healthy third-grader.

But according to city bureaucrats, she’s practically obese.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God! Why did I get this?’” the Staten Island kid recalled Thursday after getting a Department of Education-issued “Fitnessgram” that described her Body Mass Index as “overweight.”

Obesity is a problem, but the New York City went too far. The girl does not even look remotely fat.

[SVPete]

Did some one screw up the data? Or is the BMI equation that screwed up? Or have health-nazi-bureaucrats been playing games with the definitions of "normal"? Or both?

The BMI equation will label many very fit athletes as "over-weight". And people into weight-lifting and body-building are off-the-BMI-charts! The bottom line, IMO, is that people vary too much for there to be a one-size-fits-all equation to define "fit" or "normal".

FWIW, I've been over-weight or obese almost my entire life, and would love to lose 30-50 lbs. (having already lost 90 or so the past 3 years). I've also walked/run several half marathons recently (which typically have 3.5-4 hour time limits for completion). So what does "fit" mean?

[Celtic Rose]

Did some one screw up the data? Or is the BMI equation that screwed up? Or have health-nazi-bureaucrats been playing games with the definitions of "normal"? Or both?

The BMI equation will label many very fit athletes as "over-weight". And people into weight-lifting and body-building are off-the-BMI-charts! The bottom line, IMO, is that people vary too much for there to be a one-size-fits-all equation to define "fit" or "normal".

FWIW, I've been over-weight or obese almost my entire life, and would love to lose 30-50 lbs. (having already lost 90 or so the past 3 years). I've also walked/run several half marathons recently (which typically have 3.5-4 hour time limits for completion). So what does "fit" mean?

The adult BMI chart is screwed up, but the child BMI chart is off the wall ridiculous.  It isn't based on strictly on BMI, but also on percentages, and if a child's BMI is in the 80th percentile or higher they are considered overweight, regardless of what their BMI actually is.  For a 9 year old girl, a BMI of 21 or higher is considered overweight.

[thundley4]

Isn't there another way of figuring the BMI? Something about water displacement to determine muscle versus fat ?

[Celtic Rose]

Isn't there another way of figuring the BMI? Something about water displacement to determine muscle versus fat ?

There is, and it is much more accurate that the traditional height vs. weight calculation, but it is fairly expensive as well. 

[thundley4]

There is, and it is much more accurate that the traditional height vs. weight calculation, but it is fairly expensive as well.

I thought so.

[Dori]

Now with Common Core collecting personal data on kids, I bet this gets added to their cradle to grave government report.