US Military: Fat and Tired

[wing2000]

This doesn't bode well for our readiness posture....and isn't too surprising given the state of the US population in general:

"A 2018 RAND report on health promotion and disease prevention has painted a grim picture of the military’s physical fitness and sleep standards.

The study, featuring roughly 18,000 randomly selected participants across each of the service branches, showed that almost 66 percent of service members are considered to be either overweight or obese, based on the military’s use of body mass index as a measuring standard.

....

In terms of problematic sleeping patterns, 59.4 percent of soldiers reported getting less sleep than needed, and 33.2 percent answered that the lack of sleep contributed to being regularly bothered by an energy deficiency.

A staggering number of troops are fat and tired, report says

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

.

 

[keith99]

Sure was not like that in 1971. I was 5'10" tall and weighed 195. I wanted to stay out of Nam and checked the weight standards. I would have had to put on an insane amount of weight to not pass the standard at least 30 more pounds and I think more than that.

Now the max weight at 5'10" for the army is 180.

Oh and I was a swimmer and water polo player. Coming in at the start of the year the coach had us swim 400 yards to check fitness. I was second fastest. (Years later I found out the guy who was fastest felt like he nearly killed himself because there was no way he was going to let some freshman beat him).

 

[iluvatar5150]

I suspect this is one of those cases where the BMI readings are thrown off by people being really muscular. The report even suggests as much:

For service members younger than age 20, weight categories were based on age and sex-
specific definitions established by the CDC (CDC, 2015b). It is important to note that BMI is
an indirect measure of body fat, and muscular service members may have been misclassified as overweight or obese. Recent research on male firefighters, who may be more similar to military personnel than other occupational cohorts, found significant misclassification, both false positive and false negative, of obesity when comparing BMI-based measures with more-sensitive measures, including percent body fat and waist circumference (Jitnarin et al., 2014

I don't think I've ever seen anyone active duty army or marines whom I'd classify as overweight (bearded vets are another story).

 

[wing2000]

I suspect this is one of those cases where the BMI readings are thrown off by people being really muscular. The report even suggests as much:



I don't think I've ever seen anyone active duty army or marines whom I'd classify as overweight (bearded vets are another story).

Even if half of the 66 percent fail the BMI due to fat, that is way too much.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's very common for men to have a high BMI due to muscle tissue, not fat. Arnold Schwartzenegger and Sylvester Stallone all during their prime would have been considered obese, just going by the BMI.

 

[comana]

I was considered overweight going off the military BMI chart when I came out of basic. I was 5'4" 135lbs which was about 15lbs heavier than I went in due to the constant physical training. Obviously I didn't sit around for two months getting fat and lazy. Without calculating actual body fat %, BMI is misleading. This was over 25 yrs ago so maybe they calculate more accurately now?

Although, I live in a military town and I have never seen someone in uniform who was obviously overweight.

 

[jacks]

A bit off topic, but I always found THIS site helpful for BMI. Plug in your stats, look in the mirror and see if it is accurate.

 

[Desk trauma]

This was over 25 yrs ago so maybe they calculate more accurately now?

It's less accurate now as the overweight category was expanded to include BMI numbers that were once within the normal range. The BMI is the product of an insurance adjuster not a medical professional and is absolutely useless when applied to anyone who is athletic other then long distance runners.