Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@lauratott__
Topics: TV And Film, Health, First Dates
Lucy Devine
First Dates star Laura Tott has spoken about her shock after she was called 'obese' by doctors.
Laura, 28, explained she was left shocked when doctors used the Body Mass Index (BMI) and deemed her 'overweight'.
BMI is a measure that uses height and weight to assess whether you're at a healthy weight.
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It divides an adult's weight in kilograms by their height in metres squared. For most adults, an ideal BMI is in the 18.5 to 24.9 range, if it's over this number, you're deemed to be 'overweight'.
Writing on Instagram, Laura explained to her followers that she'd fallen into this category, despite not being asked about her diet.
“Just been for a check up at my GP," she said.
"When are they going to stop using the BMI system? They are way too comfortable telling people they are 'overweight' or 'obese' according to an out of date and stupid scale.
"They don't ask what your diets like. If you eat healthy?
"How can just your weight determine if you're healthy or not? It doesn't take into account any muscle at all…just seems so bizarre to me."
Laura explained that she's not going to let what happened affect her as she's confident she lives a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
But the waitress explained she is concerned about how it could affect others.
"So I've come out of there after being told I'm overweight…lucky I don't give a f*** as I know it's not accurate at all," she said.
"But I can't imagine how triggering that is for some people. Anyway me and my fat a** are off to the gym".
The question of whether BMI is an accurate way to measure obesity has been a much debated topic for many years.
One reason for this is muscle mass. Some people carry more muscle than others, which is denser, and could therefore lead to a higher BMI, despite that person potentially being fit and healthy.
Another factor is that it doesn't take into account waist circumference, which is said to impact the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease.
“BMI does not take waist circumference into account,” explains clinical psychologist Leslie Heinberg - director of Enterprise Weight Management at the Cleveland Clinic.
“Two people can weigh the same and, therefore, have the same BMI. But their risk for disease might not be the same.
“Say Person A has a higher waist circumference, carrying their weight in their abdomen. Person B carries their weight lower in their body. Person A has a higher risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disease, but their identical BMI doesn’t tell that story."