Is the BMI Outdated? The Truth About Weight and Health in 2026

This program is being brought to you by Jim Adler, the Texas Hammer. I'm not overweight. Objectively overweight. I mean, by whose standards? Yours or medical? Because medical-wise, I'm fine. I'm not overweight. You are absolutely overweight. I don't think so. This is the problem. What are you basing that off of, though? Do you have a scale or something? Like, how do you determine who's overweight versus who's not overweight? I mean, I'm not fat, so I'm definitely not overweight. I don't know how you can be as fat as you are and not think that you're fat. I'm not fat. Have you seen fat? Do you know what fat looks like? I'm looking at fat. My life, 400 pounds. Do you really know what fat is? There's a debate. Is it subjective when it's from your perspective, obesity, overweight, as I need to tell you, put Pearl aside. Let's take her out of the conversation. And we got Dr. Meredith Smith here, Chris DeRoney Smith here to talk about this when we talk about someone being overweight, obese. God forbid the F word. I know. Is it subjective? Is it what I see in the mirror? Or is it what someone else sees? Or is it by a standard that is put out by the CDC? Take a look at these numbers really quick if we can throw these numbers up. This is what the CDC says when it comes to being overweight. Find your height there. And this is for men and women. And it tells you if you're overweight or you're obese. Now, take a look at those numbers. Dr. Smith is like, whatever, Isaiah, whatever. Because when I was looking at the numbers, I'm 5'10", and there was a point where I would have been like 12 pounds from that just a couple of months ago. But if the list says it. I'm not even close to that, so it feels very subjective. All right, let's bring our guest in. So screenshot that and debate it tonight. but when you see conversations like that between two women and like we said we're taking pearl out of the conversation but are there people who see themselves one way and they may actually be overweight or underweight i was telling Crystal i see some some people in the gym and they're bone thin and it's almost like the skin is coming off but they're working like they're trying to lose weight, and it's almost scary seeing that. Yeah, so again, what we have to recognize is reality and perception are two different things. And so there can definitely be some body distortions that people experience. Because what we might see in the mirror versus what our brain is interpreting is gonna be different. And sometimes it's because of outside influences, social media, society, etc. And then we also have to recognize is throughout society, there's going to be different trends that kind of ebb and flow. What was it back in the early 2000s where it was like paper thin people that was supposed to be in? In what, 60s and 70s, the Twiggy era? Right, right. But now, thicker is better, but then also culturally thicker has always been better within the African American community. And so being able to recognize all of it is perception. and what we then have to look at the criticism that i have when i see stuff like with pearl and other stuff is sometimes it is somebody else imposing their viewpoints on somebody else and not taking into account a plethora of things one maybe they are comfortable and confident with their body and where they are one but then also maybe there are some underlying factors that might be contributing to how their external body is presenting that might be out of their control. And we have to take all those things into factor. And Crystal, at your spa, you may see all types of people who come because of that reason. And if you see someone who says that they need to lose weight and you're like, my God, you're already too thin, how do you even handle that? And what do you see? Well, I'm coming from a medical point. One thing that I always throw at anyone who's looking to lose weight or gain weight, I dig deep. Everybody has a story to tell, right? And I feel like when she threw the word fat, that's a trigger word. That's a not fair word to throw because one is perception like she says and fat is universal. So when you see someone who's skinny and they're saying that they're fat, it comes from a place of history, right? And so it's for me to bring that reality into play. So I draw lab work. I put them on a scale that tells them how much muscle, how much body fat, their BMI. And that gives a whole story. So when I have someone who's underweight and they're looking to lose 5 or 10 pounds, a lot of them don't have enough muscle. And when you don't have a lot of muscle, you have a skinny fat. So, they see themselves being fluffy, but the reality is they don't have a lot of muscle. And so, it's for me to say, hey, I can see where you have a lot of percentage of body fat is because you don't have a lot of muscle. And so, with that person, my goal is for them to gain muscle, and once they gain muscle, they lose a lot of fat. So it's perception as you say, but it's also the story that they're telling. And Dr. Smith, if you're facing a health scare, health crisis in the last minute we have here and you don't see a problem, how do you, and this is not for everyone or anyone to put on you, but how do you see it yourself if you don't see it or you're in denial? And we have a minute. Yeah, so if somebody is experiencing a health scare, there's medical professionals telling them that this is the concern and they still don't see it. And if they're coming to me, then part of what we're going to be doing is peeling back the layers. There's some level of denial that might be going on. Sometimes people don't want to come to terms with what the health scare could mean in terms of their mortality. And being able to address that. And one of the things that I like to do is we do baby steps. We did not get to this space overnight. And we're not going to arrive to our ideal, you know, healthy goals overnight either. So what are those small little things that we can implement to get us closer to the healthiest version of who we need to be? All right. We want to thank you for joining us. And if you want to find that list, Dr. Smith says burn that list. I'm just saying. I'm not even close to overweight. Ten pounds difference? That's crazy. I know, I know. We'll be back. Look at that. Take a screenshot. Are you overweight? Dr. Smith says burn it. We'll be back.