This seems to be a stupid question, but I'll jog on. Can a person who weighs more than they should by having too much muscle, but yet be healthy at the same time? The reason I'm asking is because I want to weigh MORE than what is classified as overweight. Thanks guys!
Why couldn't they be? According to the Body Mass Index, I am considered obese (at roughly 5'8" and 201 pounds, my BMI is 30.6). According to my last body fat measurements taken by the military just a month ago, I am roughly 18% body fat, putting me in the healthy range. It doesn't make much sense to go off of those calculations. If you feel healthy and aren't ballooning up in the wrong spots, you're good to go.
The BMI is misused and misunderstood when applied to the general population as a measure of health. It requires very little muscle development to reach overweight, although I'm not built the way Kuma sounds to be, I'm bordering on overweight and am considered a scrawny bugger by most everyone I know. Many professional athlete's and sportsmen are clinically obese, and I don't just mean the darts players! Or, as Mitch said, Yes.
Following on, can having too much muscle (like bodybuilders for example), put more stress on your body, ignoring the damage they might be doing by taking drugs to get that big?
not really, it can happen to people with gigantism, Andre the Giant for instance had to put up with horrible joint pain for years before he died. But thats not really the same thing as you mean.
I've been "overweight" on those doctors charts since I was 15. 15 and a competing gymnast that is. Those charts I was told by my doctor do not count for "un-average" types. Muscle weighs more than fat after all!
Cheers, I knew about the gigantism, but I didn't know if that transferred over to massive amounts of muscle.
Usually the problems that people with way too much muscle are due to the enormous stresses they put on their bodies to get to that state, not just walking around with the extra weight on their bodies. My BMI is 27 at around 14% bodyfat, and I'm tall, so it really just isn't a good measurement. I've always been annoyed with people that put so much faith in that kind of measurement.
Tall won't make a difference, but carrying more muscle then the average slob will. I agree with you as regards people who take the measure to be an absolute though.
BMI is a stupid measurement. I was told years ago I needed to lose weight by my GP practice's nurse. I forget now how much she said I needed to lose but it was way more than my fat level at that time, I was quite slim at the time. I'd have had to cut a leg off to achieve what she was suggesting. She went totally by BMI and refused to even look at me when I challenged her to point out where I should lose the weight from. Mike