Pentagon loses the fat through liposuction

[Ichingcarpenter]

Bulky troops turn to liposuction to pass fat test




SAN DIEGO (AP) — The soldiers often call Dr. Adam Tattelbaum, a plastic surgeon, in a panic. They need liposuction, and fast.

A number of military personnel are turning to the surgical procedure to remove excess fat from around the waist so they can pass the Pentagon's body fat test, which can determine their future prospects in the military.

"They come in panicked about being kicked out or getting a demerit that will hurt their chances at a promotion," said the Rockville, Md., surgeon.

Some service members say they have no other choice because the Defense Department's method of estimating body fat is weeding out not just flabby physiques but bulkier, muscular builds.

Fitness experts and doctors agree, and are calling for the military's fitness standards to be revamped, including the weight tables the Pentagon uses. They say the tables are outdated and do not reflect that Americans are bigger, though not necessarily less healthy.

http://news.yahoo.com/bulky-troops-turn-liposuction-pass-fat-test-153233372.html


Need to cut the food stamps folks.
just kidding but I found this story odd.

[jsr]

1. That's spare change in the Pentagon

[kydo]

2. Maybe some of that liposuction could suck

some of the fat of the DoD's budget. There is just as much waste there, as there is fat around service members.

[Silent3]

3. Many people I know have reacted as if I've lost too much weight, but on the BMI scale...

...with a height of 6' and a weight of 178 lbs, I come in at a 24.1, the upper edge of "normal".

Part of this reaction I'm getting is probably because of the contrast with my old weight (I had been as high as 263 lbs.), but I've had people wonder if I was sick, or flat out say they think I've overdone my diet and exercise. I don't agree that I have overdone anything -- and my doctor says I'm at a good, healthy weight for my height -- so I think I'm mostly just up against an American cultural norm that's gotten used to excess weight.

On the other hand, to be at a weight where people are speculating out loud that I've lost too much, while also being at the upper edge of the BMI "normal" range, tells me that it's not just American cultural expectations for weight that are a bit out of whack, but the BMI scale too.

With the so-called "normal" range being 18.5-25, I supposedly could go all the way down to 136 lbs. (!!!) before I'd be officially "underweight". I'm pretty sure I'd be dead before I could get so low! Once I got down as low as 165 (after a few months when I'd mysteriously just lost my appetite) and I was beginning to look emaciated and skeletal. Only a great deal of terribly unhealthy muscle loss could get me down as low as 136.

We shouldn't mess around with health standards simply to accept flab as the new normal, but BMI is at best a very, very rough guideline that should never be part of official standards for health or fitness, be it a matter of health insurance discounts or employment requirements. Body build and muscular development definitely need to be figured into any reasonable standard. Calculations based merely on weight and height and nothing else are simply too crude.

[jakeXT]

4. Some ads on youtube