Am I good?

[Dr Wu]

You did see the 6'3" portion of his statement, right? While 250 isn't small for someone 6'3 it's not generally considered huge and there's a big difference between a 250# wall of muscle and a 250# barrel of fat.

He's likely still growing at 15, as you said, but to jump to the conclusion that he's obese, or even likely to be, is a bit premature without further information.

6'-3" and 250 pounds is a BMI of 31.2. That is obese.

Also. He said he floats.

 

[Dracunos]

6'-3" and 250 pounds is a BMI of 31.2. That is obese.

Also. He said he floats.

I am overweight (or maybe even obese) as well, but my body has an amazing ability to hide fat all over my body, so I don't look anything like some other people who have the exact same weight/height/body fat percentage, although I am likely just as unhealthy as those people.

Jake, I wish you luck and I'm sure you will do just fine. My cert class starts next week and the only thing I am worried about is finding a rental swimsuit that will fit my butt and not be too big for everything else I may go custom, though. Most people here are very nice and not rude at all! The vast knowledge available on this board continues to amaze me. Good luck.

 

[Jakestg]

Thank you for your input Dr. Wu.

 

[LoonDiver]

Jake -- Have a great time diving! You are in a fantastic location. I am a new diver myself, but in Ohio, where the only local diving is "muck diving" in quarries.

It seems to me the single most important thing to remember is to STAY SAFE -- always dive within the limits of your training. If you were my son (and you could be at 15 years old), I would do my best to make sure you understood and appreciated how important that really is. Another poster commented on being young and male...I have read about many diver mishaps and deaths (to try to learn from them) and it seems that disproportionately men are the ones who get themselves in trouble...or die...because they thought they could do something they weren't trained for or could ignore the cautions they learned in their training. No matter how tempting those caves are...please don't do it!!! At least not until you have been trained by a competent cave diver instructor at some point in the future. You have so many years ahead of you to enjoy diving!

As for any physical fitness/weight issues...use diving as your reason to improve :blinking: It has worked for me...I started swimming laps in a local pool about 3 weeks before my Open Water classes began. I can now easily swim 400 yards -- twice the distance required to qualify for OW diver class

One more thing...run the other way (fast) if your instructor takes shortcuts. Make sure the class size isn't too large for you to get individual assistance from the instructor or assistants. I wasn't required to swim the entire 200 yards before my class...and I should have been! I could do it, but I know other students in my class could not. You don't want to find out your aerobic fitness isn't good enough when you're in open water and get a little stressed by exertion or nervousness.

Just my 2 cents...You will have a wonderful time diving!!!

 

[danvolker]

6'-3" and 250 pounds is a BMI of 31.2. That is obese.

Also. He said he floats.

DRWu,
I think Jake would need to give us more info before we can consider him at any fitness level at all.
BMI is hopelessly invalid for muscular athletes. Now if he gave us a VO2 max score, a immersion body fat percetage( or even skin caliper test conducted by a skilled trainer), we could make some far more useful conclusions and advice....You may be right, given the cultural probabilty of an America that weighs 250 pounds to be obese...but we are talking to an individual, not to a statistic.....Would a 250 lb bodybuilder post with "am I ok" ? Well, they might if they were only 15 and had seen their score on a bmi test

Regards,
DanV

To Jake...what would you run a mile in, or how fast can you ride a bike for 10 to 20 minutes (12-16/ 18-20mph/ 20-24mph) ?

 

[danvolker]

Ok will do. Do all instructors request that I get a physical from a doc? I went on the website that I plan getting Cert. off of and it gives me medicals papers but its really just questions to me?

Jake,
In regard to the points DrWu was raising....Please don't take the issue as an offense..there is a real reason for concern if a diver gets involved in cave diving or other longer and potentially deeper duration diving--if this person is actually clinically obese.
While a normal recreational diver, with "normal" fitness and body fat percentages, would still have some risk as they began to move into longer duration cave dives( the 27 % of "normal" population with a PFO) , etc, the effects would be much more dangerous to a diver with the reduced perfusion found in a morbidly obese diver..( perfusion---think about it as bloodflow to all essential body parts--ability to offgass dissolved nitrogen is related to fitness)....Large fat areas operate as "storage zones for nitrogen", and can force an obese diver to require far more complicaterd decompression that a fit diver.

If DrWu WAS correct about your body fat levels, then the good doctor is really trying to help you with "tough love". In this case, it would be much better for you to begin bicycling and work up to an hour and a half a day, 5 days per week, and to avoid sugars and breads and anything containing high fructose corn syrup. You could certainly dive, but you should stay in less than 60 feet or so, use 36% nitrox with air tables, and really try to keep your bottom times conservative. You could gain great diving experiences , and gain good skills...the cycling and change in diet could push you to a much better place in your future life, AND make your diving much better to ( allowing the deep cave stuff you sound like you would aspire to someday).

Even if you are a bodybuilder, you need the cardio work of cycling, or your ability to offgas will not be nearly as good as it should be.

Regards,
DanV

 

[knowone]

Jake. If you follow bmi bull you will blow over in a breeze and at your height if you look like a stick insect some will try.

Scientific American 23 sept 2050.
A forty year study excluding experts has shown despite size a healthy lifestyle amounts to health.

 

[knowone]

Apparently you have been tasked to modify it from tough love to a feelgood version, that delivers unique overweight individual patients to the hamburger shop and congratulates when they eat four instead of six.
Apparently you have been tasked to modify it from tough love to a feelgood version, that delivers unique overweight individual patients to the hamburger shop and congratulates when they eat four instead of six.

 

[fjpatrum]

6'-3" and 250 pounds is a BMI of 31.2. That is obese.

Also. He said he floats.

First, BMI is complete crap, especially for people who fall well outside the "norm" of physiques. BMI does not account for people who are really skinny, such as marathon runners, or those who are at the other end with a lot of muscle.

It's a "one size fits all" chart that doesn't mean anything except in a very vague sense because it is based on an "average body composition", which, by definition means it won't be an appropriate measurement for all people.

I have some friends approaching 300 pounds who are just weight lifters. One is 6' 2 and he probably has about 30-40 pounds of fat on him, the rest is muscle. Another is 6'5 and he's all muscle.

 

[emilyrose]

I don't see any reason you wouldn't be able to dive. Since you don't have any medical conditions, you should be fine there. It sounds like some instructors do require a doctor's clearance even if you don't mark anything on the medical form, but certainly plenty don't (mine didn't), and considering that you're a healthy 15-year-old, I don't see any reason you'd need to be checked out by a doctor before you can dive unless your instructor requires it. And really there's not much that your doctor could find that he wouldn't have found at a regular check-up or that would be a concern for diving but not even worth mentioning otherwise (especially since things like even mildly high blood pressure that could be risk factors for diving and are relatively normal for, say, middle-aged adults would still be unusual enough in a teenager to have discussed at a normal check-up and not just in the context of diving). It's more just if you had any chronic medical conditions, or for older people who are at higher risk for heart problems and strokes and stuff. For the most part though, and medical problems that would be an issue for diving would also be an issue for other sports, it's just that something that might make you pass out or even have a seizure while you're playing basketball or whatever, you might end up with a few bruises when you hit the ground, but the same thing happens 60 feet underwater and there's a good chance you'll drown.

As for buying equipment, most I'll just echo what others have said about waiting until you're at least certified (in fact, many places wouldn't even sell you most gear until then). But also, when you are ready to think about buying gear, keep in mind that at 15, you're probably still growing, and even if you don't end up getting much taller, you may still gain or lose weight and just sort of generally change shape a bit over the next few years. Some things like a reg and dive computer that won't matter, but for thing wetsuits especially and to some extent BCs as well, it's worth considering. When I got my BC, I (or rather my parents) ended up having to spend quite a bit for one that worked well for me (fit and various other things -- there's a lot more than just finding the right size), but for something I'll probably be using for at least 10-20 years it's not bad at all, whereas if I might only get to use it for a year or two before it didn't fit quite right it would have been way too much to have spent on it (even if it was still usable, if it just wasn't the best style for me anymore, I would have been a lot better off if I'd waited longer to invest in one and gotten a decade or two of really good wear out of it instead of a year or two of good wear and several more of acceptable wear). So when you're thinking about buy gear, assuming that you can't afford to replace it in another year or two (and probably once more after that), you might want to consider the possibility of renting some of it for the first few years, and waiting to buy things until you can be sure you won't grow out of it.