Human Height & Weight Chart

Rob Cockerham is a very funny dedicated man. One of his most striking work-in-progress can be found here on Cockeyed.com. It's called the Photographic Height/Weight Chart.

The idea is simple and deep: people submit a head to toe photo of themselves along with their height and weight. Then Rob puts it in the corresponding empty square on his chart. So far, 193 photos have been placed on the chart, both men and women together.

Here's how it work: 

Height increases from bottom to top, from 4 ft 10 in. to 6 ft 8 in., each row counting for one more inch.

Weight increases from left to right, from 90 lbs to 380 lbs, each column standing for 10-lbs increment.

The diagonal pattern forming in the center of the chart is also to be found in a BMI chart. The Body Mass Index is defined as the individual's body weight divided by the square of his or her height.

Overlaying BMI lines over Rob's chart gives you this picture below. The leftmost line is BMI = 18 and the next one right to it is BMI = 25. Anyone in between these two lines has a healthy weight, according to insurers science. The next lines from left to right are BMI = 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55.

It should come as no surprise that more people will found themselves in the 18-25 range than on any other area of the chart. Rob's sample obeys the same rules of ramdomness found in any poll or public survey. Unless there is something very special no one knows about about sending a photo of oneself over the web, all kinds of people should be willing to participate without skewing the stats intentionally.

This bar chart shows how many submissions Rob got for each 5-BMI unit range. This is close to the normal weight distribution in the US population. One has to remember that Rob counts only one submission for each square in his chart. While he must be receiving several submissions for the most frequent height/weight combinations, he's keeping only one for display.

When all squares will be filled in, the chart will somehow flatten and this will be skewed stats. Counting all real submissions should rather tend toward showing the normal distribution.

One final note:

To get a BMI of 55, one has to be something like 4' 10" and 380 lbs. No one of that size has participated in Rob's experiment yet but it's live since last year only.

There is plenty of empty squares left in the chart just waiting for volunteers. I guess Rob is still taking entries this year too so if you feel like it, just take a photo of yourself and send him an e-mail.
Here's the instructions about how to do it.

Weight Loss Visualisation

One of the great surprises that came with the first release of My Virtual Model in 1998 is how fast people discovered how to use it for weight loss visualisation. You can now find thousands of personal pages, blogs, forums and online communities using MVM for free.

And we love it as much as users seem to love MVM!

Lise The Loser’s Weblog: "Found something pretty fun - a virtual weight loss simulator from Prevention. Just plug in your current weight and your goal weight and you have a mini-you... now and at your ideal weight."
Virtual Weight Loss Simulator

JAY75REY's Blog: "I've seen other virtual model images on Spark People so I got to My Virtual Model's website and made one for me. I really like it because it helps me visualize the changes that have already occurred due to my weight loss. I feel better and know my clothes fit better, but it's nice to see a "before and after"."
Fun with My Virtual Model

eHow: "A visual aid can really help with a goal. Now there is a website that will allow you to enhance your weight loss plan by creating virtual person."
How to Create a Virtual Person for Weight Loss Plans

WHYY.org: "One of the culprits quoted in America’s struggle with expanding waist lines is "too much screen time" - time spent online or playing computer games. But researchers are observing that the computer can be a helpful tool in weight loss."
Health & Science: Technology and weight loss

Suite101.com: "My Virtual Model is a site where you can create a model by inputting data to change the features to look as much like you as possible. You can specify hair color; choose a hair style that is similar to yours, eye color, height, weight, body shape and more."
Visualize Yourself Thin: Picture Your Weight Loss Goal to Stay Motivated

ThatsFit: "If you're like me and hate to have you're picture taken, My Virtual Model is another option for people who want a glimpse of their future, fitter selves."
Picture Yourself Thin - Virtual Models as Weight Loss Motivators

CalorieLab: "Users say the virtual models aren’t perfect, but there are a lot of variables you can tinker with to make them quite similar to your own body shape."
My Virtual Model shows the diet ‘after,’ before