This is most likely happening because you’re using it inside the members loop. The members loop contains a long list of users, but then you’re limiting the ones displayed using your code. You can try filtering the $sql statement with ‘bp_core_get_paged_users_sql’.
Also, definitely stick with `bp_get_profile_field_data` if you decide to go that route. `bp_get_profile_field_data` is currently a wrapper for `xprofile_get_field_data`, and BP will be moving towards prefixing all function with ‘bp_’ if it hasn’t already been done. `bp_get_profile_field_data` will be more future proof.
