Healthy BMI
DianaElena76
Posts: 1,241 Member
I know this was discussed recently, but I can't find it.
I just discovered that I need to be in the 150-pound range before I get out of the category of obesity, and something around 120-130 before I am no longer considered overweight. Honestly, I haven't been below 150 since around sophomore year of high school, and my curves are so much a part of who I am that I'm unsure I ever want to weigh that little.
I guess my question is about your goals and how you set them. My current goal is just to get into my old size 14 pants, which based on when I wore them last would put me around 170lbs--still obese. I don't have a solid goal as far as what weight I want to end up when this is all said and done, maybe because I've been overweight my entire adult life or maybe because "I'll know when I get there" or maybe because I assume my body will tell me by ceasing to lose more weight.
Are any of you concerned with reaching a "healthy BMI"? If so, what is that for you? Is it based on the common BMI charts? If not, how did you determine what would be a healthy BMI for you?
I just discovered that I need to be in the 150-pound range before I get out of the category of obesity, and something around 120-130 before I am no longer considered overweight. Honestly, I haven't been below 150 since around sophomore year of high school, and my curves are so much a part of who I am that I'm unsure I ever want to weigh that little.
I guess my question is about your goals and how you set them. My current goal is just to get into my old size 14 pants, which based on when I wore them last would put me around 170lbs--still obese. I don't have a solid goal as far as what weight I want to end up when this is all said and done, maybe because I've been overweight my entire adult life or maybe because "I'll know when I get there" or maybe because I assume my body will tell me by ceasing to lose more weight.
Are any of you concerned with reaching a "healthy BMI"? If so, what is that for you? Is it based on the common BMI charts? If not, how did you determine what would be a healthy BMI for you?
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I'm not concerned about it at all, I think my 'goal' weight is a BMI of 27, which is about 130lbs (I work in kilos, so 60kg) at 4'11".
I have a large frame (not imaginary haha) and have no interest in being thin at all. I've gone from a BMI of 51.8 to 35 today and already feel pretty good about myself.
I also compare myself to other people and their BMI's. For example, my mother in law has a BMI of 28 but I can fit her clothes. I'm 77.7kg and she is 68kg but we are the same size and she's an inch taller than me. So I don't see her smaller BMI as being healthier, she obviously has a high fat to muscle ratio.
Also my husband has a BMI of 26-27 and he's very fit and healthy.0 -
I'm 5'4", so the upper end of the healthy BMI range for me would be about 145lbs. Low end is, i think, around 116lbs. I have no intention of ever trying to get to that low end. My current goal does lie within my healthy range, but I didn't use BMI to figure out my goal.
My goal is to hit 140 lbs, so I've got about 15 lbs to go. I chose 140 because that is my lowest previous adult weight. At 155, I'm already back in all the clothes I used to wear at 140, as I spend a lot more time at the gym these days. But, I still am not looking the way I'd like, so I'm shooting for 140. When I get there, I'll see how I look and decide from there if I want to lose more or not.0 -
My "ultimate goal weight" is a good 20 pounds above where I would be consider to have a normal BMI. It is also about 20 pounds less than I have ever weighed as an adult. Honestly if I get back to my lowest adult weight, I will be happy. Technically overweight but happy and healthy. I think I could get to my ultimate goal weight if I was really strict with my diet and exercise, but I also think I would have to continue to be extremely strict with it forever to stay there. At my lowest adult weight, I was able to follow not such a strict diet and exercise a normal 3 hours a week not 3 hours a day like I would have to do to even get to my "ultimate" goal weight.
I was happy and wore a size 10 jeans and a large shirt (mostly because of my 38DDs). A also think I would look sickly at a "normal" weight and BMI because I am well endowed and my hip bones were all but sticking out when I get to a size 10.0 -
I think for people who have been morbidly obese such as I, there has to be some accounting for the weight of loose skin also. If I weighed 95lbs, the bottom end of healthy for my height, I'd probably be a wrinkly saggy bag of bones with a tummy hanging to my knees!0
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Oh yes, I forgot about hip bones. Mine would surely look ridiculous if I got into the "healthy" range. LOL
When I was 23 and gave birth to my first child, my doctor told me (after the fact), "I wasn't worried about you, because you have childbearing hips." Seriously?0 -
My goal is within my healthy BMI range because of my insurance premiums/doctors. It's at the high end though.0
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I'm 5ft 6 and weigh between 10stn 12 and 11stn 2lb (my weight fluctuates day to day) so sometimes I'm in the over weight category for BMI and sometimes I'm healthy. I also have a large frame and will never be petite. I tend not to take any notice of BMI any more, nor of the scales. I'm not over weight at all I don't think (yes, I used to be) I've had three babies so my stomach needs lots of work and I really want to tone up. I don't want to be skinny and I love my curves! I just want to be healthy and happy!0
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I am around 27 but do not plan to go below 25 long term.0
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I started at BMI of 44.6 and am now 36.3.0
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I used the Met-Life tables to establish a range (which for me would equate to a BMI range of 22-26.5). I also reminded myself that anything under a BMI of 28 was considered normal for men until a little less than two decades ago. So, really, anything under 28 is fine. I think anything around 25-26 is probably best. But, I'll let my body work that out. Over the summer, I've risen to just over 27 on the BMI chart. I expect that will go back down shortly enough.0
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I recently lost my way into the high end if my "normal" BMI range. As others have commented, I'll probably never see the low end of BMI for my height. I'm shooting for 145, which is 23% body fat or so... But if I get there and it's ridiculously hard to maintain, I'm not going to lose any sleep about coming back up to 150, 155 even.
I thought I was pretty happy where I am until I tried to take a selfie tonight. Silly ego! So fickle. The camera really does add 10 pounds. Or my mirror subtracts it.
I wish I could get over the mirror entirely and completely focus on health, but I'm not there yet.0 -
mlinton_mesapark wrote: »I recently lost my way into the high end if my "normal" BMI range. As others have commented, I'll probably never see the low end of BMI for my height. I'm shooting for 145, which is 23% body fat or so... But if I get there and it's ridiculously hard to maintain, I'm not going to lose any sleep about coming back up to 150, 155 even.
I thought I was pretty happy where I am until I tried to take a selfie tonight. Silly ego! So fickle. The camera really does add 10 pounds. Or my mirror subtracts it.
I wish I could get over the mirror entirely and completely focus on health, but I'm not there yet.
My mirror tells me I'm kinda pretty, but my camera says I look like a dude. That camera is a damn liar I tell ya.
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Lol! That was a literal lol!
"Camera says I look like a dude."
I'm sure your camera is a lying liar pants for sure!0 -
I am more interested in keeping my health markers in the best range -- HbA1c, triglycerides, etc. Then your BMI will fall where it may. But fitting into smaller pants is always a plus
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When I was at a BMI of 35 then 30 sounded great. Now at 27 25 sounds great.
If we in the USA could hit BMI of 25 +/- 2 our medical costs would drop I expect.
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I did set a goal of a "normal" BMI a while back, and I hit it in June. It's nice to be normal, but there's still more fat hanging around than I think I need, so I wouldn't mind losing more of it.
At this point, I'm done with weight-loss goals and have shifted more to a focus on fitness. My only weight-specific goal at this point is to not regress. I want to stay normal for at least a year, and hopefully much longer.
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according to the bmi charts i think my normal is between 122-164 lbs (i am 5'8" and am 42 years old) there is no way i would ever get to the low end of the normal range and my current final goal weight is about 10 pounds heavier (i am aiming for about 170-175) but my mom thinks i should get down to 140ish (hahaha, um no)0
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Unless you carry extra muscle the BMI chart is a good reference
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I recently (last week) got out of the obese range and into the overweight range. Yes I was happy but no way will I try for 'normal'. It would look dreadful on me at 5'8" and 59 yrs old! I'm keeping some fat in reserve to see me through my old age! Looking better and feeling better is so much more important than fitting their 'norm'. For those of you who have got there and are happily maintaining it....respect!0
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I'm 5" 10, and according to the BMI chart normal weight for me should be 159-175lbs. That is nowhere near my goal weight!! I want to be healthy, not skinny!! I guess I'll settle for the over weight range....0
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For me, the high-end of the healthy range is 141, which I think I may have weighed when I was in middle school (maybe!). So at this point I don't think that's realistic; that, and it would mean that I have to lose over 100lbs from this point and that is really intimidating. Right now, my first "big" goal is to just get out of the 200s, then re-evaluate. Maybe as I get closer that 141 won't seem so unattainable.0
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I am 5'3 and I am shooting for 145. That is the lowest I have been in many years and I think a healthy weight for me. But it is at the low end of overweight. I am 43 years old and I am not going to hold my breath for 125. I was 25 the last time I saw that weight. But maybe once I hit 145 I will change my mind. That will be many many months from now. lol.0
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I'm 5'7 and it says 150 is the beginning of normal weight for me and that's the weight I'm trying to get to, it or 160. I was pretty happy at 175 honestly so it all depends on how I feel when I get there.
118 is the lowest, and um...... No. Not going to happen. Ever.0 -
Yeah, I'm focused on health markers. I'm not sure I can give a F what some random arbitrary number says. I would like to keep my curves, cut down on some fat rolls, but I want to look like a woman, not a stick figure. If muscle and other factors means that I stay heavier on the scale, I'm good with that. Just remember, too that Olympic body builders and such are technically overweight or obese if you go by strict BMI scales...so, for me, it's a single tiny factor of consideration in the grand scale of things. I want to be and feel healthy and be able to do things. The random number crap is just data.
Edited to add point of reference. If anyone can see my pictures, the one when I'm standing next to my mom under an arch (picture from my wedding back in 1995 actually), I was 140-145 at age 19. I can't imagine getting below that and looking healthy, and 145 is the absolute highest part of BMI for my height 5'4" tall, so that is a lot of why I don't consider it realistic. I've had a child sense then, and so my body proportions are all difference, and even then, I think my body looked fine, but that was 20 years ago, and I know I'll never have that body again.0 -
I did use BMI as a reference for setting my goal weight. I included a 10 pound buffer for water weight as I don't intend on being in ketosis once I go into maintenance. I have weighed 120 pounds as an adult and it didn't look overly thin. I am a size 2 when I'm 120-130 pounds. When I was in high school I was that size at 108 pounds. My boobs are much, much bigger as an adult and my arms are larger. At 98 pounds (the low end of recommended BMI) I would be wearing a child's size 12. Now, I'm not saying this to criticize people who are that small. To each their own. But I think it is very important for people to grasp how small that is. At 13 and the same height as me, my daughter fits into the dresses I was wearing at a size 2 (in every place but the boobs). She is in the middle range of a healthy BMI for her age. I'm perceiving that as an expectation that we not grow any larger than we are at 13 as long as we don't get taller. In my case, at my height, it would be perfectly normal for me to not have gotten any larger than a child wearing a size 12. In other words, a 12 year old girl.
I can sit here and tell you to pay more attention to your health markers and whatnot. It is what you should be doing. Am I doing it? Nope. Instead I'm focusing on what society has told me I should look like. Did you know that prior to 1998, the healthy range for a 5'4" woman ended at 155 lbs not 145 lbs? Did you know that some people are trying to get the BMI calculator changed again to make the healthy range for shorter people lower and the healthy range for taller people higher? It's sort of funny to me that it is completely acceptable for people to tell others what is healthy or not healthy based on BMI while we ignore other, actual measures of health.
According to my health markers I am completely healthy now and I was completely healthy 40 pounds ago. According to my BMI I am disgusting and have been for awhile.
So here are my truths:
My name is Megan.
I will be 32 on Monday
I'm 151 pounds
My BMI is 27.6 which means I am almost obese at 5'2"
My lab results look like this:
HDL Cholesterol: 54 mg/dL
LDL Calculated: 80 mg/dL
Glucose Fasting: 80 mg/dL
Trig: 84 mg/dL
TSH: 3.15 mIU/L
Cholesterol: 151 mg/dL
BP: 108/64
What more could you need to know? Oh yes, I want all women to know they're beautiful in one way or another, even if I struggle seeing this in myself. I want people to feel heard when they speak. I want people that fat shame to quit hiding behind the term "healthy." Mainly, just being honest here, I want men to quit weighing in on how women should look or what their BMI should be. Particularly since it is usually followed up with a caveat that is only beneficial to their gender. I've said it before but it's worth hearing over and over. "It is not a woman’s job to get smaller and smaller and take up less and less space until she disappears so the world can be more comfortable."0 -
What more could you need to know? Oh yes, I want all women to know they're beautiful in one way or another, even if I struggle seeing this in myself. I want people to feel heard when they speak. I want people that fat shame to quit hiding behind the term "healthy." Mainly, just being honest here, I want men to quit weighing in on how women should look or what their BMI should be. Particularly since it is usually followed up with a caveat that is only beneficial to their gender. I've said it before but it's worth hearing over and over. "It is not a woman’s job to get smaller and smaller and take up less and less space until she disappears so the world can be more comfortable."
Oh I love this!! all of this paragraph!!! Yes Yes Yes!!!0 -
I'm planning to just keep going and see where I land. At 5'10", a BMI-based goal would be around 154lbs. When I was in highschool and a competitive swimmer (3k-5k yards a day training, plus daily land-based drills and weightlifting) I weighed 180. As an adult, I maintained at 236 for years without effort, still active swimming, hiking, backpacking and lifting.
After autoimmune disease hit (but undiagnosed/ misdiagnosed for over a decade), my activity dropped and weight skyrocketed to 280+. Optifast program helped me lose to 220, and maintained there for two years until the autoimmunity struck again. Finally was diagnosed with MG and started treatment at 330 lbs. Currently at 285 or so.
So, long story short, I'm guessing I'll stall out around 200-220, since I've never been able to drop below that as an adult. And at this point, regular physical activity might be minimally possible to completely impossible in the future, no guarantees with MG. If I go into remission, and can resume active hobbies again, maybe I'll break under 200?
So for now my goal is to stick with the program. The MG has forced me to live day-to-day, because I may be doing fantastically well one week and unable to get out of bed the next. My new mantra is "Be stubborn about your goals, but flexible about your means." I can control my actions, but not the timeline of the outcomes!0 -
I have just found that I need to lose another 14kg to get to the top end of 'normal'. Thats 31lbs to make me 163lbs. Thats not going to happen. I have gone down nearly 3 dress sizes...if I get into a UK 16 I will be very happy and leave it at that.0
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I just need to grow a little more. I'm not to fat, I'm obviously to short0
