Well that was 'sobering'

kincharles

First topic creation here; been using MFP for almost 2 months now and dropped 14lbs in that time (dropped maybe 10 before starting here). Another day I might post a topic about who I am but right now just want to share a 'sobering' experience.

I have my current goal set to 180 - a weight which I have, until today, believed that was a good weight (and it happens to be the military weight I should 'be at' when I was in the service - if that makes sense).

Today, for 'giggles', I decided to use a BMI calculator (I used the CDC one and a webmd one) - it says that, with my height (5'6") and weight (195) my BMI is 31.4.. or obese. It also says my 'ideal' body weight is between 115-154... I don't remember being that light; but I must have been once because I couldn't have been overweight to join the service (at least not to the level I am now).

That number seems.. low to me. Not the BMI, but the weight. It does, however, explain why I have so much fat carried around even after losing a good amount of weight.

I guess now I need to at least hit my goal of 180 and then see what to do from there; but it was sort of a wake up call I guess - kind of a downer too; to know that I might be over 40 pounds from a 'good' weight rather than 15.

pawamonster

Keep in mind that BMI is a fine metric for average people, but if you are fit and muscular, it'll be skewed. Your ideal military weight was probably 180 because it was assumed that you'd be lugging around thirty pounds of muscle from your active work. BMI is an okay guideline, but check it with reality. Muscle is denser than fat. If you want a more accurate reading of your body fat composition, you could try using calipers or go to a clinic and do water displacement.

Don't be discouraged. Just keep going. You got this. Your health and fitness will always be a work in progress, and you can always find new ways to treat your bodu well.

MsHarryWinston

If you were in the service you were also probably pretty fit though. If you're 180 and doing PT every morning it's MUCH different than being 180 with a high boy fat percentage. I'm a 5'7 female and when I came back from my summer at RMC (the Royal Military College of. Canada) my mom said "forget the mattress, you could bounce a quarter off your butt." I was probably between 160-180. And I was MUCH tighter than when I was a non military work out 180 a few years later, because my body fat percentage went up. I wasn't running, marching and doing push-ups every day any more. My stats weight range is about 124-158 I believe. My cue goal is 150 a weight I haven't been since I was 14 or something like that. But I know I look great at a tight 160. That's just how I carry my weight.

cis5

Its how you feel and think you Look. In my experience BMI is very misleading. A long time ago I used to run sub 3hr Marathons and my weight was 190lb. OK its hasn't done my joints any good!

MelissaPhippsFeagins

Keep in mind that Tom Brady and Stephan Curry are obese according to the BMI. Get to 180 and re-evaluate, for sure. I have decided that my body is good at 165 at 5'7". I do lift weights and I am definitely a farm girl from way back. The last person who guessed said I weighed 135. I laughed. You will find your healthy spot. Don't worry.

trigden1991

BMI is an OK rough guide for average people.

How do you think you look? Always go by the mirror in my experience,

rybo

While BMI is certainly skewed when it come to muscular builds, 5'-6" @180 you would be built like a tank at those numbers. So it's very likely you're going to need to get closer to at least 170, probably less.

MsHarryWinston

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

Keep in mine that Tom Brady and Stephanie Curry are obese according to the BMI. Get to 180 and re-evaluate, for sure. I have decided that my body is good at 165 at 5'7". I do lift weights and I am definitely a farm girl from way back. The last person who guessed said I weighed 135. I laughed. You will find your healthy spot. Don't worry.

Ha! Yes, weights/farm girl for the win. When I was 180 ppl tended to guess about 140. That's why I'm making sure to lift heavy weights through my entire weight loss journey. Gotta keep that lean muscle mass!

FreyasRebirth

If you're overweight in the military they do a tape test. You can find calculators online to estimate body fat that way. I would imagine you aren't as muscular as you were in the service.

stanmann571

MsHarryWinston wrote: »

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

Keep in mine that Tom Brady and Stephanie Curry are obese according to the BMI. Get to 180 and re-evaluate, for sure. I have decided that my body is good at 165 at 5'7". I do lift weights and I am definitely a farm girl from way back. The last person who guessed said I weighed 135. I laughed. You will find your healthy spot. Don't worry.

Ha! Yes, weights/farm girl for the win. When I was 180 ppl tended to guess about 140. That's why I'm making sure to lift heavy weights through my entire weight loss journey. Gotta keep that lean muscle mass!

When I was 210, The usual guess was 175... I'm carrying a good bit more muscle now, so I'm really not looking to get much past 225

rainbowbow

Yes, I would agree that the lower end numbers of the BMI scale sounds about right for someone of your height.

Tom Cruise at 148 pounds:


I would say in general we have a very skewed idea of what is a "normal weight" nowadays. It's pretty normal to find a "healthy weight range" pretty shocking.

Tried30UserNames

Also keep in mind that ideal weight range is for males and females. If you look around, you'll find a 150 lb male is much smaller than a 150 lb female, usually. I think a 5'6" 115 lb female would be quite underweight in most cases. A 115 lb male would be dangerously emaciated. Really, the BMI formula makes very little sense anyway...give it a little research to see where it came from and how illogical it is.

genpopadopolous

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

Keep in mind that Tom Brady and Stephan Curry are obese according to the BMI. Get to 180 and re-evaluate, for sure. I have decided that my body is good at 165 at 5'7". I do lift weights and I am definitely a farm girl from way back. The last person who guessed said I weighed 135. I laughed. You will find your healthy spot. Don't worry.

I always chuckle to myself when people use pro-athletes as the outliers.

Yeah, Ok- they fall outside the range of a "healthy" BMI, but do most people look like or workout like Tom Brady?

No. Let's not kid ourselves.

I used to think I had a "large" frame and that the BMI range was too low to ever be attainable. But as I lost weight and had to tigthen my watch three holes and my wedding ring got too big- I realized I was just bigger than I ever admitted to myself.

I'm 8 pounds from a healthy BMI and I still have a ways to go.

MOST people fall inside the curve of BMI.

MsHarryWinston

I'm definitely a larger framed person. I mean don't get me wrong, right now I'm just overweight. But I'm also larger framed and broad shouldered. I'm also really curvy, so even at a firm 160 i still have J-K cup, lol that adds a couple of pounds. But yeah a lot of times ppl do mistake overweight for "big boned", especially if they've been overweight their entire life. My BMI range is attainable, I've been there. But I know I belong around 150-160 not 120-130, especially with the muscle I want to be building when I start recomp at my goal weight.

kincharles

Thanks all for your comments. I know I am not in a healthy BMI range by the 'mirror test' - too much baggage in the midriff and thighs. I have nowhere near the same amount of muscle I maintained in the service - lots behind it, but lets just say I haven't adjusted properly to 'normal' life and turned first to alchohol then to food to find solace. It has taken quite a few years to realize that it wasn't working for me so I am trying to get back to who I am on the inside and forget about trying to fit back into society properly. The BMI cacluator was just a shock really - mainly for the ideal weight range but I can get past that one step at a time I guess. Not having a support 'network' to fall back on doesn't help, but I have to find some strength within to keep going. I cannot keep being this person I have let myself become.

AnvilHead

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

Keep in mind that Tom Brady and Stephan Curry are obese according to the BMI. Get to 180 and re-evaluate, for sure. I have decided that my body is good at 165 at 5'7". I do lift weights and I am definitely a farm girl from way back. The last person who guessed said I weighed 135. I laughed. You will find your healthy spot. Don't worry.

I wouldn't call Tom Brady a particularly compelling example. He's a great quarterback, very durable, in good health and unquestionably a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but as far as body composition I wouldn't consider him an outlier in any way, shape or form. Stats I can find show him at 6'4", 225 lbs and I'd guess him to be somewhere around 20-22% bodyfat:

kimny72

kincharles wrote: »

Thanks all for your comments. I know I am not in a healthy BMI range by the 'mirror test' - too much baggage in the midriff and thighs. I have nowhere near the same amount of muscle I maintained in the service - lots behind it, but lets just say I haven't adjusted properly to 'normal' life and turned first to alchohol then to food to find solace. It has taken quite a few years to realize that it wasn't working for me so I am trying to get back to who I am on the inside and forget about trying to fit back into society properly. The BMI cacluator was just a shock really - mainly for the ideal weight range but I can get past that one step at a time I guess. Not having a support 'network' to fall back on doesn't help, but I have to find some strength within to keep going. I cannot keep being this person I have let myself become.

Yep, it can definitely be a shock. Especially as others have noted as our society becomes more accustomed to being overweight. When I decided I needed to lose 15-20 lbs, everyone I knew always referred to me as "the skinny one" and some were genuinely concerned that I was dieting. But I was at the upper limit of the healthy weight range. And after losing 15 lbs, I've decided I still want to lose another 5-10.

Just keep trucking and focus on making small incremental changes. Logging can really help you pinpoint where you can make small tweaks in your eating. Hang in there, and thank you so much for your service :drinker:

AnvilHead

As an afterthought to my above post re: Tom Brady - I don't think it's wrong to say that Brady is at a "healthy" weight for his height (despite a BMI of 27.4), but he's an outlier more due to his height than his muscle mass.

BMI tends to skew weird the further away from "average" height you are, and at 6'4" Brady is significantly above average. When you start talking about NBA players such as LeBron James we're moving into extremes as far as height go, and BMI figures are going to be less and less relevant even if they're not carrying a ton of muscle mass.