lean body mass vs bmi

JustAGirl1986

I'm 5'5. When I was 17 I was 135 lbs with only 10% body fat. A year and a half ago I was 237lbs with 47% body fat. Now I have lost 62 lbs and am 175 lbs. I thought I had so much farther to go to reach a goal of 125 but now I found out that this is unattainable. My current body fat % is 28. I do a lot of strength training so my muscles are dense and weigh a lot, but my lean body mass alone is 125, so I could never be that., and honestly if I was even 135lbs I would have about 8% body fat which is very unhealthy for a woman. If I had a goal of having 16% body fat, I would I would actually be 150 lbs!

I'm actually very well proportioned and have curves. I'm not a large woman with big muscles (as women can't "grow" muscles without supplements due to lower testosterone levels than men) I just have very dense muscles, which I guess isn't a bad thing. As for my genetics, the women in my family tend to look an average of 25lbs less than they really weigh due to their natural muscle mass. Even at 237 I didn't look obese, just very overweight.

I guess I am posting this to see if anyone else is in this situation. Again, I'm not complaining that I suddenly have only 25lbs left to reach my goal of 16% body fat (it also explains why its been so hard to lose lately.) but have you ever heard of a woman who was 5'5 and 150 lbs and in great lean shape... I feel like I, along with the women in my family are an anomaly.

TavistockToad

i dont think you can even conider your weight/bodyfat when you were 17 compared to now.... you wont get that body back, you were a child then...

JustAGirl1986

I understand that, That's not what I'm saying though, I had 10% body fat even then to be 135 which is actually on the higher end of my bmi for 5'5. I naturally have a lot of muscle mass, but for me to be a healthy 16% I'd have to be 150lbs which is considered over weight for my height. I just wanted to see if anyone else has this similar experience.

JustAGirl1986

I understand that, That's not what I'm saying though, I had 10% body fat even then to be 135 which is actually on the higher end of my bmi for 5'5. I naturally have a lot of muscle mass, but for me to be a healthy 16% I'd have to be 150lbs which is considered over weight for my height. I just wanted to see if anyone else has this similar experience.