Weight calculator's "Ideal Weight" is way too low for me

kaetra

I've found many "weight calculators" that say for my height I should weight between 90 and 110 pounds. Well, I have actually been in th is range at certain points in my life and I can tell you these are ridiculously low for me. At 95 pounds I looked like I had annorexia, skeletal and very ill looking. People literally used to ask me if I was OK. Even at 110 my arms were spindly, my cheeks were sunk in and I looked like I really needed to eat something. 120 is a much better weight for me both appearance and health-wise. I do understand these are just guidelines - but I'm wondering if it's only short people who get short changed by weight calculators?

More and more companies (including where I work now) are using weight calculators to determine if their employees are a healthy weight. If you don't meet the criteria, you pay extra for health insurance. I'm not against this as a general concept because living a healthy lifestyle is something that is completely within everyone's power to do, and if you've brought all your health problems on yourself then others shouldn't have to pay higher premiums to cover your self-induced illnesses. BUT it seems corporations don't use the weight calculator data as a "guideline", they stick to whatever one they've chosen and use to the letter. And some of these calculators can be very unfair. :noway:

Carrie704

when you say weight calculator, do you mean BMI or something else?
my work does that too.. they dont take into account muscle mass and body fat % so i dont think its fair at ALL!

ncgingerich

I think there is a general "rule" for many ideal weight predictors that adds 10% to the calculation for large boned folks and subtracts 10% for smaller boned people. It may be that you have a denser bone structure or are more muscular so you need to add that 10%. It sounds like you have a good eye for your body and know your perfect weight range despite what these supposedly expert calculations show so I wouldn't give it much more thought.

yanicka

I know the feeling, to have a healty BMI I should weight between 94 and 123 pounds. Right now I am about 125 pounds and my pants size 4 are getting big!!! I can't imagine I would look good at 94 pounds

kaetra

when you say weight calculator, do you mean BMI or something else?
my work does that too.. they dont take into account muscle mass and body fat % so i dont think its fair at ALL!

My company uses a straight weight calculator. A nurse comes in to our actual company with a scale and a measuring stick. They only use height and age to tell you what your supposed to weigh. It is really unfair. So many people who are perfectly healthy fell into the "overweight" category. They've also started demanding cholesterol tests if you want to stay in the lower cost plan. It's pretty extreme. Oh, and the call the lower cost a "healthy discount" to make it sound better.

ncgingerich

I think there is a general "rule" for many ideal weight predictors that adds 10% to the calculation for large boned folks and subtracts 10% for smaller boned people. It may be that you have a denser bone structure or are more muscular so you need to add that 10%. It sounds like you have a good eye for your body and know your perfect weight range despite what these supposedly expert calculations show so I wouldn't give it much more thought.

I just reread your post and noticed that your company is using the weight calculators as a tool to see how much you pay for health insurance. This is in response to increased costs for them... which is a political issue I won't address here (and makes me soooo angry anyway... ugh). That said, I would make sure your company is using a tool that considers frame size in addition to a standard weight calculator. If they don't do this, you are right, it could be unfair to many people. Best of luck!

rosied915

Hi~

I am 5 foot tall like you and although I am a bit older at age 51, I have to agree that most weight charts for us are ridiculous!!

I was 118 pounds on my wedding day at age 24 and EVERYONE thought I was anorexic, sick, or "the nervous bride"~ no one thought I looked good. The truth was that no one had ever seen me slim and it was probably a bit of a shock to them.

The takeaway from this story is that I couldn't maintain that weight no matter what I did and now that I am twice that age and have a little "life" under my belt, (medications, yo yo dieting) there is NO way I could imagine myself weighing so little.

I believe I'm going to "land" in the 130s somewhere and that'll be that. (fooey on those stupid charts!)

As for insurance companies basing your premium on your weight~ I've never heard that one~ but I totally believe it!! We get our insurance through my husband's job and we've never been asked questions like that. And a company randomly choosing any old guideline to base premiums on is just flat out wrong!

rosied915

when you say weight calculator, do you mean BMI or something else?
my work does that too.. they dont take into account muscle mass and body fat % so i dont think its fair at ALL!

My company uses a straight weight calculator. A nurse comes in to our actual company with a scale and a measuring stick. They only use height and age to tell you what your supposed to weigh. It is really unfair. So many people who are perfectly healthy fell into the "overweight" category. They've also started demanding cholesterol tests if you want to stay in the lower cost plan. It's pretty extreme. Oh, and the call the lower cost a "healthy discount" to make it sound better.

HEALTH DISCOUNT????? Sounds like they are promoting "eating disorders for financial gain"!!! Grrrrr........

kaetra

HEALTH DISCOUNT????? Sounds like they are promoting "eating disorders for financial gain"!!! Grrrrr........

It sure feels that way to us too. And, it's not exactly encouraged people to get healthy either, which the company professes to be the program's intention. If the goals were more reasonable/attainable or tiered in some way I'm sure people would actually try to participate.

Oh well, I'm getting healthy for ME anyway. And healthy for me is definitely not 110 pounds.

kaetra

I believe I'm going to "land" in the 130s somewhere and that'll be that. (fooey on those stupid charts!)

I'm with you - I'm 42 and I think I'm going to "land" somewhere in the 130+/- range and I'll be really really happy with that!