Your ideal weight might make you look ill ?

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  • Deej53
    Deej53 Posts: 12
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    Sadly, most medical professionals use insurance company actuarial tables having data which is more than 50 years old! Generally, these haven't been updated to reflect new information, new science regarding the human body. I'm 5-foot-seven. My mom was 4-foot-eight with a small bone structure. My father, on the other hand, was 6 feet even with large hands and feet-a large bone structure. I have Mom's fingers but everything else comes from Dad. Under 150, even the docs I work with want to do blood work and scans, etc., to make sure I'm healthy, yet will tell me I am--"according to the tables"--overweight! Damned if you do, damned if you don't as the saying goes! Find what works best for YOU, what makes you healthy, looks good to YOU, and to hell with what other people think! Note that "healthy" is the key word here.
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,926 Member
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    My ideal weight is 155 (Female @ 5'11). I'm 145 right now and I think I over did it. At 145 and 5'11 I'm in a 4/6 which I think is too small for my frame and height. My friends tell me I'm bony and I'm losing my curves. I'm trying to get a few pounds back on and then maintain, but it's not as easy as it sounds!
  • Tat2dDom624
    Tat2dDom624 Posts: 1,226 Member
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    At my height (5' 11") my ideal weight is between 155 and 189. I'm looking to go down to 185 by New Years Eve.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    I've never been near my so-called 'ideal' weight, according to the BMI, but I do know that my mother, with whom I share an unusually large build, was extremely skinny in her late teens and twenties, and still weighed 20-30lbs more than her so called 'ideal'. Looking at the photos from that period, she looks frail and too thin for her frame. BMI is meant to measure populations, not individuals. It deals in averages. Anyone who is outside those averages is unlikely to fit neatly into the box.
  • czken
    czken Posts: 8
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    According to the BMI charts, I should be at 195 lb. I started at 305 and am shooting for 240 by Christmas. I'll assess then if I should shot lower but I can't imagine looking healthy at 195.
  • chellybailey
    chellybailey Posts: 10 Member
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    My "ideal weight" is between 7.5lb and 9.13lb I however will not even be trying to get anywhere near this weight!!

    I am aiming to get to around 13.7 - 14 stone. I am a very curvy girl - I have an hourglass figure and for me personally when I weighed around 12 stone I looked awful. Even on the very few pictures i have from that time i feel i look ill.

    Its each to their own though and good luck with everyone trying to reach their target weights :)
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
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    according to the BMI charts, I should be no more than 136lbs on my 5'2" frame. I haven't seen that since I was 20 years old! I wanted to lose 10lbs when I got pregnant with my oldest...

    all that being said, my goal on MFP is set for 10lbs heavier than I *should* be for my height. I don't know if I will get there. Because of the muscle that I am building, my weight loss is slow...but I am wearing clothes that I wore when I was 30lbs lighter. If I get to a size 8, I'll stop--no matter how much I weigh. I would be happy with a size 10 too. The way things are going, I may be 160lbs with a BMI of 29, but wearing a size 8. It would be obscene of me to try to lose 30 more pounds just to fit the stupid charts.
  • vallemic
    vallemic Posts: 278 Member
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    My BMI range for my height is 102-128 (I'm only 5'0''). When I started at 161 lbs, my goal was 128 lbs so that I would be considered "healthy". I also thought anything under 120 would look terrible on me. But it's funny how you're perception changes. I hit the 128 and then the 120 and now I'm going for 115 and maybe even keep going after that.
  • lynnprice
    lynnprice Posts: 101 Member
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    My ideal weight is somewhere in the 120 range for my height. There is no way I want to me that light. I would be happy with about 142 with decently muscular arms and legs for a girl. I don't want to be incredibly thin I would rather have the muscle to help raise my burned calories each day to help keep this day burned off more easily

    ^^^^ totally this. I agree with the OP, I think the ranges are too low, for me at least. The thought of trying to maintain 120 pounds, when I've not weighed that since I was 12 is TERRIFYING. So, my goals is to be healthy, look hot and feel hot and be of my own. Goofy, but that's what drives me.
  • hottottie11
    hottottie11 Posts: 907 Member
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    My lean body mass is 117 lbs....I'm 5'2'' if I got to the VERY top of my "ideal weight" at 136, I'll be about 13% BF (assuming no muscle loss).
  • EmCarroll1990
    EmCarroll1990 Posts: 2,849 Member
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    Well, for my height (5'3"), it says I should weigh anywhere from 111 - 148 lbs. I am around 105-ish. And I do not feel "underweight" or sickly.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
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    My ideal according to the charts is about 130ish. Im currently at 170 and in a size 9/10. a 40 pound weight loss would have me in a size 0 to 3. too skinny. I work out so i have muscle mass which accounts for my pants size. My goal is to get into a size 8. Im thinking 5 more pounds of weigh loss coupled with the exercise should do it. Oh Im 5'3.... The charts are wrong.
  • Kebby83
    Kebby83 Posts: 232 Member
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    I am 145lbs. I keep getting told I look sick and to stop losing. I don't think I look sick... My muscles are more defined, I can move more, I feel more energetic and happy.
    I think people were just used to seeing 215+lb me. I probably look tired because I get up at 5am to go to work and even on days off to get an extra work out.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
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    I don't pay much attention to those ideal weight charts. I think it's really different for every person. I have my goal weight set a bit above what they say is my 'ideal weight'..... I know that I am living a healthier lifestyle than people that are within their 'ideal weight range' so it doesn't really matter to me. :)

    So funny you say that. Had a coworker who was 20 pounds lighter than me. we were the same height. According to the charts and bmi she was considered healthy. Yet I looked and was smaller than her. More tone and in shape. Yet I was considered obese by bmi and overweight by the weight charts... its madness.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
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    According to the BMI chart y ideal weight is under 165 lbs.

    According to my Dr, I should be 195-200 lbs.

    BMI is worthless.

    Yep. my bmi has me obese... Useless
  • natlierees
    natlierees Posts: 31 Member
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    I have been told that my ideal weigh is 160 lbs I am tall I currently weigh 146 lbs - I carry weight on my middle and I have skinny arms and legs I have to keep my weight low to keep my belly in check and I have a thick waist even now
  • FatAssBecky
    FatAssBecky Posts: 58 Member
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    I'm a 5'7" woman and the charts say that the ideal weight for someone 5'7" is 123-163. I believe my personal ideal weight is between 145-150.

    I went through Marine Corps boot camp many years ago...it's probably one of the most extreme trainings one can do for 13 weeks. I went weighing 151 and left weighting 133. I looked sickly at 133 and I wasn't even at the bottom of the "ideal weight" for my height by the time I was done. I became friends with another 5'7" girl who got there weighting 118. Although she was very slender, she didn't look sickly by any means. She needed to gain weight and left weighting somewhere in the mid 120s. Her frame was just smaller - I had broader shoulders, bigger knees, wider hip bones, etc. Even though there was a 30 pound difference in us when we first got there - we were both healthy individuals - we were just both at opposite extremes of what is "ideal". If I was ever 118 - I would look disgusting. If she was ever 151 - she'd probably look all rolly polly like. It's just the way God made us.

    I think the best way to determine your ideal weight is to become confident with your body and not place too much emphasis on the number the scale gives you.
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    This time last summer I got down to around 140lbs. I had been on vacation and when I came home and went back to work - people I barely knew asked me if I had been out of work due to an illness. When I told them "No, vacation" - they asked if I was sick because I looked so thin.

    When my mom and grandma asked me if I was ill, I started to really think that maybe I was too thin. I was actually at the high end of the weight scale for my height (at 140lbs). I can't imagine what people would say if I dropped down to the 120lbs or so that I see a lot of other 5'4" women want to be.

    I've come to realize that I have a larger frame and I look better with a few extra pounds on me. I stay between 145-150lbs and find that people compliment me most right around the 150lb mark. It seems to be my healthy and happy weight.
  • lovekohl
    lovekohl Posts: 111 Member
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    My goal weight is at the very top of the "normal" BMI range for my height. I think any lighter and I would look gross. So much of it has to do with body shape. I have hips and broad shoulders, so if I was too skinny I would just look comical. I think it's more about feeling good and being healthy than being a certain weight (although that's usually a pleasant side effect).
  • agataarchangel
    agataarchangel Posts: 292 Member
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    There are just too many variables for any one "ideal weight"/number for a person.

    The ideal weight for my height (5'0") is 95-128lbs. I've been at 95lbs, and it definitely did not look good on me. I am small-chested, and at 95lbs my ribs looked like that of a skeleton used in an anatomy class. At that weight I was happy with my thighs (finally!) but everything else, including my face/ribs/arms looked skeletal and angular.

    I am now at a fit/muscular 115lbs, and everything is healthy-looking, nice and proportioned..... now if only I could pump some fat into my melons (ok....apples.....LOL?) that'd be FAB!

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