Oh No!! That's too much weight to lose

Most people don't have a very good perception of what a healthy weight actually is. People are also comparing you to where you have come from and can't always imagine where you could lose that much all over again!

Greg, I don't use BMI, mostly because it is a tool that is being used completely incorrectly. It was created for statistical study of populations, not individuals. I do use Body Fat because it is a completely appropriate tool for measuring the individual.

Setting that little quibble aside, 199 lbs at your height, on your frame is not "losing too much weight" ... I think you have a completely appropriate goal ... and that goal may change somewhat as you approach it and start focusing more on fitness and body composition and less on fat loss.

I also completely agree with the poster who said most folks no longer have a good perspective on what is healthy weight and size. I go back and look at pictures from when I was a kid and teenager and you don't see people with excess body fat in them, unlike today.

I agree that BMI is ridiculous! It absolutely DOES NOT take into account your frame size. I am 5'6 with a large frame, When I weighed 260 people guessed my weight at around 200. When I go to the Doctor when they weigh me I usually have to reach
up and move the larger weight up one place cos they guess low. So, for ME the BMI is useless.

People really have no idea. Part I think is just geometry - the difference betwen 350 lbs and 400 lbs doesn't look like nearly as much as the difference between 200 and 250, because volume. Part is being used to seeing bigger people. Part is that when people lose weight their bodies go all crazy and do nutty things like empty all the fat from their earlobes so people see weird skinny bits and think you look "too skinny" when really once it all settles it'll look perfectly normal.

Mostly I think the answer is just, "ok, sure," and then go about your business.

Most people don't have a very good perception of what a healthy weight actually is. People are also comparing you to where you have come from and can't always imagine where you could lose that much all over again!

I agree. You make those goals and adjust them as you see fit. I have had this derail more attempts to be healthy than I can count. I think also, it's because a lot of people are overweight and have lost a capacity for what healthy weight really is. One of the biggest tips that helped me this time that I saw a doctor give a patient was "don't tell anyone what you are doing." I've eaten with other people less, talked about it less, and really made it MY journey and it's helped my mentality (except for the great support I get here toward reaching goals).

I read an article (don't recall where or what it was called , sorry ) and it said that as people have been becoming more overweight since the 80's that their idea of an ideal goal for themselves has also gone up almost proportionately. I think you very well could be right that those who are overweight or obese themselves, would have a different idea of what would be an ideal weight should look like. I know I used to think like that when my sister or best friend would lose weight. It makes more sense once you get started yourself. Now I can understand that they weren't underweight by any means, I just hadn't seen them in the ballpark of healthy before. Now my other sister and family members are saying the same thing to me that I used to say about the people I knew who were losing weight, to stop or that BMI isn't everything, etc. Even when I explain where I'm coming from I just get shot down, but without advice on what would be "better".

I think it's okay to use BMI as a starting goal, because it gets you at least started. My husband was fortunate enough to know from his army days just what weight works for him (which still would make him borderline "obese"). Others like me, have no idea of where to start, so BMI is at least a starting point.

Congrats on all your hard work and keep at it!

I work in a medical office and I am forced to constantly see a BMI chart on a daily basis and calculate it for all patients. According to this, I am "obese" however my blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose and all levels are within the perfect range. I have been told by physicians I work that the BMI chart is more commonly used as a guideline now, not to say by any means that I do not need to lose weight because I do but I'm not driving myself crazy to be within the range specified by my height. The BMI chart does not take into account any variable other than height so it is not a perfect system. I have been told that the best measurement is percent body fat. I would say to keep going until you feel strong and healthy and the only numbers you should worry about are the results from bloodwork. Health is all about how you feel, not where you fit in on a chart

People tell me that about my goal, and I just ignore them. It is well within normal bmi range, I've been that weight before as a healthy adult, and it is where I feel my best. I just ignore the people who tell me it's too low...not their body, not their decision.

However, people close to me have expressed that my goal might be too low. I said that I will reevaluate as I get closer to it - and I mean it. I think I have more muscle mass now, so maybe I will get back into my skinny clothes at a higher weight. I won't compromise muscle for a number on the scale.

I will reevaluate my goal weight as I near it and talk with my doctor about a healthy weight. My major point was that is was funny the comments were coming from people clearly over weight that had little intention of losing weight themselves. I was getting kind of the misery love company feeling.

Pretty much most people have no concept of what a healthy weight is or what a healthy BF% is. I started this whole thing because of some health issues I had related to the way I was eating as well as my weight...I started out at slightly obese (just over the line from very over weight) and people couldn't believe I was trying to lose weight and made comments like, "you're going to blow away in the breeze if you lose any weight." I was 5'10" and 215 and most of these comments were coming from people far larger than I was who had zero perception of what a healthy weight should be.

I'm aboud 1/2 way to where I want to be too. I want to get to at least 145, if not a little below that because that'll be within the healthy BMI range. Last week two co-workers asked how much left I had to lose, and when I said I wanted to lose about 115 more, they both said, "There won't be anything left of you!" I laughed and said, "That's the plan!!"

Its true about not knowing what a healthy weight looks like.. I have never been a healthy weight and I can't figure out how I would look if I was to be 130lbs.. Maybe one day I'll get there lol

I'm going to take a very unpopular opinion here and say that for MOST people, the BMI charts are pretty spot on for what's a good range of weights. Now that isn't to say that you can't be perfectly healthy at a BMI over 25, but chances of you being malnourished or underweight at the top end of your height's "Healthy BMI" are very slim. Very. So slim that most people on here claiming that they look sickly at a healthy BMI are just completely deluded into what a healthy body looks like.

Agree!!! People like to knock the BMI chart but it has its place and it fits the majority of the population.

Although, body fat % is the best way to know whether you are at a good weight or not. Also, just because you have a good body fat % doesn't mean you are healthy either. Exercise is key to being healthy and as this poster mentioned and I have had several doctors say to me and my wife, you can be overweight but still be healthy. It is about the exercise.