Ideal weight vs different body types

O_o
You wouldn't have to lose any muscle.

Raven,

Body weight is a horrible way to determine your fitness level. I could show you 3 different pictures of me at nearly the same weight and you would be looking at 3 very different people. The scale is a dirty fraud that is not to be trusted. A continual before and after photo journal is the only way you will accurately be able to track where you are at, where you are headed and where you want to be.

Personally, I am not super concerned with the scale weight. I don't have a bf scale. I have used the online apps. My goal weight puts me right around 24% bf which is about what I am shooting for. If I get to where I want, with a higher weight on the scale, I am not concerned at all. [my goal is solidly in the middle of "overweight" by BMI standards]

I do have weight to lose, but I don't have "obesity related health problems" at my current weight. Many people who are where I am today do. I am low risk so far, and my aim is to stay that way. Much of that is controlled by habits and not the scale, so I am focused on continuing and building on healthy habits.

In my opinion BMI is a load to poop! I was upset as a teenager when I went to a Dr and was told I was overweight. I was 5'6 and at the time about 156 lbs. I was a competitive swimmer, player soccer and wore a size 6-8. Do not focus on that...focus on how you feel, how your clothes fit, inches etc.

O_o
You wouldn't have to lose any muscle.

what?

Taking off 30.2% body fat leaves her with 111.7 lbs of lean mass. If she didn't lose lean mass, at 116 she'd have 4.3/116=3.7% body fat.

So yes, she would.

In my opinion BMI is a load to poop! I was upset as a teenager when I went to a Dr and was told I was overweight. I was 5'6 and at the time about 156 lbs. I was a competitive swimmer, player soccer and wore a size 6-8. Do not focus on that...focus on how you feel, how your clothes fit, inches etc.

You nailed it.

To quote Valentine Michael Smith, "I am but an egg."
In other words I am so new to this fitness thing that
I can not comment on your question directly. But I can
tell you where I am on this particular trip down fitness
lane.
I am 54, 6'3 and started this trip at 230lbs. I joined MFP
and set a goal to get to 195 pounds. when I was 230 pounds my Body fat % was at about 30,
over fat for both my age and height, forgetting about BMI 's which are too general to be of any real use
except to say, "yep, you are tall and fat, short and fat, tall and skinny short and skinny"
Now, since January, a month before I joined here, I have gotten down to 201 pounds, and my Body Fat% is
down to balancing around 19.5%
So, in the beginning, I was carrying 69 pounds of FAT, and 161 pounds of lean mass.
Now I am only carrying around about 40 pounds of fat, and 161 pounds of lean.
With the exercise and diet it seems I have been able to stave off the muscle loss
while burning the fat.

I have been sticking to about 1800 calories a day, vegetarian, nearly vegan diet, and WALKING to the ends of the earth, it seems. I also do some varying strength exercises mostly with body weight. I have added resistance bands, and tai chi for balance.

I agree that the scale is not the best way to measure fitness, but for me it is all I have, not to mention fitting into old clothes again. Next stop-- 38 inch waist, again.

I would go by body fat percentage rather than weight (or at least put more emphasis on the BF%). As I write this, I wonder if there is any data that shows that being at a higher weight but healthy BF% is just as good (or not) as being a lower weight and healthy BF%?

Anyway, I agree that everyone is different. You may find that as you lose weight you don't think your goal is too low, or you may decide that it is. I am about 5' tall and my goal is 115-120. When I was in college I felt I looked best at 105-110. I don't know what my BF % was then. I am now 38 (next week) and have 4 kids. I don't know that it is sustainable for me to be that weight again, but we will see. As it is I lose VERY slow and will just be happy to get to 120 and have less body fat. I weigh 134 right now and definitely have too much fat.

<--- overweight according to the BMI

Pay attention to body fat % and the mirror.

Out of interest, where are you getting your BF% from?

I'm 5ft 1" as well, and as much as I'd like to be 110lbs or less, it'll probably never happen. I have wide hips, a big bottom and big boobs; I'm not built to skinny. My target is 126lbs with anything under that being a bonus, but I would probably have to starve myself to get to the lower end of the healthy BMI range.

In my opinion BMI is a load to poop! I was upset as a teenager when I went to a Dr and was told I was overweight. I was 5'6 and at the time about 156 lbs. I was a competitive swimmer, player soccer and wore a size 6-8. Do not focus on that...focus on how you feel, how your clothes fit, inches etc.

Yup. I believe my poor relationship with food and my body started with a trip to a new doctor when I was about 12. I wasn't counting calories then - but ate very well largely due to a mom who freshly prepared all my meals with loads of veggies and no sauces/oils. I always ride high on the healthy end of BMI. My new doc wanted to see me at a more "ideal" weight. I tried - failed - and thought a "healthy" weight was unachievable for me. When I did start to gain weight later in life - largely due to my own food prep - I thought I could not lose weight based on my previous experience. If a doc tries that on my kids, we'll see ourselves out.

Thanks to help from my husband, this site, and bodybuilding.com, I'm now focused on body fat percentage. I have a few percentage points to go - but my target bodyfat and previous "unhealthy" weight seems to coincide.

I puzzle over this as well. One of the sites that gets recommended on here quite a bit (fat2fit radio) had my "ideal" weight at something in the 140s (at 5'1") when I input my weight, current bf% (averaging the 3 measures), and a desired bf% in the healthy range, if I maintain my current LBM as I lose weight. I put in my goal weight here on MFP as something toward the top end of a healthy BMI (123) but I figure I might need to adjust when I get closer if my LBM really is something like 116 (the online bf% calculators seem very iffy to me).

Raven,

Body weight is a horrible way to determine your fitness level. I could show you 3 different pictures of me at nearly the same weight and you would be looking at 3 very different people. The scale is a dirty fraud that is not to be trusted. A continual before and after photo journal is the only way you will accurately be able to track where you are at, where you are headed and where you want to be.

Everything

I was in your same situation a few months ago. I am 5'1.5 and i weighed 163 and was 33% BF currently I am 145 and 25% bodyfat. I wear a between a size 4-6 now. I probably wont get below 130 without losing some muscle but that is ok. I remember before I ever started lifting I was 135lbs and wore a size 6-8 but now I am 10 pounds heavier and wear a 4-6, also depending on your bodytype, weight will be distributed differently and since I am an endomorph I gain muscle very quickly. Ideally I would like ti be between 130-135 and be 20% bodfyfat, that is the goal for now, but don't let the number on the scale bother you especially when you are lifting heavy. Nobody can tell that I am 145lbs because I am smaller now than I was at 135 without muscle. Keep lifting and eating clean and the results will come!

I also think I would look too skinny at the BMI for my height.

I'm using the scale as guide, but my primary goal is getting my body how I want it to look...