Ideal weight vs different body types

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...

Yeah i am 5'7" and it says I should weigh from 120 to 150, I don't think that 120 area would look good on me in any way shape or form, I found this site that gives you different ideal weights based on different factors. My goal is in the 145 lbs range with a decent amount of muscle.

http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

The BMI healthy range is a broad as it is because it ostensibly applies to the entire human population at a given height and was never intended to be equally applicable at every point to every individual. I'm also a 5'7" female, but of the small framed, slightly built, semi-ectomorphic sort. At my most fit and with a decent amount of muscle (~ 30 years ago) I weighed around 130 pounds, and have never weighed much more than that without looking pudgy. Currently I weigh 123 pounds and would love to get back up to 130 if I can do it by lifting weights and eating protein, not eating cookies.