BMI & My Weight Question!

Options
Hello Everyone!

I was just wondering how much people on here take into account their BMI in terms of their weight loss goals/overall goal?

My situation is this:

I'm 4'11"ish (give or take a 1/4 inch or so). When I started MFP I weighed in at 160 lbs. My initial goal weight was to lose 20 lbs, and I reached it in 5 months. After I reached my initial goal weight I decided to just maintain for awhile because I felt good and everyone said I looked great. So, I randomly checked my BMI on MFP one day and it said I was still borderline Obese. I freaked out! So a year after joining MFP I decided to stop maintaining and start losing again with a new goal of 120. The weight did not come off as easy this time around and I got frustrated but I ended up losing 15 lbs in about 8 months and was not thrilled but understood that the weight gets more difficult to lose after awhile. I again went into maintaining because of life and all but unfortunately I fell off the wagon a bit and gained 8 pounds back. So, I rechecked my BMI last month and was still considered overweight, which depressed me severely. So, now here I am two years after joining MFP and I am hoping to get down to 120. But I'm starting to think that I am concentrating too much on the stupid BMI and not enough on enjoying my weight loss and how I feel now compared to two years ago. According to my BMI, I'm supposed to be anywhere between 91 pounds to 120 pounds for a healthy weight. I get that I'm short and maybe I should be much thinner but I don't want to compromise the joy of my my weight loss success because of this BMI...

So, should I have it be a big factor or just chill out and do me?

Thanks all!

Replies

  • hladams8110
    hladams8110 Posts: 27 Member
    Options
    Bmi is really only helpful if you're very average height and build at 4'11" you are neither of those things. If you feel healthy and your doctor thinks so too I wouldn't worry about it
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    Options
    BMI is fairly meaningless for a lot of people. Check your body fat. I am overweight by BMI, but fit by body fat since I have a higher muscle mass than average.
  • tkandag
    tkandag Posts: 2
    Options
    I will never look at BMI for that same reason. I had a fitness test when I was thinner and it showed I was fit by measurements but I got hung up on BMI and weight and it made me obsess over the scale - diet, lose, gain...repeat. Now I look in the mirror and take measurements! Because now I actually have weight to lose.