For me, the high-end of the healthy range is 141, which I think I may have weighed when I was in middle school (maybe!). So at this point I don't think that's realistic; that, and it would mean that I have to lose over 100lbs from this point and that is really intimidating. Right now, my first "big" goal is to just get out of the 200s, then re-evaluate. Maybe as I get closer that 141 won't seem so unattainable.

I'm 5'7 and it says 150 is the beginning of normal weight for me and that's the weight I'm trying to get to, it or 160. I was pretty happy at 175 honestly so it all depends on how I feel when I get there.

118 is the lowest, and um...... No. Not going to happen. Ever.

I did use BMI as a reference for setting my goal weight. I included a 10 pound buffer for water weight as I don't intend on being in ketosis once I go into maintenance. I have weighed 120 pounds as an adult and it didn't look overly thin. I am a size 2 when I'm 120-130 pounds. When I was in high school I was that size at 108 pounds. My boobs are much, much bigger as an adult and my arms are larger. At 98 pounds (the low end of recommended BMI) I would be wearing a child's size 12. Now, I'm not saying this to criticize people who are that small. To each their own. But I think it is very important for people to grasp how small that is. At 13 and the same height as me, my daughter fits into the dresses I was wearing at a size 2 (in every place but the boobs). She is in the middle range of a healthy BMI for her age. I'm perceiving that as an expectation that we not grow any larger than we are at 13 as long as we don't get taller. In my case, at my height, it would be perfectly normal for me to not have gotten any larger than a child wearing a size 12. In other words, a 12 year old girl.

I can sit here and tell you to pay more attention to your health markers and whatnot. It is what you should be doing. Am I doing it? Nope. Instead I'm focusing on what society has told me I should look like. Did you know that prior to 1998, the healthy range for a 5'4" woman ended at 155 lbs not 145 lbs? Did you know that some people are trying to get the BMI calculator changed again to make the healthy range for shorter people lower and the healthy range for taller people higher? It's sort of funny to me that it is completely acceptable for people to tell others what is healthy or not healthy based on BMI while we ignore other, actual measures of health.

According to my health markers I am completely healthy now and I was completely healthy 40 pounds ago. According to my BMI I am disgusting and have been for awhile.

So here are my truths:
My name is Megan.
I will be 32 on Monday
I'm 151 pounds
My BMI is 27.6 which means I am almost obese at 5'2"
My lab results look like this:
HDL Cholesterol: 54 mg/dL
LDL Calculated: 80 mg/dL
Glucose Fasting: 80 mg/dL
Trig: 84 mg/dL
TSH: 3.15 mIU/L
Cholesterol: 151 mg/dL
BP: 108/64

What more could you need to know? Oh yes, I want all women to know they're beautiful in one way or another, even if I struggle seeing this in myself. I want people to feel heard when they speak. I want people that fat shame to quit hiding behind the term "healthy." Mainly, just being honest here, I want men to quit weighing in on how women should look or what their BMI should be. Particularly since it is usually followed up with a caveat that is only beneficial to their gender. I've said it before but it's worth hearing over and over. "It is not a woman’s job to get smaller and smaller and take up less and less space until she disappears so the world can be more comfortable."

m_puppy wrote: »

What more could you need to know? Oh yes, I want all women to know they're beautiful in one way or another, even if I struggle seeing this in myself. I want people to feel heard when they speak. I want people that fat shame to quit hiding behind the term "healthy." Mainly, just being honest here, I want men to quit weighing in on how women should look or what their BMI should be. Particularly since it is usually followed up with a caveat that is only beneficial to their gender. I've said it before but it's worth hearing over and over. "It is not a woman’s job to get smaller and smaller and take up less and less space until she disappears so the world can be more comfortable."

Oh I love this!! all of this paragraph!!! Yes Yes Yes!!!

I have just found that I need to lose another 14kg to get to the top end of 'normal'. Thats 31lbs to make me 163lbs. Thats not going to happen. I have gone down nearly 3 dress sizes...if I get into a UK 16 I will be very happy and leave it at that.

1234usmc wrote: »

I just need to grow a little more. I'm not to fat, I'm obviously to short

And the best things, like all of us, come in small packages, right?

KeithF6250 wrote: »

Interesting discussion. I stopped losing weight a couple months ago. I hadn't made any changes. I just reached a point where my body mass matched my calorie intake. Since then I've fluctuated between 149 and 151 so I've decided my goal is 150. A couple days ago my wife commented that I've gone too far. I just ran the CDC BMI calculator and it came out normal although slightly above the mid-range of normal. I'm right at what I remember weighing 50 years ago but the distribution is different. If I can get a few pounds more in the upper body and less in the middle perhaps there will be fewer complaints,

I'm just on the cusp of a normal BMI now. I'm 165-166lbs and 164 something is normal for my height. I weighed this weight in my 20's, and it was distributed VERY differently. I was quite fit at the time, working out often and running up to 28km on a good Sunday. My 165lbs does not look NEARLY as good as it did 20 odd years ago. LOL

I'm shooting for about 140lbs, which is in the middle of my normal BMI. I may over shoot it and go to 130 something because the last time I was 140 was late high school, and I was quite the jock back then so 140 won't look the same either. LOL

I am adding weights back into my life but it will take quite a while for it to make a difference because my fitness level is quite low right now.

I think the main thing is not to set a hard goal. Reasses when we get to a goal and keep going or not depending on what our body wants to do, how we feel (health) and if we are happy with that size.

KnitOrMiss wrote: »

1234usmc wrote: »

I just need to grow a little more. I'm not to fat, I'm obviously to short

And the best things, like all of us, come in small packages, right?