Looking like you can't get any skinnier but BMI says otherwise?

Fatvaporizer
Fatvaporizer Posts: 139 Member
edited November 24 in Health and Weight Loss
What do you do when you are at the point when you look really skinny already, and people have been asking if you've been eating, etc. But you calculate your BMI and it's still borderline at healthy and overweight, and you still have some fat in those stubborn areas. But nonetheless, people keep asking you to 'stop losing' because you're already 'too skinny'.

What do you do? Keep going for that healthy BMI still? Or listen to what people are saying?

Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.
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Replies

  • Decapins
    Decapins Posts: 49 Member
    you still have fat in stubborn areas so of course you can still get skinnier. if you're happy though maybe you should try out maintaining for awhile!
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    BMI is a range. There is no one universal number for everyone at the same height.
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
    People's perception of their own and others weight is not something to rely on. If people have seen you at a higher weight and then at a lower weight they'll often think you've just gotten so thin, whereas someone who just met you probably wouldn't. Also, so many people are overweight and obese these days that our perception of what healthy weight looks like is skewed.
    If you're not a super serious body builder, somewhere in the healthy bmi range is a good aim.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Post a pic here and get some unbiased feedback! :) Friends and family tend to sugarcoat or honestly fail to understand what a healthy BMI looks like. My mom is worried about me losing any more weight when my BMI is still 23. Puh-lease.

  • rugratz2015
    rugratz2015 Posts: 593 Member
    Scales and BMIs are tools, other people’s opinions shouldn’t count - how do you feel? How do you feel you look? They are the only things that are important.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    What do you do when you are at the point when you look really skinny already, and people have been asking if you've been eating, etc. But you calculate your BMI and it's still borderline at healthy and overweight, and you still have some fat in those stubborn areas. But nonetheless, people keep asking you to 'stop losing' because you're already 'too skinny'.

    What do you do? Keep going for that healthy BMI still? Or listen to what people are saying?

    Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.

    I am 5'8 and shooting for 160 as well...about 24 lbs to go, but I have been there. There is a good thread about recomping on here...not sure how to post a link to it though. Basically, you eat at maintenance, but continue to lift weights and work out. Since you are eating at maintenance, you won't lose pounds, but, if you are properly working out, you should continue to shed body fat.

    BMI and ideal body weight charts can be misleading. I can tell you that at one time, I was 145 lbs. I had one person tell me I looked anorexic, and another person tell me I looked like I was smoking crack...I am not kidding.

    155-160 is the lowest I would go if I were you. If you aren't working out already, get on a good weight lifting program with some cardio, eat at maintenance and reduce body fat percentage. That's my plan, once I get to 160, anyway. YMMV.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    edited February 2018
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.

    145lbs will be pretty lean/thin/light for you. Is it too light? Hard to say... depends on a lot of factors. But I do think it's good enough to ignore BMI in your case.


    FWIW, I'm also 5'8". I was 145lbs in college, but not since. A couple of years ago I got down to 162 for my triathlon season. Because of how I carry my fat and how much muscle I had, even at 162 I had visible fat to lose. Even so, I can't imagine it was 15-20lbs worth of fat. 145lbs is going to be REALLY light for you.
  • ann_kristen
    ann_kristen Posts: 34 Member
    People will say all kinds of things, it's kind of annoying!!! Maybe try to put on muscle rather than lose pounds at this point.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    Here it is. The first post has all of the info.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,744 Member
    Don't let uneducated, casual comments from others change your plan or your path. YOU decide what's best for you. it depends on how you feel, your opinion of how you look, your fitness goals, etc.

    If I have a specific fitness goal I'm working on there's NO way one or a multitude of comments from others will change that goal. Now, if it was unhealthy, that's a different story, but sounds like you're healthy and have a reasonable goal. Just keep moving forward and see how YOU feel about it.
  • Fatvaporizer
    Fatvaporizer Posts: 139 Member
    Thanks for the feedback!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    What do you do when you are at the point when you look really skinny already, and people have been asking if you've been eating, etc. But you calculate your BMI and it's still borderline at healthy and overweight, and you still have some fat in those stubborn areas. But nonetheless, people keep asking you to 'stop losing' because you're already 'too skinny'.

    What do you do? Keep going for that healthy BMI still? Or listen to what people are saying?

    Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.

    Don't use BMI on it's own...use it in conjunction with estimated BF.

    <<< I'm 6 Lbs overweight as per BMI...I'm at a perfectly healthy 15% BF
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    What do you do when you are at the point when you look really skinny already, and people have been asking if you've been eating, etc. But you calculate your BMI and it's still borderline at healthy and overweight, and you still have some fat in those stubborn areas. But nonetheless, people keep asking you to 'stop losing' because you're already 'too skinny'.

    What do you do? Keep going for that healthy BMI still? Or listen to what people are saying?

    Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.

    Don't use BMI on it's own...use it in conjunction with estimated BF.

    <<< I'm 6 Lbs overweight as per BMI...I'm at a perfectly healthy 15% BF

    ^^^This.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    Also a perfectly healthy male BF can exist in a wide range from the very difficult to achieve 4% to the perfectly healthy 15%. I don't want any of us to kid ourselves. Once that male BF gets up into the range of a perfectly healthy female BF, he's got some work to do.
  • Fatvaporizer
    Fatvaporizer Posts: 139 Member
    edited February 2018
    When I checked last, my BF% was at around 16.4%. I wonder how much I should aim for, 12%?
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    No one can tell you. It's a personal thing. As long as you're not afflicted with something like anorexia or some other mental disorder, you should be able to see if you have unwanted flab or prominent ribs. In your own life, the people who remember you overweight are not to be trusted when they tell you you're too thin.

    I have a new friend who never saw me fat. My wife said I was too thin. He said I was not.
  • ITUSGirl51
    ITUSGirl51 Posts: 191 Member
    160 is in the healthy range of BMI for 5’8”.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    When I checked last, my BF% was at around 16.4%. I wonder how much I should aim for, 12%?

    I have read that around 10% is when to coveted six pack begins to show up. Here is a good article...see the pictures of varying body fat percentages about half way down the page:

    https://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-measure-body-fat-percentage/
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    When I checked last, my BF% was at around 16.4%. I wonder how much I should aim for, 12%?

    I'm typically 12-15%...because of the way I carry fat, I have a tiny lower belly at 15% but you can't pinch anything anywhere else...at 12% I'm pretty flat with some visible ab striations, particularly on the top. I have difficulty maintaining below that range.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,295 Member
    160lbs is in the healthy range for your height. While people who knew you when you were larger are not the best to judge always, the fact that your healthy range extends from below 145 past 145 and into 160 doesn't make EVERY single point in that range either acceptable or ideal.

    All the range says is that for MOST people of your height, being somewhere in that range they will have less chances of having health problems because of their weight.

    Now chances are high that somewhere in that range you will find a good balance between fat and lean mass. But that will depend on more than just your eating. And again, no, you can't just pick ANY spot in the range and decide ahead of time that it is equally as healthy as any other when it comes to you personally.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    ITUSGirl51 wrote: »
    160 is in the healthy range of BMI for 5’8”.

    This...

    Also, muscular men will have a much harder time being in the middle of the healthy BMI range. Chris Hemsworth is technically overweight, for example. BMI doesn't make a difference between fat and muscle.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    When I look at bmi calculators and charts I see that 160 for a 5'8" person is within the healthy weight range. Looks like the top is 164 and 122 is the bottom. There is no reason to be 145 lbs if you are good at the upper end.

    I don't know if you look too skinny. That is subjective. Other people can be used to a bigger you or all all bigger so think normal looks too skinny. Do you think you look too skinny?

    Maybe just maintain for several months and decide if you are where you want to be.
  • tramaine_21
    tramaine_21 Posts: 348 Member
    I'm 5'8, female (190-something)and honestly the 160s is the goal for me whether it maybe 169 or 160, if I feel healthy inside out, then that is all that matters.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    What does your Dr. Say?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Fatvaporizer wrote: »
    What do you do when you are at the point when you look really skinny already, and people have been asking if you've been eating, etc. But you calculate your BMI and it's still borderline at healthy and overweight, and you still have some fat in those stubborn areas. But nonetheless, people keep asking you to 'stop losing' because you're already 'too skinny'.

    What do you do? Keep going for that healthy BMI still? Or listen to what people are saying?

    Some facts: 5'8 , 160 lbs male, in his 20s. BMI is showing I should be like 145 lbs.

    Also, the 145 is simply the middle of the range...it isn't a "should"...BMI is a range to accommodate various builds as well as muscle mass, etc.

    159 is the middle of the range for me...I'd look rather sickly at that weight. At 180 and 6 Lbs overweight by BMI and I'm around 15%...at 175 I'm about 12% and still a pound or two overweight per BMI.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    I'm pretty sure you're already at the high end of a healthy BMI. Not sure why you think 145? BMI is a range, not a number.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    At 160 you are in a healthy BMI range
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
    I was told once something that stuck with me.... It was by someone who worked out often, was super healthy... and if he looked at his BMI, was considered overweight or not in “the ideal weight” range. I remember laughing in disbelief... this was one of the fittest, healthiest people I knew!

    It taught me that BMI is ONE way of measuring a healthy weight... but definitely wasn’t the ONLY way. You need to look at a variety of sources to determine what’s healthy.

    I’m REEEEALLY short, and the lower end of my health weight range according to my BMI is laughable to me... (100 pounds)... my pre-teen daughter is already almost that weight. I know of a couple of people who were admitted to an eating disorder clinic at that weight! Granted, they were a little taller than me (everybody is lol)... but still, further proof in my mind that we should look at more than one method to determine a healthy weight.

    I’m thinking that if I can make it to 136 I’ll be over the moon... I haven’t been that since high school. I think that still puts me in the “overweight” range... or just about!!! :D
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