BMI/weight question

If you want to base your goal weight on something scientific, I think bodyfat percentage is a way better basis than BMI. BMI is useful for looking at populations, but not so much individuals.
You might have a bit more muscle mass than the average woman.
A DEXA scan might be an option to determine what weight to aim for.

PS: the looking gaunt at 160 isn't necessarily a good basis either, maybe it was because you weren't losing in a healthy fashion, or some people also look gaunt in the face at first after losing a lot of weight before their skin 'snaps back' or their body adapts itself and redistributes the fat slightly differently.

Yeah, I had people tell me I looked too thin too. And I had weird loose skin in all kinds of places after losing 70 pounds in nine months. I was just barely inside the healthy weight BMI of 155/ 5'8"

Now I'm 140-143 for the past 11 years consistently. My skin has tightened up and I look good and I'm wearing the size I wore in high school AND people (and myself) have gotten used to the new healthy me and it doesn't look gaunt any more. It takes time for the mind to catch up. It's a big change.

That said, for sure do what you feel comfortable doing. If 180 is good for you, 180 it is. My initial goal was 160 and I later decided to lose that last 15 in order to get to the mid-range of my healthy BMI. Turns out it's easy to stay there, at 140-143.

It’s usually the overweight relatives and friends that will tell you that you look “gaunt” when you get down closer to not being overweight. But I agree, take it in phases and see what size you drop down to. And strength training will help keep you looking fit.

I hope you realize that it doesn't matter what you set your MFP goal weight to, as long as it's less than your current weight?

It will calculate your goal calories identically, no matter whether you set your goal weight at 160, 180, or 200 right now. It just uses the goal for some motivational/progress messages. It has no effect on the weight loss process at all.

You can set it at 200 (or whatever) now, and adjust it again when you get close to that, and again, and again . . . until you recognize that you're at a weight you want to be.

And I agree with others: I looked a little haggard at first, after losing 50 pounds in a bit less than a year. On top of that, my friends were shocked at seeing me in this unusual, thin form, after long-term obesity. (Realistically, not that many people around me have lost a big bundle of weight quickly like that, without surgery or illness - so it's not something most folks see often, I think.)

So, I got comments at first, until people got used to it. Plus, with some time at maintenance calories, and opportunity for skin to shrink, glycogen replenishment to occur, and other adjustments to happen, I believe I actually looked better within a few months (and skin kept shrinking for a long time after that, well into year 2 of maintenance at least). Weight loss is a physical stress. That stress will show on our face and body. Fast weight loss is a bigger physical stress. Fast weight loss the way some do it - with seriously deficient nutrition - is an even bigger stress. All of that will show physically.

I'm not saying that 180 is wrong for you, and that a lower weight is right. I have no idea. I'm suggesting that you'd be well served by losing at a sensibly moderate rate, getting as good nutrition as possible, and waiting to see what you think when you get close to where you want to be, allowing for the idea that some skin shrinkage and improvements will happen in maintenance. I tend to believe that people without serious body dismorphia can recognize when they're at a weight they like, and if in doubt, they can ask their doctor.

Some people tell me that i'm too "thin" at 5'9 155lbs, it's only the people who saw me when I was heavier. People who see me for the first time don't say anything.

BMI charts are based on an average and "ideal." We know there are indeed folks who are have a small frame and some who don't. Some are more muscular than others. We have different shapes. You're individual ideal weight may be different from a BMI table. This is true for small amounts of weight.** Don't listen any more to folks that tell you that you "look gaunt" than you do to a BMI table. You can tell if you are still too well padded at 160 pounds and need to lose more.

And, if you lose weight in a healthy way you are likely to look "healthy" at 160 or wherever you land. Your previous "gaunt" look may have been due to the effect of diet pills and weight loss that was too fast. You were less healthy than you will be this time.

**In other words, I am "big boned" but that doesn't excuse being 100+ pounds overweight and therefore obese.