The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[mellowmom]

Just curious, does anyone know of another gauge to judge what your "healthy" weight should be besides the BMI?

Frankly, I'm looking in the mirror (now that's an NSV right there!) I don't see where I can handle losing another 75 pounds and that's just to get on the top border of what a healthy BMI is for my height. Whenever my friends or heck even strangers ask me how much more weight I have to lose and I say 75 they all shake their heads and say... "No, way, where are you going to lose it from?"

Are they just being polite, and am I just not "seeing" myself in my true size? Have any of you settled for a weight slightly higher than the magic number set on the BMI charts?

For the record, I definitely want to get onto the sunnyside of onederland. Did any of you who've reached your goal run into this question, and if so, did you adjust your goals as you got closer?

Thanks for any and all comments.

Carmel

[Prancer]

I agree Carmel. I dont think everyone can be judged by the same guides. We are all made up different. According to BMI my dh is overweight at 185 and 6' tall. But it doesnt consider the fact that he is more muscle then fat and muscle weighs more. I think you should lose to the point where you are comfortable and feel healthy.

[VictoriousNat]

I agree about the mirror.

I don't know the answer, but for me it has to be my bloodwork, blood pressure and fitness/strength test and probably a stress test. I am more concerned about those #s than the scale or a size. My aunt is here from London and brought a british mag. It was really interesting. Had an article with two women - one about 6 feet tall and weighing 140. The other was 5' 5" and weight 175. She had a higher BMI than the thin 6 foot woman. The article was titled "who is more at risk for a heart attack?". Well according to the article the thinner woman was. Her cholesterol was also higher than the fatter woman (mine is 168 with an awesome good to bad ratio- DH is a string bean and his is 262!!! ). The article was an eye opener. The heavier woman excercised more and ate better food. If you want I can scan and email it. I plan to read it every day to remind myself that these good choices we make DO pay off even if we are still overweight.

So I would go with the TOTALITY of my "health profile". I want normal BP, I want to run upstairs, I want to carry lots of groceries and not feel it. I want to go rafting with my brother. I want to play my younger DH at tennis and kick his azz!!! Make his scrawny behind run all over the court! AND I want a BABY!!!!

BTW, congrats on your phenomenal loss and all that you have done to make yourself a fit and healthy person. Now about that marine dude..........

[alpha femme]

i'm pretty soild (carry a lot of muscle) which is why i chose 160 as my goal weight. i also recognize that skin is very heavy and i will have a lot of it.

if you have excess skin, you can figure in some weight for that. if you do a lot of resistance training, you can estimate some weight for that, too.... however, the bmi chart actually has a lot of room between lowest and highest approprate weight and is a fairly good guide if you do not have more than average muscle mass. the best way to make sure you are building the body you want is to begin light resistance training now and see what shape your body takes.

in the meantime, you could get some cheap calipers and measure in 3-5 different areas for a pretty good overview. if you are still really curious after you get to a weight YOU like, then get a fat % test done using a water tank. but that would be silly if you are happy with the place you are in.

[DogMa]

I changed my goal to a few pounds higher than my original, although now I'm looking at eventually dropping to a few pounds BELOW my original. I think body fat is the best way to determine your goal as you get closer.

There are plenty of ways to measure, although most home or gym methods aren't all that accurate. Tanita scales, calipers, a little handheld device my gym uses ... all will give you SOME idea, at least.

[Serendipity]

Carmel,

I'm not sure how to explain this, but here goes:

When I weighed 230, after losing 46 pounds, I felt great, I felt much smaller and I felt like I looked pretty good. When I lost 30 pounds more, I saw the clothes that I had felt pretty good in and thought, wow, was I that big? At some point, in the 170-180 range, I was really feeling great and seeing a pretty good size in the mirror. But when I lost more weight, I looked at the clothes and thought....wow, I felt so good, but now these clothes look pretty big.

Right now, I feel pretty small and I know I look normal. I have about 20 pounds to go and I just know that when I get there, I'll be looking at my size 10's and 12's and think they look big.

I guess I'm just trying to say that I couldn't really trust myself with my own self-image along the way.

I really didn't trust other people's comments along the way. I had many of the same comments you are getting, but I knew what the scales said and I knew that they meant well, but that they were just wrong.

[Redhed028]

Wow, I really can't believe this subject came up here. I have been meaning to post the same, but have been real busy lately, trying on size 10s and 11s and loving it. I have also changed my goal. Originally I thought when I was a size 20-22 that if I could ever get to a size 12 it would be fantastic and regardless of what I weighed, I would be done. Well after 67 lbs lost, size 12s are getting big and now even size 10 does not seem that out of reach. So why not a size 8? According to the BMI chart I still have about 35 lbs more to go and I am still considered overweight. I know I still want to lose at least 20 lbs, but overweight???? I know I want to continue losing but will I ever not be overweight at this rate?

Everyone who sees me now says, OMG do not lose 20 more you will look terrible. But they are not the ones who are "OVERWEIGHT". My feeling is go with what you feel comfortable with, forget the charts, forget the sizes, forget the comments, and DO WHAT FEELS AND LOOKS GOOD to you.

I also am off my blood pressure and cholesterol meds and hope and pray I will never need them again and that is what matters, not the BMI!!!


Just my opinion.

[Nova]

I agree with lots of whats been said above. I've never been at a healthy weight in my entire adult or teen life, so I didn't have a good goal. I picked the upper end of the BMI as a starting goal, but I've been a competive weight lifting for many, many years, so I know I have more muscle than most women my height. I figured I'd go until I looked good in the mirror.

When I tell people I still have 20 pounds to go, they don't believe me, or they say it's too much. I think there's two reasons for that. First, we tend to wear clothes that camoflage our ever-shrinking-but-still-present muffin tops, tummy or heavy thighs. The only ones who see our unsightly bulges are ourselves or a trusted loved one. So most folks don't realize we still have pockets to get rid of. Second, those same folks are used to seeing us at our heavier weight and they have a mental image of us, too. Just as it takes time for us to change our self-image, it takes time for others to adjust. When they see you 70 pounds lighter, they can't image you being any smaller, or losing another 30-40 pounds, because you already are so much smaller than their mental picture of you.

My response is usually that I'll be done when I'm happy with how I look in a swim suit. It lets them know that I still have areas I'm working on that they're not seeing. Otherwise, just keep doing what you're doing until -you're- happy with the results.