While poking around on the web this afternoon, I found this BMI calculator. The really interesting part is that after is calculates your BMI, you can input your age and it will tell you into what percentile of the population you fall. I was surprised...and saddened...that with a BMI of 22.5, smack dab in the middle of NORMAL for my height, I fell into the 11th percentile of women my age. In other words, for women my age, 89% of them have higher BMI's. I doubt that most are more muscular

Give it a try and see where you fall! Maybe we won't be so hard on ourselves.

Mel

I fall in the range that I need to lose 10# ... It just gave me a good reality check though... In my overweight state I am in the 37th percentile, I guess that means that still 69% have a higher BMI....

Wow, I started at 98%. Geez, I'm glad I didn't know that then!
I'm still at 79 percentile.
My goal of 180 is at 53 percentile. I've been mulling over lowering my goal to have a BMI of less than 25. If I do lower my goal to 165, my goal would then be at 37% percentile.

Well, that does make me feel good. I'm in the 31st percentile. I noticed when I changed my age to 35 (I'm 53) that I would be considered overweight. Hhmm.

I am in the 13th percentile. I'm 46 yrs. old and BMI is 22. I am also right in the middle of my wt. range to have a "normal" BMI. Thanks for the link. I'll remind myself of this, when I get to thinking that I could stand to lose a few more lbs. (that mindset tends to come and go with me).

Great link - Thanks.
I fall into the 15th percentile...guess I better lighten up on myself.

-S

13th percentile here - 39 yo with a bmi of 21.5, so not close to underweight.

15th percentile here among women age 52.

We have to remember that these days, what is 'normal' is overweight or obese since roughly 2/3 of us are above a healthy BMI. And being a 'normal' BMI is definitely a rarity the older you get -- all I have to do is look around my circle of friends.

It's a very weird experience to go from always being among the largest at a social event to being among the smallest!

LOL, that was my thought, if I can just hold on until I'm 103 I'll look good. Actually, that was interesting, and I guess I'm in better shape than I thought, 17% now, 11% when I hit my 50's.

I started at the 97th percentile

Now I'm down to the 37th percentile, and once I hit 30 in 18 months time it will be down to the 34th (assuming I maintain at this weight). Not bad at all.

60th percentile 3 1/2 years ago to 17th percentile now! Yeah!

Well, looks like we managed to run that contest after all.

I'm not sure this tool told me anything I didn't already know. My BMI is not in the 'healthy' range. The average maintainer here at 3FC weighs less than I do, and the population at large is overweight. Plus weight creeps up as we age, so if we maintain we start looking better compared to our peers. But now I have a number to compare with everybody else. Woo-hoo. I have a big number, do I win?

My number sucks. So what does this mean to my personal situation. I'm maintaining a 110+ pound lifetime weight loss (for 4 years now) and am back to that range after a pregnancy. My doctor is ecstatic about health. I can physically do anything I want, including triathlon and long distance running. I have a happy family and a good job. But my number sucks. What to do, what to do?

Maybe I sound a little like I'm being defensive here, but this thread made me want to say, oh I've done a bad job, and where are the Ho-hos. Fortunately I don't do that kind of thing anymore. I haven't settled for mediocrity. It is one thing to be concerned that the weight of the population is creeping up. It is quite another to take pity on anybody whose weight, BMI, or age-adjusted BMI is higher than yours. I really don't need it, and a lot of us don't. I'm not posting my numbers--my weight, height and age are readily available on this forum and if anybody needs to know, they can go do the math themselves.

I'm genuinely happy for and proud of everyone maintaining any weight loss, whether that is the 5-10% of body weight that research tells us makes a significant health change, or for those who got to their dream weight. It was interesting to read this thread and see that the people who got a low number thought it was a great thing, and at least some of the people who got a high number were revising their weight goals, before they even got to that weight to evaluate their health and quality of life.

I'll end this little rant with a plea for all of us to stop comparing our weight to others. It just isn't productive.

Anne

Deep breath, Anne *breath in**hold**exhale*

I don't know about anyone else here, but I know I was just looking out of curiosity. It certainly isn't going to make me change my goal or do anything differently from how I'm doing it now. I didn't see anyone report their percentage followed by, "Oh my goodness, if that's what the number is, I'd better lose more weight!" If nothing else, I think these numbers are sad in that the percentiles stand to show just how overweight our population is as a whole. But calculators like this are all in fun...I don't think anyone was taking them particularly seriously