Hello Everyone,

First off, my ideal weight calculator puts me in range of 108 and 147 pounds. Okay, right now I weigh 165 pounds and I am still very much overweight and have a long way to go. I don't know if this helps but I am an apple shape.

I was just now looking at some old pictures of my self, some at my heaviest and the other are from 15 years ago when I was in the upper part of my idea weight (140's). The problem is I still looked fat and I remember feeling fat at that time. There is one picture of me getting on a horse and my face is cringing because I remember thinking I would hurt the horse with my weight. In all the old pictures I looked like I could lose about 40 pounds.

Are these calculators correct? I have heard that for shorter people they are inaccurate. My worry is that I will get down to my category and still be very much overweight and I don't want to have to tell people I weigh less than 100 pounds.

Maybe this is silly but I am concerned because I wanted a number to stop me and not judge on how I look because I am never going to be happy with that.

Thanks so much.

Well, I think it just depends on the person. The top edge of my "normal" BMI is in the low 150's. At that weight, I still didn't feel comfortable in a size 12. I know some people would feel comfortable in a 12, but I personally don't. My goal weight is pretty much in the middle of the healthy BMI. I'm feeling pretty good now at an 8, but I feel pretty confident my goal will be the sweet spot

Good luck to you!

I think it's useless to trust those calculators. Every single person's body is different. We're the same height but I have a large bone frame so I figure there is a good chance I'll be done once I hit 150.

You've done great so far! If you get down to 125 and love the way you look then that's great, if not you can keep going if you want. I don't think worrying about it now will do you any good.

It so depends on your body time. I´m an "almost" hourglass and tend to be fairly muscular naturally so the higher end of my BMI works just fine for me (think 140-155lbs). I was an athlete throughout high school and college and was very, very active but always stayed in that weight range.

That being said, my step-sister is a lot smaller than me (both in height and frame) and for her the higher end of her BMI would make her look overweight so she needs to stay at the mid/lower end.

Honestly, when I see my "ideal weight": 135lbs I have to laugh a lot because I´d be a twig at that weight!

I wouldn't put too much stock in those types of calculators. They don't know anything about your lean muscle mass, etc.

You are not short. I believe it's those who are under 5ft who have an issue with the calcultors.

I'm confused. Why would you tell people you are under 100lbs? There is no way you need to be under 100lbs to be healthy or even thin. Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

Then you will never be happy with a number either. Perhaps you need to do some work on that issue?

We are similar in size and I did not feel comfortable at the top of my healthy weight bracket (about 132-135). Some people do, and that's awesome. Others may have different skeletal or muscular structure to where they are at the top but look much leaner/smaller.

You mentioned you don't want to be stopped by how you look because you'll never be happy with that. Two thoughts: 1) how about how you FEEL? I minded more at the top of my bracket how I felt than how I looked- which was a little too soft/big for my own comfort. 2) hopefully when you get back to your goal weight, whatever that may be, you'll have done so in a healthy way, in which you'll have muscle definition and other factors indicating a strong, healthy body and you'll appreciate the way you look. If not, is there someone you can talk to about issues of body-image? It sounds like you are aware that you need to focus on a healthy number because you can't trust your visual impression of your body to be a rational cue to gain or lose. It's really great how self-aware you of this, and hopefully you can use this awareness to start changing your perception and love your unique body for what it is.

Just a thought on the last one, sorry if it was advice that wasn't helpful. I just hope at the end of a hard weight loss battle when you are healthy and fit and have reached your goal that you are able to enjoy it and love yourself