At 5'6" and around 156 pounds, i'm topping out the BMI charts and some even indicate that i am still in the overweight range.

And here i'm getting comments all over the place (in my life) about how i'd better stop losing, how sickly i look, etc. I don't think i need to lose another pound but i also don't think i'm big boned, perhaps medium. How could they be so off??

As you know, BMI is just a rough measurement, and there are many who dispute its validity for assessing optimal weight. If you're comfortable with how you look and feel, that's WAY more important than some silly chart. I also suspect you're well toned with good muscle definition, which likely explains why you're happy at your current weight.

For example, and to show the opposite side of the coin, I'm only an inch shorter than you and I weigh only 1 lb more. My BMI (according to the silly charts) is 26.1, only slightly above normal. If we think of BMI as the estimated percent of body fat, that would mean I'm about 26% body fat. No WAY! I can guarantee I'm a lot higher than that...the mirror tells me so. That just means I'm the opposite to you...I have little toning, not much muscle and too much fat (poor me ). That's in part due to my age (55) and in part due to many years of yo-yo dieting. So, I need to lose a lot more weight to look good. You apparently don't. So, kudos to you, for staying in such good shape!

Long story short, forget the charts and rely on the mirror. Oh...and forget what others say as well...it's how you feel that's important.

Also, given 2/3rds of our society is overweight or obese, it is very likely that people are so used to seeing everyone heavier than they should be that someone in the normal range looks super skinny. Added to that, they are used to seeing you heavy so comparatively you look tiny.

If you feel you want to lose more, go for it! If you feel happy where you are, than by all means, stay. What is most important is your health and happiness, not some arbitrary number or others opinion

I'm sure you aren't sickly looking nor overweight.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/...MI/bmicalc.htm
I use that. The BMI chart is NOT always right. I didn't look underweight at lowest weight of 110-which I'm going back to-which this calculator says I was 8 pounds underweight. It doesn't take all the other details into account like bone structure (I'm very small boned-5.7in wrists at 110 6.1 now) for example or muscle density. I looked skinny yes but I didn't look sick or unsafe or anything. And people who are in the overweight range-again it doesn't take everything into account and they could still be very healthy and perfectly fine and safe.

The BMI chart works pretty well, when you consider what a diverse species we are. It does cover body composition and frame size reasonable well as the bands are broad. Of course there are exceptions, along with body builders and athletes, formally obese folks tend to be fairly muscular and therefore heavy for their size because of the extra weight they've carried around.