Thanks! I do heavy weight lifting 1x/week (loosely I follow the New Rules of Lifting for Women but I don't do leg exercises because I have a knee injury). I have some comparisons of my before and after lifting pics here. Also I swim about 2-3x/week. I've noticed that since doing weight lifting my hips/thighs are slimmer than they've ever been. It used to be that I had to buy pants by my hips/thighs but now I just need to worry about my butt/waist. I have found Levi's Supreme Curve ID jeans a good fit.

I technically hover between a hourglass and a straight figure. :dizzy: My midsection is very straight up and down so I can wear jeans made for women with much smaller natural waists but my actual natural waist isn't very small. :lol: However, I still have large breasts and a big butt so I still have some of the challenges of dressing an hourglass figure but I don't have the nipped in waist and wide hips to go with it.

Probably because the OP's doctor, unlike most, realizes that going by BMI alone is not always a good indication of a person's overall fitness and health. You can be at a healthy weight and still fall outside the "normal" BMI, for example, if you are muscular. Some doctors tend to take the BMI thing less seriously when they know there are other factors involved with some of their patients. Perhaps this is the case with the OP.

@ Running- I am going to have to check out the New Rules... I have heard about that. Your progress pics look awesome! I am going to have to be more serious about my exercise. For our body types, weight lifting really helps increase the tone and make us appear leaner.

I feel like my hips are pretty wide too. I can fit in a size 9/10 regular women's but I try to get ones that stretch a little for my hips! I saw the Levi's Curve ID in my current size at the thrift store the other day. These days I am not buying clothes for the full price as I intend on losing more and don't want to waste money! I will go see if those pants are still there.

What kind of diet are you following? For me, it's mostly vegetarian with plant-based protein as much as possible and occasionally lean cuts of chicken and some fish.

@ Snoofie- This is exactly what my Dr. told me. She also sees my father and said that he shouldn't focus on the BMI number too much either (we are built similarly). He is an extreme athlete, does triathlons, cycles centuries almost every weekend. He is still "overweight" on the BMI scale. Muscle mass skews the scale and makes it so that people who are very healthy and at a good weight for their size can still be considered "overweight". However, it is a relatively good measure to TRY to stick to. I am not advocating throwing the BMI completely out, but there are other factors that contribute to weight and being slightly overweight on the BMI scale is not the end of the world if you are muscular and athletic.

@Running- I just took a look at your blog on bras and I particularly liked your post about "Living in a bra desert"- cracked me up! That's so true, and Ihave felt your pain before. I lived in Egypt and then in Saudi Arabia for awhile and I will tell you I was squeezing my then larger boobs into a 38 D because that was the largest I could find!!! Now I am down to about a 36 D sometimes C but I can totally relate to the quadraboob. That's hilarious! :D

I am just starting out trying to lose weight so I don't know if my opinion will amount to a hill of beans, lol. But based on my research over the past couple of years and on my personal feelings, once you are so close to where you want to be (as you seem to be), I think you should throw the scales out of the equation. If there are problem spots, then change up your exercise regimen to work on those problem spots but don't neglect the rest of your body. Dieting will only get you to a smaller version of what you already were but the problem areas will remain. Only exercise (a healthy balance of lifting weights and cardio) will work those out. I hope you don't mind my opinion here :-) Great job on the weight lost so far!

Thanks. No diets, I'm on total maintenance now. No more calorie counting for me but I eat as healthy as I can and keep it to small portions. And then my new get-lean routine :)
I think that's why you shouldn't stress about your goal weight. The numbers aren't important (they are but only to track progress somewhat). What really matters is the way you feel. One of my girlfriends is 5'7" and weighs 150 but she looks so fit- I mean, literally, her abs are Victoria's Secret model types. It's all about the bone structure and the genes. When you get closer, you'll start feeling it. And when you're there, you'll know as long as you're being sensible about it.

Definitely try on the Curve ID jeans if you can. A lot of times they have them on sale on their website (usually for around $30 and many times they have free shipping too!). You can also check out PZI jeans. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard really good things about them. :D

I don't have a set diet but I basically made small changes that included:
- giving up all sugar/artificial sweeteners
-switched to whole wheat everything
-eat primarily fruits/veggies and lots of protein (I actually used to be a vegetarian too but I've found that eating meat has helped reduced my hunger levels significantly. I'm still not the biggest fan of meat but it's made a big difference in my diet).

At this point I do occasionally have sugar but I only buy single size portions about once a week, we never keep anything in the house. I do bake with natural sweeteners or even just fruit about once per week and will make cookies/cake/pie or something (with whole wheat flour, oats, fruit etc). I posted an example of a day of food for me here.


Oh, and I'm glad you enjoyed my blog! Sorry that you had the experience of living in a bra desert too, ugh! I heard that Saudia Arabia is making some changes when it comes to how they sell bras and that now they have females working in lingerie shops so women can at least try on bras before buying them. I can't imagine how frustrating that had to be before!!!