AIBU?
How much emphasis on BMI?
nbvkfnh · 08/10/2018 12:12
I am currently losing weight through healthy eating and exercise (admittedly I am not able to exercise that hard yet due to my size but I am hoping to increase this as I lose more weight.
So far I have lost just over 2st since July. I have gone from squeezing into a size 20 to a comfortable size 18.
At my lightest in recent years (when I was a size 12-14) I weighed 13st 9. I was thinking originally I'd like to get back to that weight (I am currently 16st). However having looked at BMI, I see that even at 13.9 I would still be in the obese category, not even overweight. And that to be 'normal' I'd have to lose another 2.5 stone.
Now I'm not saying that I was super skinny at 13.9, not at all, I didn't have abs and a flat stomach but I certainly didnt feel obese, and if I had lost another 2.5st I feel that would have left me very slim indeed, not at the uppermost end of 'normal'.
So should my goal be to get to normal BMI?
Chouetted · 12/10/2018 08:28
@Sallygoroundthemoon It may be a quarter of your weight, but for me it is simply proportionately much much less. In fact, if I weighed as little as you do, my BMI would be 15, which would be on the verge of qualifying for anorexia treatment.
@Shirley I'm disabled. I think you forgot about that possibility. It is NOT a basic moment, it's bloody complicated. You've got to do about five things at once merely to assume the starting position, requiring some serious coordination and then you need decent proprioception to know if you've done it correctly, because it's impossible to see your legs & feet while staring at the floor.
YesIDidNameChangeForThis · 12/10/2018 09:04
OP, well done in losing 2 stone..I know how difficult that is. What is even more difficult, and what is rarely acknowledged in all the frothing about BMI and dress sizes etc, is sustainability. It's all very well to get down to a weight that everyone else deems normal, but can you maintain it and still have a good quality of life? That is the most important factor, far more relevant than any number, and far more an indicator of "success". For that reason OP I would suggest aiming for a weight you feel you can realistically achieve and still be able to lead the life you want. Unsustainable patterns of eating and exercise cannot be upheld forever, they will fail..better to have a weight that you can sustain (whatever others think of that) than to swing up and down in pursuit of an unrealistic goal. I wish you every success 
Gwenhwyfar · 12/10/2018 09:15
"As to this everyone was smaller in the good old days...yes a lot of people were malnourished. Is that really something to aspire to?! "
There's a photo of the queen above. She could hardly have been malnourished.
"Her BMI would have been about 24-25. At that weight her collarbone and breastbone protruded noticeably."
Some people have protruding collar bones. Mine look bony when I reach what I consider to be my ideal weight. It's either fat bum and hips or bony looking collar bones. I think it's just because I store weight on my bottom half, just a body shape. Not something I worry about.
TheDowagerCuntess · 12/10/2018 09:23
Exactly - a protruding collarbone doesn't mean anything. Just like pronounced cheekbones don't mean anything. That's just your bone structure.
My collarbones protrude, no matter what weight I am. You would probably describe me as 'skeletal' if you saw them. 
N.B. I am not skeletal.
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