Xpost: Are BMIs making us insane?

  I'm 5'10". According to official BMI standards of "normal" weight, I can weigh as much as 174 and as little as 126 and be of normal BMI.
126??

OMFG, if I weighted 126 pounds at 5'10", I'd look like a bag of bones with saggy skin on it!

I found a site this morning: www.mybodygallery.com/

that I found really interesting and thought I would share it. You enter your height and the weight you want to see, along with clothing sizes (if you like) and body type such as apple or pear, and it provides you with pics of real people who fit what you entered.

These two pics from the site show what my height at 124 and 125 pounds would look like. Maybe it's just me, but does "normal" look healthy to you all?
 

I think these ladies look good.  While they are really skinny I wouldn't clasify THEM as to skinny or unhealthy.  I've seen some of our celebs and THEY look horrid, but these ladies look good.

I'm checking out the sight now...interesting.

Ms Shell

I am struggling with this big time right now. My "normal" BMI puts me at 159, I am currently 170 and everyone is telling me "don't lose any more" etc etc, but I WANT normal, I want it bad. I am not sure that 159 is even healthy for me, I don't think I will like the way I look when I get there, but yet that number says I am "normal", something I have never been. ever. A normal weight that doctors would not lecture me about, a normal weight that would put me in single digit sizes, a normal weight that I can say out loud and not want to die from embarrassment. 

It's in my head, and I know its totally messing with me. 

IMO, 126 is WAAYYY TO skinny for the average women that is over 5'3 in height. Models tend to be very thin because they have to look a certain way and the clothes have to fit a certain way, just like a mannequin, BEING MODEL THIN DOES NOT MEAN BEING BEAUTIFUL, a lot of women get this confused sadly.

Women in Hollywood get extra thin to play certain roles and TV adds about 10-15 pounds to you, so they get thin in order TO MAKE MONEY, again, not to LOOK BEAUTIFUL, there IS NOTHING SEXY or BEAUTIFUL about being TOO THIN. Ask Men, lol,  I don't see why women torture themselves with all this starvation and not get PAID for it, especially when they are not looking sexy...lol.

All the men *Ive* every known say women that are too thin are a turn off and look boyish, I guess it's that survival of the species and men are just naturally turned on by women with curves, boobs and butts...lol.

 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That being said.. I have huge problems with the BMI.. it's not adjusted for age, gender, frame or % body fat.  The BMI was designed to work statistically with large numbers of people, not individuals.

Furthermore, the BMI standards were made stricter in 1998 and overnight millions of people who had formerly been of normal weight.. woke up obese.  No one can tell me that there was that much midnight snacking going on.

And yes, the pictures you posted, I think the women look too thin.  If they're satisfied with theirselves.. fine, but I wouldn't want to look like that.  And I think the majority of men would prefer women a little bigger.  But I could be wrong there as I'm not a man.  ::grin::

I'm still in the "overweight" category by the BMI.. but my PCP is fine with that.  All my other health scores (HR, B/P, Cholesterol, etc., etc.,) are right where they should be.  

Use the BMI to get approved for WLS if needed.. then throw it out the window.  JMO.

And other thing.....when did you see MEN pay money to look at very thin women? NEVER...if you go to a gentleman's club...ahhem...strip club...most of the women have assets...If you poll the average man magazine what is considered sexy and it's NOT bone thin women...Marilyn Monroe was not a very thin woman and she is still the symbol of beauty in men eyes to this day.

I don't even care what my BMI is, LOL Maybe in the beginning of WLS I did ,I just care how I feel in my own body.
My BFF was 5"7 and weighed 127 and was super skinny. I think you look great as what you weigh now. You would probably be thinner then this pic if you weighed 126.

I am a 5'7" 46 year old woman. I currently weigh 152lbs. BMI range for my height is 18.5 - 24.9, which translates to 118 - 159lbs. I am small boned, but still ... 118lbs would make me emaciated. And yet the fact that weighing in at 152lbs, still has me just at the upper end of the BMI scale (23.8) is ridiculous. I agree with you Bette, I don't think that the BMI scale is a good way to determine obesity.

I went to the mybodygallery.com site and for my height, it shows a variety of different bodies for any weight that I chose. Some look like an average weight (I hate to use the word normal here) some are thinner and some look a bit on the curvier side. Just goes to show you ... WE AREN'T ONE SIZE FITS ALL even though the women that I looked at were all 5'7".