I just found out that the ideal/healthy weight for someone my height, 5'4", is 16 lbs. less than what it use to be for desirable weight and the max is 17 lbs. less. Here's the thing...and maybe this has changed with age....when I was thirty, I'd put on a lot of weight following a miscarriage. Well, at the time, I thought of it as A LOT of weight. It was actually twenty pounds less than what I weigh right now. I started eating healthier, journaling my diet and exercising and I lost twenty pounds. That twenty pounds brought me to a weight that was still twenty more pounds than I weighed in high school but I was in great shape, had amazing numbers (BP, cholesterol and resting heart rate), energetic and healthy and wore clothes just as small as what I wore in HS. So, that is the weight I'm aiming for this time. I'm currently 37 pounds away from my goal so over halfway there since I've already lost 43 pounds....ta dah! Not proud of where I started 216 (now, I will finally admit that) but proud of how far I've come! My goal weight is 136 but I just found out that where that was actually at the low end of those recommended weight charts years ago, it now is 12 pounds over the median weight for someone 5'4". I did actually lose down to my HS weight in my 30's, 115 pounds, but I felt lousy there and kept putting on weight until I both felt and thought I looked good, 136 pounds. Steve had the same experience. He lost down to his high school weight of 148 and he felt awful. He had no energy and he felt sick all of the time. So, my question, how closely do you all follow those charts? I don't know how accurate they can be since they don't consider lean mass, muscle weight versus fat weight. I've seen skinny people with lots of fat and no muscularity and I didn't think they looked healthy. I would think, as long as my numbers are good and I'm fit and my clothes fit and I get rid of any unseemly bulges that I now have, I'm going to call it the perfect weight for me. I personally don't think this cookie cutter method works for everyone and isn't a great measure of health. Since I've been working out with Josh(three months now), I've lost only 15 pounds but I'm fitting into clothes that I wore when I was at least ten pounds lighter than I am now. Am I justifying staying at an unhealthy weight or am I choosing to find the weight that's healthy for me even if it doesn't fit the doctor's chart?

I have a hard time seeing that I've lost 43 lbs but I can tell the difference in these photos of me taken 5 months apart.