Has anyone noticed how much the ideal weight recommendations have changed over the years?

I am 5' tall or 153cm. In my younger days my ideal weight was always set at around 45 - 48kg. I have countless diet books that show this as being my ideal range and I even have copies of old diet log books from Weighless, WW etc that show that this is where my goal should be.

My weight probably naturally fell around 53kg and of course I was never happy, I was always on a diet , trying to achieve a goal that I now realise was probably unrealistically low. I have just been reading up on some of the tables on the net and the info is quite interesting. One site tells me that the Metropolitan life tables were intended to be used with a person in 1" heels - so that means I should have calculated my height as being 1" taller!

The range of different ideal weights is staggering to say the least. These were the variations i got

Robinson - 49.4kg

Miller - 53.4kg

Hamwi - 46kg

Devine - 46kg

BMI - 43.3 - 58.5 kg.

I currently weigh approx 53kg so by all tables except the Miller one I am overweight. According to Miller I am slap bang on target and if I use BMI then I am in the middle!

What this should mean is that by todays standards I should be happy, but having been brought up with the lower ideal weight recommendations it is hard to get to that point. My mind still tells me that I should be smaller.

The thing is that I wonder how much these unrealistic weight tables actually contributed to my weight problem. I spent years trying to achieve what for me is impossible. 53kg appears to be my bodies preferred setpoint and it seems that it is a realistic and healthy weight.It makes me wonder if I would have needed surgery if I hadn't ruined my metabolism by constantly being on a diet! Obviously I will never know.

I imagine that there are many of you that also struggled to try to attain an impossibly low weight because of these recommendations.

Remember BMI is just a tool and not perfect. A body builder thats 6ft and 220 pounds is considered overweight. But he has a low percentage of body fat because he works out and has lots of muscles which weigh alot.

Best wishes and good luck with your weight loss.

I can't wait to get to where you are Elcee,...116 lbs (53kg) is also a good weight for my height of 5'1. I am currently 129 but I think I'll be super happy at 120. I get my fill 10/9 so I'm hoping it'll take me there.

Good luck girl!