I’d be happy to share any that you would be interested in, I’m a caucasian female. My natural body-weight is around 54kg at 167cm- which gives me a bmi of just-over 19.

I find it interesting that- during different times throughout my illness, I gained and lost weight- in one set of photos where my bmi was around 14.1, I looked COMPLETELY different to another set of photos where my weight was exactly the same.

I think it’s a poor indicator, as it doesn’t allow for fluid-retention, muscle-mass, bone-structure, etc.

I think people should just their healthy weight based on how healthy they feel and how healthy the doctor says their body is! (i.e. bloodtests, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.)- and also, just by following a healthy, balanced diet- even with a few naughty treats in-between.

BMI sucks!!!! haha…

Nogling, when I got married first time round I was 125. For me, at 5′5″, that’s the low end of an ‘acceptable’ BMI. I wasn’t dieting at all, just rushing round and making myself ill with the stress. I felt like death warmed up, and my skin required slathering with makeup to look good in the wedding photos. My mother has kept those photos, despite the fact I’ve been divorced for over a decade now, and I suspect it’s because for most of my teens I was 140 and upwards and these are the only photos she has of me actually looking ’slim’ (to her – most of her life she’s been 5′ and around 100, and applies that standard to every other woman).

When my second husband (then boyfriend) and I were moving house, we came across the old wedding dress tucked away in a bag and I decided to finally chuck it. Now, my husband is slightly heavier now, but back then he was so thin he could get his thumb and forefinger to meet round one ankle. Thin enough that they wouldn’t let him donate blood. Anyway, he was goofing around and decided to try my old wedding dress on…and he couldn’t get into it!

I see lots of reports these days complaining that we’re getting used to seeing bigger sizes as ‘normal’. Definitely not so. In fact, I wonder if many people even realize how thin some so-called ‘normal’ weights actually are.

And buffpuff, there’s a whole spate of horror stories over here in the UK about how the NHS routinely refuses to pay for breast reduction surgery in women with severe back and other medical problems. They just tell women who in some cases were F or G by their teens, and whose breasts have grown further with successive pregnancies and breastfeeding, to ‘go and lose weight’ as if that will solve everything. Ludicrous.

I’m hypermobile and suffer with fibromyalgia in my upper back. Some years ago, the rheumatologist who was treating me for the latter referred me to a hyper-mobility clinic for physiotherapy. Before undertaking physio I had to have an assessment with the specialist in charge of the clinic – who turned out to have a complete bug up his arse about my weight. I dealt with him and his prejudices as calmly and assertively as I could, assuring him I ate healthily, walked lots, and did, (at that time), two to three 45 minute cardio workouts a week at the gym. Eventually, the talking-to-the-wall aspect of the exchange forced me to brandish my rack at him and say, “Hello! Upper Back Problem!!” I pointed out that every woman on both sides of my family has whoppers and that I had them even when I weighed what he would have considered a more ideal weight. He wrote to my GP and rheumotologist claiming he didn’t think I had fibromyalgia and heaping disapproval on my fat…but strangely never volunteering any suggestions as to what he thought was wrong with me.

IMO BMI also gives many supposed professionals a fantastic excuse to be lazy.