My main question is kind of just this: What are the merits of measuring by BMI vs. just aiming for the lowest sustainable weight that I can be confident I can to maintain, to be "healthy"? I've seen articles arguing for the pros and cons of each, stating constant weight fluctuations are injurious to health in their own way.
Some background, I'm female, 26, 5'2", vegetarian since I was a kid. I'd always been on the border of normal to overweight BMI, but my weight since high school has wildly fluctuated due to various diets or exercise regimes and then gaining it back because it wasn't sustainable with my schedule or interests. I hit my highest last summer, at 198lbs in July. Now I'm down to 170lbs. I lost those 28lbs through my own take on intermittent fasting, which works very well with my work schedule, habits, and lifestyle, and I'm tentatively confident I can stick with it because I don't feel like I'm "trying hard" to follow a weight loss program, which is usually what ultimately made me give up on previous attempts. I am bad at sticking to exercise so while I go for walks and to the gym occasionally because I feel like it, I don't think it's a good strategy for me to sustain a weight.
Like I said before, I've had massive weight fluctuations throughout life, and the lowest I've been was 130lbs at 21, which would be the "healthy weight" by BMI for my height. But I remember having serious trouble sustaining it, putting on ten to fifteen pounds really easily and requiring constant vigilance and extra management through exercise despite eating around or less than 1500 calories every day. Looking back through my various weight loss periods, the weight I've managed to sustain easily for the longest time as an adult is 140 to 145lbs, which is on the "overweight" BMI for my height. So my question is, if it is sustainable, would it still be a better target weight for me to work towards getting to now, and strive to maintain for the rest of my life, than to feel constantly discouraged that I'm not losing those last ten to fifteen pounds to get to "healthy" weight?
I've seen some recent studies which say aiming to have a waist to hip ratio less than 0.75-0.8 and a waist measuring 30 inches or less would be a better goal to work to for health as well. I'm presently at 0.81 on the ratio, at 34 inches on the waist. Some thoughts on that?
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