[Mr Rogers]

According to a BMI calculator, I’d have to weight 140 lbs to be in the middle of “normal”. I slink into “overweight at 162 lbs.

I’ve weighed 140 lbs before - thin as a rail. Toothpick arms and no chest muscle. In fairness, I’d be in excellent shape at 155 lbs...but it would take liposuction to get me there. It would take illness to get me to 140 lbs.

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

In reality, the male BMI mortality curve has a sweet spot of about 27.5 (which is classified as "overweight"), with "normal weight" of 25 having about the same mortality rate as "obese" 30.

With women, there's almost no correlation between BMI and mortality, except at the very extremes (extremely overweight or extremely underweight).

It's possible that your optimal weight actually is 155, that 162 is only slightly worse, and that 140 isn't any more healthy than 170.