To be considered normal weight, I’d have to lose 20-25 lbs and look like a stick.
Yeah. At that time I was always at the lower end of ‘allowable’ body fat, and weighed about 30 lbs more than those of comparable apparent build. For me to have been at the ‘recommended weight’ I would have had to lose *all* body fat plus 10 pounds. I was one of those who sank in the pool. That said, they made me eat extra in basic training.
The “normal” height-weight charts are made for Asian men. Using those same charts, Lebron James is “obese”, and Tom Brady is “overweight”. Ignore them completely.