‘The Truth Is, Fat Is In and Thin is, Well, Mostly Fantasy.’
It’s always nice to read, after stuffing one’s self at Thanksgiving, that Americans are getting fatter (via Newsalert):
Forget about the Thanksgiving feast. Potbellied and big-butted Americans stuff themselves silly all year round, a survey has found.
American men are weighing in at an average of 196 pounds — 16 pounds more than in 1990, a Gallup Poll has found. The average weight for women jumped 14 pounds to 156 pounds over the same period.
The truth is, fat is in and thin is, well, mostly fantasy.
When it comes to naming their ideal weight, men and women have lowered their standards considerably.
Men now put their ideal weight at an average of 185 pounds, the highest ever and up 14 pounds since 1990.
Women say their ideal weight is 140 pounds — up from 129 pounds in 1990.
I do think that Americans’ perception of weight has changed. What used to be considered normal weight is now thought of as thin. What used to be heavy is now normal.
Do you have an ideal weight and if so, what is it?
I don’t own a scale. I have jeans instead. I wear a size 2 and need a belt because waistbands have expanded and no longer hold up my pants. I estimate that I weigh around 105, down from my younger weight of 120. Just happened. In high school, college,and as a young adult, I was considered chubby. Now that I’m not, nothing age appropriate fits.
sigh
I’m at the high end of normal, 135 lbs for my height of 5′ 2″. In high school I was 108 and was not considered skinny at that time (1979)! But what I find amazing is that women’s sizes seem to have been ratcheted up to make bigger people feel better. In high school I was a size 8 at 108 lbs. Now at 135 lbs I fit into size 8 and 10s. How is that possible unless size 8 and 10 are not what they were when I was in high school?
Karen, I’m larger than you, but am still wearing my high school pants size … and I’m 10 lb heavier than when I graduated … so yeah, I believe the sizes have been changed to protect the chubby …
I’m 10 lbs heavier than in high school, and I too am finding I wear a size or two smaller. Being on the tall side, I’ve always had to shop online, but now many retailers have quit making my size entirely. It’s not so bad being forced to shop J Crew but it does get a little pricey.
That is exactly what has happened over the years. To appeal to peoples vanity the size has actually grown while the label has not. Doesn’t work for most men’s pants though, they are sized in actual inches not some made up ‘size’.
It’s starting to happen with mens’ pant sizes now too. Theoretically they are merely the inch measurement, but over the last 2-3 years the waists have been getting bigger. I’ve gained 10 pounds in that time and cannot wear the same pant size from the same brand without a belt anymore.
It has certainly taken longer, but mens’ clothes are unfortunately not immune.
I’m five-foot-nine and weigh nine stone flat, but I am having a hard time believing I’m a size six petite according to the tag on my new J. Crewe peacoat. Four decades past childhood and yet I can wear those sizes. This will take some adjustment…….
‘kay. Are these weights rising faster than the cube of the percentage height increase of successive cohorts? If the average height of a young lady went from 5’7″ to 5’8″, then the equivalent new average weight would go from 155# to 166#.
I weight just about what I weighed fifteen years ago, but it looked a lot better back then. If I can’t get younger, then I suppose I should lose 10-20 pounds.
In The Maltese Falcon, Bogart tells the cops they’ll have no trouble spotting Sidney Greenstreet because “he weighs 300lbs.”
Those were the days.
Seriously, America: I love you, but you’re fat and its a national security issue. We Canadians are catching up, but every time I travel to the US the difference is immediately visible.
Its’ all over the place. Curly got teased for being fat by Moe and Larry but today he’s rather normal sized. You can also see people, women especially, in older TV shows like “Emergency!” and others who were considered fat back then but today would actually be on the lighter side of the new average.
I was watching TMF the other day and thought the same thing. But even today 5-9 300lbs would make you stand out.
I’m 220. As long as I can do 10 pull ups and run a couple of miles without barfing, I’m not going to worry about my weight.
I’m 25 pounds overweight but considering that I dieted and worked my butt off at the gym for 6 months and lost a grand total of five pounds I’m going to assume this is just the way I am.
What diet?
Excersise makes you fit, not thin.
No particular diet. Just less carbs, sugar, and fat and more fruits and vegetables and fish.
Exercise, mostly cardio and light weights.
TMG,
Go off pasta, potatoes, rice, bread and sugar (basically refined carbs). I did and dropped 40 pounds in a matter of a few months. Do eat fat. It’s the fuel your body was meant to run on. You’ve got to train it to do so agaain. I eat all the meat, chicken (skin on),fish, butter, cheese, eggs and green vegetables I want. The only worry I have about fat is whether I’m getting a good balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6. I weigh ~145 lbs at 5’11″.
Get yourself a copy of Gary Taubes’”Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It.”
Or have a look at my 13 Weeks series here on Lifestyle, he said self-promotingly: http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/10/28/thirteen-weeks-a-fat-nerd-does-diet/
Bronther J has it exactly. Lost 20 lbs – 190 to 170 – with no effort or hunger whatsoever. Keep carbs under 50 a day and eat all the fats you want. Taubes book explains why this works and makes you feel better but you just need to know it does. Streangth traing is a plus too. Cardio, not so much.
Ten years ago I bought a Tanita body fat bathroom scale. It’s the same one used by professional sports teams. I get my body fat content to 1% accuracy. I don’t care what I weigh; I just want to know my body fat is less than 12%. It was 27% when I got it, and I have been down to 9% (I’m 52). Pounds mean nothing until the sidewalk cracks. And Muscle is denser than fat. If you want to get in shape, get a bathroom scale that electronically measures body fat.
Keep going and you will be able to play cornerback in the NFL.
I think building muscle is more important than getting the body fat down, but we all have different goals.
The effect, as far as body composition is concerned, is the same either way. You can lower your body fat % by either losing fat, gaining muscle or (best) a combination of the two.
I am 5’9″. For my height and bone structure 145 is super fit skinny, 155 is my healthy feel my best ideal, and 165 is I still feel pretty good but have bigger boobs and more curves. After having three kids back to back, I would be happy just to get back to the 165 happy place.
At this point I don’t feel healthy and that is a problem. I don’t care that much about numbers, just getting healthy.
I think that’s a really good attitude, personally. What really got me interested was my ascending blood sugar.
Skinny is not synonimous with fit. Nor is skinny synonimous with healthy.
Being skinny and weak is no better than being fat and weak, and probably worse than being fat and strong.
Focus on performance, NOT appearance, and you’ll achieve more and avoid a lot of frustration.
Ideal weight: round 170.
I was 190 for ahwile, but sitting on my couch and stuffing my face with the right food brought me back down to 170 in four months. “Right food” being beef, chicken, and ice cream.
i’m 5’9″ and about 135. i was 130 in high school 45 years ago and wouldnt mind losing 5 pounds but dont really care that much. i weigh myself when i think of it, which isnt often.
i hate cooking, dont use food as a reward or escape, stop eating when i start to feel full, and avoid soda pop and organic foods. i feel great and dont have any health issues (yet).
oh, i also avoid baggy clothes. baggy clothes let you think youre thinner than you really are, so you keep eating. people started getting fat in the early 80s when french designers, whose clothing fit snugly, were supplanted by italian designers and their loose fitting clothing. try wearing snug clothing to dinner and i guarantee you that you will bring home a large doggie bag.
This is going to be impolite, but black and Hispanic populations like fat; to them fat is normal and good. As those populations grow, and as young white people define fashion as emulating black styles, people will inevitably be fatter.
Mostly I agree. Funny how vis-a-vis politics we keep hearing about the “growing Latino population,” but when we hear about Americans getting fatter that growing Latino population mysteriously disappears.
Statistics that do not control for taller people and increased number of minorities don’t mean much. For the record, I’m white, exactly the male average of 196, but am somewhat taller than average so I’m pretty close to my ideal, though I’m still trying to lose a few.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/
Mine is 22. something. I do work at it. An hour a day riding my mountain bike and grunting with my TRX trainer. I had gotten up to 240 and paid for it with a heart attack. Now I’m down to 170 and shooting for 165. It feels better at a lower weight.
It doesn’t matter what it is.
I see HUGE people everywhere. Not 10-20-30 pounds overweight but just huge. Bellies dropping way down. Legs the size of tree trunks. Flab. No necks. People so fat they need a motor cart to get around the super market. Kids as big a round as tall.
Having just gone from 245 to 210 in six months using a ‘slow carb’ diet and some moderate FitDesk cycling, I’d like to stop and stay at 200. The ‘book’ says 184 and I say, “Horsefeathers!” All my tests are in the green and I’m healthy aside from physical problems caused by past injuries. I feel not much different now that 35 pounds ago and don’t know that I’d feel any better at 200. Plus even now no one but my wife has noticed any difference.
This is meaningless, without knowing your height and age.
Male, 6′-1″. For me, my ideal fighting weight is 180# at 10-12% body fat. Body fat percentages below 10% leave me feeling fatigued and lethargic. Above, say 15%, I’m a sloth.
54 year old male, 5′ 11″. Two weeks ago the doc said my ideal weight is 166 . . . I weigh 168. Here’s the thing: My lady friend thinks I’m emaciated, unhealthily thin.
We live in a very sick society.
Ideal weight would shock most people. It’s not that “normal range” BMI people try to shoot for- in reality it’s MUCH stricter. Ideal weights were developed by the military and insurance companies. Most weight counselors doesn’t even attempt to get people down to their ideal weight, it’s nearly unattainable in this day and age- probably 5% or less of the population is at ideal weight.
That definition of ideal weight is problematic too. There are a number of studies that suggest longer survival at a somewhat higher weight.
In high school I was over 6′ tall and skin ‘n bones and, well, completely unattractive to women. According to the BMI calculator (BMI: 19.9) my weight then was a “healthy weight.” Bologna.
Eighteen years later I’m just slightly above the healthy range (BMI: 25.9), more athletic and, though married, am quite pleased when young single women flash me a smile, which happens far more often than it did back then, when I had fewer gray hairs.
I’d put stock in the upper range of the BMI (I’m trying to get down there), but not the lower end. For particularly muscular men (not me), even the upper limit is probably too low.
I know what you mean. In high school and for some time after I was at the low end of my “ideal weight” and looked like a scarecrow. So I started working out doing strength training (not body building but a plan for functional strength and health). I put on a lot of weight so now I’m consider officially “slightly overweight.” However, dropping back in weight like the tables say I’d go back to the scarecrow again but that’s not going to happen.
The last time I was down to overweight (@185lbs, 5’9&1/2″) after a few months of a diet consisting of the caffeine, nicotine, nerves & alcohol (enough drink to kill the caffeine buzz so I could sleep, ah to be young and able to work 14 hour days again) my mother saw me for the first time in two years and commented that I looked I just came out of a concentration camp.
People vary, but I was 187lbs out of boot camp with a sub 5% body fat index and a 28″ waist, which put me well above my ideal weight. The only way for me to get anywhere near my ideal weight is to amputate.
So it isn’t necessarily a sign of a sick society except in the way society has created this weird BMI chart mentality. Forget BMI and ideal weight, check your body fat index, as a middle age male 10-20% is a good healthy level of body fat. A quick test is your waist size, at your height and age if you have below 30″ waist you are probably too skinny, while above 36″ you could probably stand to lose some weight.
ed, since BMI came out, it’s been recalculated twice… both times so more people classified as overweight / obese. Meanwhile, that same period has seen the rise of Mayor Bloomberg and the food police, govt health care, etc. Coincidence???
It’s not all that difficult folks: get off the standard American diet (SAD) and eat mostly unprocessed foods and limited starchy carbs, esp wheat. I now eat what I want, and I’m 5’6″ and 120 lbs and about 16% body fat at 54 years old. My waist isn’t what it was when I was in my 20s butt I’m pretty happy… And I can do about 8 pull-ups and I am working on handstand push-ups! I work out with Kettlebells or do something most days, but changing my diet made the difference.
Get rid of processed foods and wheat and diet food and you will lose weight even without exercise. It’s the food that is killing us!
In highschool in the 80′s I was considered the Fat One at 5’7″ 200 pounds (female). 30 years later at the reunion I still check in at 5’7″ and just under 200 pounds, but there were at least 25 women there that obviously outweighed me. The least I’ve ever weighed as an adult was 180.
You can get a very good feel for the increased excess weight by looking at “man on the street” type pictures from the 1950′s. The difference between what those pictures show and today’s real world view is shocking.
Normally I shouldn’t care if you decide you want to weigh 100 pounds over your ideal weight. However, given that under Obamacare I’m going to have to help pay for your medical care, I believe it is entirely appropriate that either your excess weight should result in a higher tax rate or you should be required to attend daily Obamaexercises. Don’t like that? Then don’t ask me to pay for your healthcare.
As a corollary, the average serving size of a hamburger and fries in the 1950′s is about the size of a Happy Meal now, and the price has stayed about the same. We’re victims of our own success. Maybe they can pay for Obamacare by reducing farm subsidies?
It has happened in less time than that. When I was a kid in the 1970′s, if you wanted a big soft drink you went to 7-11 and got a Big Gulp. Today, just about all the drinks at fast food places are the size of Big Gulps. Everything else has gone up as well. Portions at other restaurants also tend to be bigger.
That said, the big portions aren’t necessarily a problem if you take into account how much food that is and eat less during the day. For example: when traveling it is possible to eat a big lunch (which is also usually cheaper) and light dinner later. The problem comes when people eat several big meals like this every day and don’t burn off the calories.
We get a couple of supersized meals when we go out: 2 orders of huge fries for the whole family, at least two kids sharing each supersize drink.
Photos like these?
http://pavel-kosenko.livejournal.com/303194.html?thread=22669914
Okay, I know that they’re not from the fifties, but they’re close enough.
Good link–very interesting shots. Only a couple of fattish people to be seen….
Went off carbs, starches and sugars and lost 30 pounds since mid-summer. Sitting at 210 on a 6’1″ frame. Going to continue to 195-200 range. We shall speak no more about BMI. No increase in exercise but I’m down to one bp pill a week from a daily dose at the start
Just curious what is a “bp pill”?
blood pressure pill, very commonly prescribed.
My husband and I are coming up on two years on a low-carb, high-fat diet, he’s lost 40 and I lost 20 but have put 5 back on, gonna do something about that after Christmas. Now we are just miniature when we go out in public compared to the rest of the crowd. I just bought two new pairs of jeans at The Loft, size 2! Ain’t no way I should be a 2 at 134 pounds. Women’s sizing is going down to keep people happy. I am very medium sized but at J. Jill, I wear an extra small. My husband went from a 38 to a 32 or 33 in pants, which is still available, but my 21-year-old son needs a 29 or a 30 and you just can’t find them. We’ve been shopping for a suit for him too for interviews and he needs a 36 regular, most of the stores start at 38 and go up really high!
Banana Republic carries suits for thin young men, also Brooks Brothers (though at nosebleed prices). My daughter always teases my son that he’s the only college kid she knows who wears BB- but they are the only manufacturer that carries extra slim shirts. Rich and thin still apparently do go together, I guess.
Thanks, we will check out Banana Republic. Nearest Brooks Brothers is about 2 hours away.
I’d also suggest checking Joseph A. Banks. If there’s not a store, you could order from them online. They sell suit separates at Banks, which always made it easier for me to find a suit that fit, as the waist size with a “normal” suit is way too big for me. With Banks you need to watch for sales and special deals, though, as the list prices are routinely marked down in all kinds of ways.
Thanks, we do have that, we will check there too. He left to go back to school yesterday so it will have to wait for Christmas break. I should know this but I’m not much of a shopper and my husband only has 1 suit for weddings, funerals and the occasional dress-up party, he wears scrubs at work.
I am male 55 yr old and between 160-165. I workout in the gym and figure that my shoulders should be wider than my ass.
Sometimes that takes a lot of burpees and trail running.
Other times I have to eat more in order to not waste away… either way, it is a good problem to have.
I realized a long time ago that my build and genetics said that my body was happier around this weight of 160… my feet and ankles didn’t hurt, my back felt better. I was/felt faster, lighter.
Being physically slow isn’t the way to do old age for me because I am a crummy electric scooter driver and the liability insurance costs would probably kill me
I used to weigh 185 at 5’8″. I switched to the paleo diet and dropped quickly down to 150. I have have stayed there effortlessly for the last 2.5 years. In the process the osteoarthritis in my right shoulder went away, my gums stopped bleeding, I stopped getting eyestrain, and I almost never get sick anymore. That’s easily worth giving up bread and processed food.
Went on the Taubes diet. I’m 6’1″ snd started at 229. After less than two months I’m down to 201 and aiming, as a first target, for 189. People who haven’t seen me in a while ask me if I’m losing weight. No, I tell them, I just buy bigger clothes.
T&A on campus? Good news!
Started cutting carbs 2/11. By 12/11, was pretty much primal a la Sisson. @6′, am at 160 from 215. Wearing 34′s down from snug 38′s. 42 jackets from 46/48. Read Taubs, Sisson, and Wolf. Cutting out sugar and eating enough good fat will bring your body back to where it will settle in once metabolic syndrome is shut down. Avoiding modern wheat (read Wheat Belly) may be half the battle.
Change what you eat and get well.
I’m 5’2″, and my ideal weight is 110. I was 105 as a casual athlete in high school and looked fine, but I wasn’t working out as much as I did later in life… at 108 in grad school, I got odd looks on the street and concerned comments from friends. (Which I always thought was ridiculous – the weight charts at my doctor’s as a kid always said 102 was the lower limit of the ideal for people my height. 108 was perfectly healthy.)
Anyway, I look best around 110, imo, so that’s my ideal. I’m 123 now… got injured, was frustrated about it and missed running terribly, indulged in a lot of emotional and stress eating, and got quite fat while finishing my PhD (160 lbs at my heaviest). Eating better and healing from the injury have started getting me back down where I should be. Not there yet, by a long shot, but feeling tons better.
Ph.D.’s are funny that way.
Cut the carbs and the weight just falls off.
Rather than retyping my story, here’s part of a thank you letter I wrote to Gary Taubes:
“Hi Gary,
I wanted to thank you for your work. After reading your books (GCBC & WWGF) and watching many of your online videos, I cut almost all carbs out of my diet. I wasn’t particularly fat (6’4″ 235lbs) but was too heavy and feeling unhealthy and on a slow bloat to obesity. Over the last six months I’ve lost 31 lbs and have returned to my college athlete weight (not bad at 48!). My blood pressure has dropped & my tri-glicerides have dropped from 260 to 120.
I used to think weight was related to sedentary lifestyle, but my experience has completely changed my mind. For months I was bicycling to work, 20 miles with hills almost every day. I dropped from 235 to 217. Then my knee went (from an old injury) and I couldn’t exercise. Weight gradually returned to 235. After reading your books, I changed what I ate & my weight dropped from 235 to 204, no exercise aside from 15 minute leisurely walk around block prior to lunch. So I’ve lost twice as much weight with barely any exercise just by eliminating most sugars (carbs).”
–
So, eat lots of meat and veggies and leafy greens every day. Don’t worry about calories or fats. Just avoid carbs. Worked for me!
My weight is the same as when I was 30 and in the Rangers. Fluctuates between 175-180 on a 5’10″ frame (180 during the holidays/feast season).
I certainly can’t argue that the average weight of people has been steadily rising. But, at the same time, I disagree that these fatter figures are any more attractive now than they were when they were less “normal.” Overweight is overweight, no matter how many people share this “condition.” thin, fit girls are attractive…flabby, out-of-shape girls are not. Period. I’m sure the female population would say the same about their male counterparts. Everyone just seems to excuse away their frumpiness because it’s just “normal” now.
Yup, it’s so simple – whole grain carbs (preferably 100% whole grain) only. No added sugars (eat fruit) or refined/processed carbs.
Yeah, I’m fat. So what?
Seriously, though, even the Military has always adjusted some for age. The population is aging. Some folks keep the same weight at 40 as 20, but not many.
The big problem is sugar. It is in every kind of prepackaged food one can find. Most store bought bread has some added as well. Soft drinks and candy bars are a killer. Most fast foods have sugar added. Like most here have said, watch what you eat and get the sugar and refined carbs out of the diet. Want bread and rice? Make your own whole wheat or rye bread and eat brown rice. Skip the “man made fats” and eat natural fats. Semi sweet chocolate squares have a lot less sugar than milk chocolate. I lost 15 pounds by just modifying my diet with no increase in exercise.
My son is a 6′ tall, 180 pound athlete in perfect shape. His pediatrician told him to lose weight because his BMI is not where it should be. My son and I laughed all the way home.
I have an ideal weight: 157 lbs. That was what I weighed from the age of 28 to the age of 40. Male, 5’10″, slight frame. Right now, I am 165, I’m down from 182. I still feel fat, but for god’s sakes, I’m 52.
I dunno. People in third world countries I’ve been in eat a lot of carbs and they are mostly pretty thin.
I know those folks in the 40s and 50s filled out their diets with a lot of bread and potatoes.
I vote all of the above: larger meal portions, less physically demanding work, less walking (two car families, more suburban living), and better-processed food that allows humans to derive more calories from the same quantity of food.
One thing that, I would add to the debate is that food just tastes a heck of a lot better than it did in 1940. The range of spices used and the amount of research that goes into making processed and restaurant food taste good just wasn’t there in 1940 (or was just getting its start).
I agree, if people can get out of their diet “religion” you can see behavior patterns that contribute to obesity. I would start before WW2 as I think people coasted for a while on the personal restraint they learned from the previous generation.
1.Food is ridiculously more delicious and varied. I could probably eat Thai food until I collapsed. My husband’s Grandma thinks garlic is exotic and foreign. Her only spices were salt and pepper, her cooking is very boring.
2. Once you realize all social functions revolve around food and beverages you can get really annoyed. We add food to Every. Single. Activity. Also, entire channels, magazines, books and celebrities DEVOTED to food!
3. Relating to #2 We are afraid of being hungry. It’s fine to go without food sometimes or space out meals. I am sad I was brainwashed by women’s fitness magazines to think I had to eat 6 small meals a day-way too much focus on food gets to be an out of control habit.
4. There is a ridiculous amount of food stored in houses these days, a lot probably thrown out.
5. My threshhold for meal enjoyment is so high! Instead of just eating a plain healthy amount of food to make it through the day I am programmed for a gourmet taste at every meal. Our culture may be programmed for this now.
6.The effort! It requires very little effort per calorie.
7. The beverages! Did people even drink juice pre WW2? And my grandparents drank black coffee out of small mugs, there was nothing in it.
8. The sugar- it used to be very expensive. I think this is more of a woman problem. I have very little taste for sweets since I like salty, savory etc. but I can’t believe how much sugar women can eat (knowingly, there is much hidden in processed food). When a group of women get together there is always about 2 lbs of sugar treats.
9. I am guessing- more rural living with more gardens in the way back when.
Ideal BMI body weight is calculated to make you look like a hippie Vegan.
That said, I definitely need to shed some excess weight.
What I notice among all the 300 lb women in the northwest is how many of them have a bunch of kids, and I wonder if subconsciously they let themselves get fat so that their husbands lose interest in them sexually.
And yet, they then demand that we change our standards of beauty to include them again.
There is no such thing as an “ideal body weight”, and BMI is a sham. How big a sham? These are some of the world’s fittest male athletes, and according to BMI, they’re all fat or obese.
BMI Name
28 Rich Froning http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/11435
30 Matt Chan (obese) http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/17703
28 Kyle Kasperbauer http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/25569
28 Scott Panchik http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/34796
31 Jason Khalipa (obese) http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/12485
27 Dan Bailey http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/47661
29 Marcus Hendren http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/16421
29 Austin Malleolo http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/10169
31 Chad Mackay (obese) http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/51041
26 Graham Holmberg http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/11451
26 Ben Smith http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/43761
28 Nate Schrader http://games.crossfit.com/athlete/53314
My ideal weight is what I weigh when I eat appropriate portions of healthy minimally processed food — meat, vegetables, fruit, cheese, and some whole grains like buckwheat or brown rice — and get enough moderate exercise to keep my muscles and joints flexible and fit. I don’t eat bread, sugar, or potatoes. I don’t drink my calories, except for an occasional glass of red wine. A regimen of punitive dieting and hours of mindless boring gym routines to achieve an arbitrary “ideal weight” is stupid and counter-productive. Eat things that are recognizable as food and get off your butt for 45-60 minutes a day in the fresh air walking the dog or riding a bike and the other stuff pretty much sorts itself out. I weigh more than the tables say I should but at 54 I’ve managed to persuade myself that at this point vanity is misplaced.
Female: 6’0″, I think my ideal weight is ~180#.
I focused on fitness after my second child was born, hoping for a side effect of weight loss. It mostly worked. Our health insurance program at work had some interesting statistics about how WEIGHT isn’t the determining health factor as much as activity and exercise. As long as I stay fit I’m in better shape at 10-20# overweight than someone skinny who can barely take a flight of stairs.
My BMI says I should be 140-185#. The low end is totally bogus for my body type, but the high end is reasonable. However my husband at 6’8″ with a muscular build has no medical measure that works, so he sticks to his physical statistics (BP, HR, mile time, etc) and is disgustingly fit.
If a woman asks you, “Does this dress make me look fat?”
Whatever you do, don’t say, “No, fat makes you look fat.”
I’m 51, 5’8″, and I’ve never weighed more than 145 lbs in my life. I just don’t seem to gain weight. My jean size has only increased two inches in the waist since high school.
It’s physiological. There are three body types: endomorph, ectomorph, and mesomorph. What type of body you have determines what your diet should be.
Some people have a heavy bone structure, so naturally they tend to gain weight. And there’s really nothing they can do about it. But morbid obsecity is another thing entirely.
Me, I tend to stay pretty much the same. I seldom eat breakfast or lunch anymore, except when I’m hungry. I usually eat one meal a day, but it’s a balanced meal. A plate is defined as a protein–beef, pork, chicken, fish–a carbohydrate–potato, beans, rice, pasta–one green vegetable and one yellow vegetable. Wholesome, nutritious, simply delicious.