I'm 5'6, and 170lbs, though i'm sure some of that is muscle, as ive been biking, running and walking virtually everywhere since the start of May. I just wanna know what is considered a "healthy" weight, so that I can have a set goal.
Most people go with a BMI (Body mass Index) score...but doing that is tricky, since muscle obviously weighs more than fat, and there are a number of other things to take into consideration, such as water weight and bone mass, etc. The ideal thing to do would be to go to a gym and get a Body Composite Test. Most gyms do them for free if you're already a member. If you can't do that, check the BMI score for your height and compare it to your current weight...but be warned that this should be used only as a rough guide.
BMI 25 is 154lbs for your height (you're the same height as me). That's a very rough guide though, and you may feel comfortable at more or less than that. I know I'm most comfortable at between 140-145lbs.
BMI can give you a general range... however, body fat percentage is equally, if not more so, important as a indicator of health. depending on your gender, body fat percentage can tell you if you have a good ratio of fat to muscle/skeletal weight. having it in a certain range will be a good indicator if you are healthy. I think for woman, health is in the 16-20% range, and men, it is 8-14% range, though I have heard other figures. men can have lower bodyfat, simply because of biological requirements for woman are different than biological requirements for me. however, if a woman gets too low, they screw up their biological systems, which puts strain on their body. hence why female gymnist tend to be short, never develop fully, and not have periods, because they put too much strain on their body in attempts to have low weight and change their center of gravity to allow them to do more technical routines. hence why my friend was hospitalized when her gymnastic career was over due to her age. her body tried to compensate, and went bizerk on her because she forced her body never to develop, and it her her in the end hard.
I wouldn't worry too much about being an "ideal weight". If you make your goal to eat right/balanced and to exercise, your body will find its ideal weight automatically.
Your ideal weight is the weight at which you feel the most comfortable. Think of it in terms of your general happiness and not what some nonsensical BMI claims is the proper weight. Fuck the fat-fascists! (Ooh. Alliteration.)
If you are comfortable being slightly underweight, then I don't see any issues with it. I'm not going to judge a person by their favourite weight to be. Rock out, thin people and fat people and those that fall in between. If you are talking about those suffering from anorexia or other similar diseases, then they are not happy with their body size, but it is for reasons beyond the actual body. And clearly that is a different situation. And I use fat-fascism to describe a society or group of people that believe that there is something inherently wrong with bodies that come in all shapes in sizes. Those who are underweight are often accused of starving themselves and those who are overweight are called lazy. The treatment of these people is both equally bad in my book.
I thought the universal ideal weight was 10 lbs lighter than you are now. :-D Actually this is a very good question, one that I have been thing about a lot. Over the past year and a half I have gone from 280lbs at about 28% body fat to 240lbs, and 16% body fat. My original goal was 225 lbs. Though I have thinking that might not be realistic. My lean body mass is current 203 lbs. If I dropped to 10% body fat I could make 225lbs. Thing is I don't think I would be happy. I really want larger pecs and arms. So that means more muscle mass. It has occurred to me that weight is a meaning less as a single metric. I'm 6'2", but have a very large frame. Most guys my height are a good 20lbs lighter at the same body composition. This is you have to think about the gestalt of you body. Not only in the literal German meaning, but the English meaning also. I have a picture of what I want my body to look like, I have no idea what my weight will be. Looking at it as a whole there are down sides to recent weight loss. I am a lot less flexible now, than I was then. That is because my muscles are larger and tighter than they were before. So if flexibility was import my current course would not be advisable. Instead of focusing on wight, figure out what you want to be when you are done. Then your weight is just one metric you use on that journey. Right now I just my weight to measure trends. Depending on my current focus it could be going either way.
im 48.5-49 kgs (106-108 lbs) and 173 cm (almost 5'7) and my bmi is 16.2 yeah im a bit underweight , but i like it
