Am I too thin?
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OP is 5'6". My wife is 5'6". OP is losing weight on purpose. Congratulations. My wife lost weight accidentally, but I knew how much she weighed and was going to wait until she got to 125 before I tried to stop it. Her psychologist became alarmed when she was at 135 and required her to see a dietician, the RD prescribed her to put on weight.
OK, OP, you are at an attractive weight now, and you will also be at 135, but you need to overcome the body image psychological problem you have. I can't help you do that, you just have to know that you do look fabulous now and you do not need to lose another 15 lb.2 -
Using BMI is not really helpful for you.My BMI is smack in the middle and everything I read says 135 is ideal for my height. It is so hard to tell because I am droopy! Lol!
"Body Mass Index" is a artificial number that was meant to quickly trend large populations, not a single person.
It only measures your height compared to your weight.
BMI implies many bodybuilders are clinically obese, so clearly it is not "accurate" for any practical use when it comes to fitness.
If you want to determine if you are "too thin" then have your body fat checked.
140 lbs and 5'6" looks entirely different at 20% body fat and 40% body fat.
If you do not have any muscle mass then a lot of your weight is adipose and water, no matter how low that weight is.
When you "lose weight" about half of the weight is muscle if you are not lifting heavy enough to prevent it.
Just looking at your profile picture, it seems like you have avoided weight training.
Maybe because you were afraid you would get "bulky" and look less feminine?
Regardless, without added muscle to replace the fat you lost, droopy is what you often end up with.
Loose hanging skin is often the side effect of any rapid weight loss, especially surgery and cardio.
Your body eats it's own muscle for protein in these cases.
The skin has to regain it's shape and the older we get the less elastin our skin has to work with to do that job.
Not having enough muscle leaves a lot of old skin literally "hanging around."
To top it off, since you would have also lowered your muscle mass it will be harder to keep the weight off in the long run. No pun intended.
You probably need to cut back on the cardio a bit and hit the weight room instead.
I hope you had a great birthday.2 -
Again, thanks for all the comments. I forgot I had said it was my birthday in my post.
I am 20 pounds lighter than my profile picture. I love being considered too thin! Such a change! My mom is always telling me I will look old if I keep losing weight. And my Fitbit Charge HR hurts when I wear it at night now, which makes no sense to me because my wrist circumference hasn't changed any. I have tiny wrists and the Charge is so bulky!
Your mention of 'tiny wrists' made me think of frame size. I'm your height and 140 would be too thin for me, but I have a large frame. http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp0 -
Using BMI is not really helpful for you.My BMI is smack in the middle and everything I read says 135 is ideal for my height. It is so hard to tell because I am droopy! Lol!
"Body Mass Index" is a artificial number that was meant to quickly trend large populations, not a single person.
It only measures your height compared to your weight.
BMI implies many bodybuilders are clinically obese, so clearly it is not "accurate" for any practical use when it comes to fitness.
If you want to determine if you are "too thin" then have your body fat checked.
140 lbs and 5'6" looks entirely different at 20% body fat and 40% body fat.
If you do not have any muscle mass then a lot of your weight is adipose and water, no matter how low that weight is.
When you "lose weight" about half of the weight is muscle if you are not lifting heavy enough to prevent it.
Just looking at your profile picture, it seems like you have avoided weight training.
Maybe because you were afraid you would get "bulky" and look less feminine?
Regardless, without added muscle to replace the fat you lost, droopy is what you often end up with.
Loose hanging skin is often the side effect of any rapid weight loss, especially surgery and cardio.
Your body eats it's own muscle for protein in these cases.
The skin has to regain it's shape and the older we get the less elastin our skin has to work with to do that job.
To top it off, since you would have also lowered your muscle mass it will be harder to keep the weight off in the long run. No pun intended.
You probably need to cut back on the cardio a bit and hit the weight room instead.
I hope you had a great birthday.
@Pam_1965 I'm betting you don't strength train either. My 78 year old mother started last year and wished she'd started decades ago for her bone health. See also The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess which was available through my library system, so perhaps yours as well.2 -
Thanks for that link @kshama2001
I will give it a try. I just tried a body fat calculator. My measurements put me at 22.36%. I know it isn't completely accurate, but I am not sure the best way to get it tested.0 -
Or this one: Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body
As for body fat, a decent gym should have some calipers and someone trained to use them, or a hydrostatic tank truck might be in your area.
There are some pictures of women at different body fat levels here that might give you a general idea if how "thin" you may be:
http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/
20% is pretty low for a woman, it is about the same as 9% or 10% in a man.
At that level a guy might have a 4-pack for abs.0 -
I do strength conditioning at home. I have slacked off the last 5 weeks because I started back to teaching and have been exhausted, but for 6 months prior was regularly using my weights at home.
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The key is that you must lift heavy. Heavy is relative to your strength, of course.
The lifts I recommend are the large compound ones: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, bench, rows, chin-ups, dips, stuff like that.
You know: the hard stuff most of the guys in the gym try to avoid.
Most people do not have an Olympic bar or squat rack at home.
Dumbbells, resistance bands, etc. are not heavy enough in most cases for these exercises.
That is what your build gives me the impression of: the "Pink dumbbells" look.
The biggest exception to this is if you do dumbbell rows. Good stuff there - if it is heavy.
No offense intended and I could be entirely wrong.
You might have a full power rack and a trap bar at home; I do.
But if you DO then you are definitely not using it to YOUR full potential.
I do understand the exhaustion: I work 40 hours a week, teach an additional 10 - 12 hours each week and am in class myself on the weekends. Then I have to make time for my own workouts 4 days each week. Oh yeah, I have to fit in my wife and daughter too! LOL!
Hang in there! You are doing great!
And you are doing more than 90%+ of the population already!
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Thanks @cqbkaju. I have been contemplating joining our local gym. I just sent a message off to one of the personal trainers there. I guess I better get the ball rolling, or weights lifting!!
Ask about a progressive lifting program - you get best results when you progressively go up in weights.2 -
Absolutely. Make it clear you want to get stronger so they don't put you on another "pink dumbell" program.kshama2001 wrote: »Ask about a progressive lifting program - you get best results when you progressively go up in weights.
If you hear words like "toned" too often you may be heading for trouble.
Good catch @kshama2001
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Absolutely. Make it clear you want to get stronger so they don't put you on another "pink dumbell" program.kshama2001 wrote: »Ask about a progressive lifting program - you get best results when you progressively go up in weights.
You hear words like "toned" too often you may be heading for trouble.
Good catch @kshama2001
I wasted decades using low weights/high reps until I learned the error of my ways here and from a coworker
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Progressive. Will do!0
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[Generalization: The Basics of Progressive Overload]
Heavy: If you can do more than 6 or 7 reps for each set of an exercise then you probably need to add at least 5 pounds, because it is not "heavy" relative to how strong you are.
Rep ("repetition") range: the minimum and maximum number of times you should try to lift a weight in a set.
Set: A lifting session where you try to lift a weight for your target Rep range
Rest: The time you take as a break between sets.
Two commonly accepted Repetition ranges for strength: 4 to 6 and 5 to 7
3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions with 2 to 3 minutes rest between sets is common
If the Reps are much higher numbers (like you can do 10 reps easily, all 3 sets) then the weight is too light to focus on strength gains and will not build the muscle needed to fix your "droopy" concern.
So now you can determine right away if the equipment you have at home is "heavy enough".
Can you do more than 7 repetitions of a specific exercise with it?
If so then it is too light. You need more weight for that exercise.
Example using 3 sets in a 4 to 6 rep range.
Your deadlift at 135 lbs last Monday
Set x reps x weight
1 x 5 x 135#
2 x 4 x 135#
3 x 4 x 135#
This Monday
Set x reps x weight
1 x 6 x 135#
2 x 6 x 135#
3 x 6 x 135#
so NEXT Monday you increase the weight 5 lbs and will aim for at least:
Set x reps x weight
1 x 4 x 140#
2 x 4 x 140#
3 x 4 x 140#
Once you get 140# x6 reps x 3 sets you increase the weight AGAIN (145#) and start over, aiming for at least 4 reps per set.
That is the basics of "progressive overload" to gain strength.
You continue to "progress" by increasing the number of repetitions until you can increase the weight.
Then you start again.
There is ongoing debate on the "best" rep ranges for strength vs muscle size vs a balance of the two.1 -
I am 5'6" and I currently weigh 142.8 lbs; my goal is 135. I personally think 135 is ideal for me. If you feel too thin then maybe you need to reevaluate where you want to be. If you are feeling "too thin" because someone else's opinion of you then you need to reevaluate how you take peoples criticisms.
My belief is that I am the one that needs to be happy with my body - no one else can choose for me how I look and feel - if I let their opinion sway my opinion of myself then I am doing myself a disservice.0 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »They are trying to make themselves feel better about their weight. Ignore them.
Unlikely.
Usually, they just have a mental image of "you" that is what they're used to. And "real you" doesn't match "mental image you" anymore. As you maintain the weight, they'll get more used to "real you" and the mental image will change. Also, I think we're wired to perceive fast weight loss as being due to poor health (since historically poor health would be the main reason for sudden weight loss). As you maintain the weight and people get used to seeing you at that weight, that subconscious worry gets allayed.
I agree with this completely. Well said.
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Just a side note: Loose hanging skin is not necessarily the result of rapid weight loss. Sensible loss of a significant amount of weight will do it. Genetics plays a factor as well.
I am not sure what cardio has to do with loose skin in the slightest. Cardio doesn't make you lose weight quickly. That point you made there, cqbkaju, was one I didn't quite get.1 -
The point wasn't the *rate* of weight loss through cardio.GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I am not sure what cardio has to do with loose skin in the slightest. Cardio doesn't make you lose weight quickly. That point you made there, cqbkaju, was one I didn't quite get.
It is that about 1/2 of the weight you lose if you primarily do cardio can be lean body mass.
I see your point. That is poorly worded above. Sorry, I can no longer edit it for clarity.
"primarily do cardio" means more cardio (especially steady-state cardio) than heavy weight training.
Look at most marathon runners. Where is the muscle? They are often thin but the muscle is stringy at best.
Cardio and stress (like rapid weight loss through illness, recovery from surgery, etc.) often burns ("catabolizes") muscle for protein which creates a state for more skin to hang loose.
It has to do with the cortisol hormone and it's effects.
Combine this with the idea that we lose about ~ 5% of our muscle mass per decade starting at age 30 or so ("sarcopenia") and you can see we are heading for trouble.
If I am 50 and have not done enough heavy weight training then I have lost about 10% of my muscle mass just because I get a better rate on car insurance!
If I lost muscle but I am also heavier -or if I am even the same weight!- then that means my body fat has gone up...
We age so our metabolism slows and sarcopenia kicks in. A double-whammy! So we try more and more cardio, cutting even more calories to keep the weight off. But we don't realize that this stressing the body, releasing cortisol into the system. Cortisol is catabolic and eats muscle...
This additional muscle loss slows the metabolism even more, creating a vicious cycle.
It is biology. I wish I was 20 years younger and didn't have to worry about it as much but those are the breaks.
The way around this is to force the body to make MORE muscle in the first place.
That preserves muscle mass, increases your metabolism AND helps fill in the literal void created by the loss of body fat under the skin.
Filling the area in with muscle means less sagging skin when we age.
I also referenced the loss of elastin and it's effect on the skin, which is what I think you mean by genetics.
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[Generalization: The Basics of Progressive Overload]
Heavy: If you can do more than 6 or 7 reps for each set of an exercise then you probably need to add at least 5 pounds, because it is not "heavy" relative to how strong you are.
Rep ("repetition") range: the minimum and maximum number of times you should try to lift a weight in a set.
Set: A lifting session where you try to lift a weight for your target Rep range
Rest: The time you take as a break between sets.
Two commonly accepted Repetition ranges for strength: 4 to 6 and 5 to 7
3 sets of 4 to 6 repetitions with 2 to 3 minutes rest between sets is common
If the Reps are much higher numbers (like you can do 10 reps easily, all 3 sets) then the weight is too light to focus on strength gains and will not build the muscle needed to fix your "droopy" concern.
So now you can determine right away if the equipment you have at home is "heavy enough".
Can you do more than 7 repetitions of a specific exercise with it?
If so then it is too light. You need more weight for that exercise.
Example using 3 sets in a 4 to 6 rep range.
Your deadlift at 135 lbs last Monday
Set x reps x weight
1 x 5 x 135#
2 x 4 x 135#
3 x 4 x 135#
This Monday
Set x reps x weight
1 x 6 x 135#
2 x 6 x 135#
3 x 6 x 135#
so NEXT Monday you increase the weight 5 lbs and will aim for at least:
Set x reps x weight
1 x 4 x 140#
2 x 4 x 140#
3 x 4 x 140#
Once you get 140# x6 reps x 3 sets you increase the weight AGAIN (145#) and start over, aiming for at least 4 reps per set.
That is the basics of "progressive overload" to gain strength.
You continue to "progress" by increasing the number of repetitions until you can increase the weight.
Then you start again.
There is ongoing debate on the "best" rep ranges for strength vs muscle size vs a balance of the two.
Good advice. The only thing I question is the rep ranges. Hypertrophic rep ranges (8-12) are still considered lifting heavy in my opinion.2 -
You look fine. Love yourself.0
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