Do you believe that your body has an 'ideal' weight?

just4me123456

That's kind of a silly definition of "ideal weight," IMO. It's basically tantamount to saying your current weight is always your ideal weight unless you are purposefully working to change it.

Yes, I think that is exactly what the book is saying...

shmerek

I think it has an optimal weight in the sense of health and fitness but ideal nah

BinaryPulsar

There are lots of factors that go into a person's weight. Every person of the same height would not be healthy at the same weight.

krawhitham

No, I do not believe there is such thing as a "set weight"

I've been normal weight most of my life, and my weight directly corresponds to the amount of physical activity and exercise I'm doing. Exercise also helps curb my appetite. My whole life I've weighed between 125 - 140 lbs at 5'4" I got to my highest of 172 lbs after several years of inactivity. My body has been pretty happy sitting at 160 lbs (For the past like 4 months ), even though I'd like to lose 20, I know it's going to take way more physical effort than I've been putting in lately.

That's NOT because my body's "ideal" is now 160. I'm still over-fat (got it tested, I'm 31% fat)

KM0692

Yes, I do believe that. I am 5'6 and look and feel good at 140. That is a number that I can maintain fairly easy. I was 130-135 until I hit 40, but it was a struggle to maintain.

Unknown

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aedreana

Our bodies are NOT equipped with any type of compass to point us toward our ideal weight. Ideal weight, for most people, does not correspond with the number of calories it takes to satisfy our appetite.

DR2501

Ideal weight no, but there is a weight that each of our bone structures look good at, and it won't be the same for everyone.

I do also agree that it is used as an excuse "I'm just big-boned" or whatever.

shakybabe

I've been 9st 7 for most of my life and then gained weight. I stayed between 10st - 10st 7 easily once I got back down to there, took a while longer to get the extra stone off but then I decided to aim for 9st.

I made it to 9st 3 but was always exhausted having to do loads of extra exercise and hardly eat anything to maintain it and I looked alot older in the face. My tummy still didn't go down as much as I wanted it to even after losing all that (was originally 16st) though I went down from clothes size 22 to a 14.

I put 15kg on easily as soon as stopped the exercise and the diet lapsed as I just couldn't keep it up. Now 11st 11 and trying to get back to 9st 7 again, dunno if i will now at 45yrs old and not been as mobile.

I do have hypothyroidism and a very doughy abdomen which I have seen commonly described on numerous occasions for people with under active thyroids. My wrists are still as thin (about 5.5") my arms and legs are around the same. I do admit my face looks better now filled out abit again but it's all gone back on my stomach and back in 18-20 trousers/jeans.

kennie2

yes. whatever i do i always end up at the same weight and it doesnt go any lower

LumberJacck

Do I believe that my body has a weight that it 'naturally' progresses to, left unchecked? Yes.

I had two of these weights. One was about 66kg, up until the age of 25. The second is unknown, since I was gaining and would continue gaining for an unknown period of time. However, it got up to 94kg, so that's quite a difference.

LumberJacck

Our bodies are NOT equipped with any type of compass to point us toward our ideal weight. Ideal weight, for most people, does not correspond with the number of calories it takes to satisfy our appetite.

I respectfully disagree, fat cells produce a hormone called Leptin, that helps regulate appetite.

From Wikipedia:

"Leptin (from Greek λεπτός leptos, "thin"), the "satiety hormone", is a hormone made by fat cells which regulates the amount of fat stored in the body. It does this by adjusting both the sensation of hunger, and adjusting energy expenditures. Hunger is inhibited (satiety) when the amount of fat stored reaches a certain level. Leptin is then secreted and circulates through the body, eventually activating leptin receptors in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus."

EvgeniZyntx

nope.

I think maybe mentally you are comfortable with certain habits/actions that result in a perceived "ideal weight", but I don't think that physiologically your body can just decide to be a certain weight and "try" to maintain that weight.

This mirrors my thoughts. Well said.

There is some evidence of weight set points - a weight range that works out as a reasonable balance and from which it might seem difficult to move from. But any rigorous testing to evaluate them has always failed.

So, nope.

SunofaBeach14

nope.

I think maybe mentally you are comfortable with certain habits/actions that result in a perceived "ideal weight", but I don't think that physiologically your body can just decide to be a certain weight and "try" to maintain that weight.

This mirrors my thoughts. Well said.

There is some evidence of weight set points - a weight range that works out as a reasonable balance and from which it might seem difficult to move from. But any rigorous testing to evaluate them has always failed.

So, nope.

^ This. I would imagine that a stable weight is probably not "normal" anyway because that would require a steady and consistent food supply and except for relatively recently, that just hasn't been the case in human history. That's my (very) lay person viewpoint at least.

yopeeps025

I could care less what the ideal weight is.

Iwishyouwell

Nope. I think all of us have a set of habits that collectively determine our "ideal weight". Our "ideal weight" is mostly dependent on our "ideal habits". I believe the majority of healthy people eventually land, and stay, at a weight that's in line with the habits they feel most comfortable walking out in their day to day lives.

Iwishyouwell

I echo DeguelloTex an ACTUAL deficit will make your body lose weight.. it has to be a habit though, if your normal habits are to eat a certain amount and your habits don't change, then expect your weight to go right back to where it was.

It's really not what I meant though. What I meant is that under a certain weight, keeping a deficit gets harder because I get hungrier. So in theory, yes, you lose weight at a deficit, in practice, maintaining that deficit gets much harder under 61 kilos.

Of course you're hungrier, right? To go lower, and maintain lower, you're required to eat less than you're use to. Hunger is natural. A 550 lbs morbidly obese man with a TDEE of about 4,000 calories is going to feel hungry if he cuts down to 2500, which is plenty of food for most people.

People in your situation who determine to go lower just, in essence, deal with it. They adapt to the fact that they'll be hungry. Often times that hunger is just temporary. Our bodies are extremely adaptable. But when people hit what seems to be a weight ceiling what more often than not happens is that they'll cut calories for awhile to get lower but the hunger will get to them and before long they're back to the habits that support their supposed "ideal weight". That doesn't just happen to people already in a healthy range looking to lose some vanity pounds, it happens to people who are overweight, obese, and super obese too.

Going outside of your comfort zone long enough to adapt to a new comfort zone isn't easy for most people. The question always is, what are you willing to do in order to achieve and maintain the body you want?

RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle

I'm the exact same height and weight as your sister. I've been at 60kgs (which is still my ideal weight because I like round numbers) and I've even been slightly below that, but ultimately I always seem to go back to the 62kgs.

I know if I really 100% stick to MFP I will get down to the 60 again, I'm trying, I really am, but I keep falling off that bloody wagon every now and then and my hard work is undone again.
So I suppose I just settle for the 62kg. But whenever I go over that number, I declare war to the calories.

^ this is me! I'm very good at self-reflection, and I what I have learned about myself is that my brain encourages me to binge a few times to gain back the weight I lost that is below my perceived "set point". I truly believe most of the time that losing is easy and maintaining is easy, until I get to the 145 pound range. Then all of a sudden the same behaviours I found so easy become too challenging to adhere to. It's very interesting. I probably read somewhere that this is biological, believed it, and made it true.

melimomTARDIS

i used to believe that my body was happy at whatever weight i maintained for years with no effort on my part. for me, that was 175lbs. (im 5'5, and a lady)

now at 126 lbs, i can honestly say i dont believe that any longer. however, i do have an amount of lifestyle change im willing to live with forever, and i wont do any more than i am currently doing.

i can log forever, i can measure my food, eat overall lower fat diet, and commit to 120 minutes of low impact type exercise per week.

i have no interest in either eating less than i do, or exercising more than i do. so the 120's are my happy place.

Tiff1124

According to my BMI scale, a healthy weight at my height and age is between 110-125. I looked sickly when I was down to 125, so no, I don't think there is an ideal weight. Just find a weight that you are comfortable and HEALTHY with.

perseverance14

Yes, it is called a "set point", but it is not set in stone (your body considers your "ideal" weight within 10% or so of the weight you have been at for a while), you can make it go higher by gaining weight and staying at that weight for 6 months or more, and vice-versa, so as you get to/maintain a lower weight, it will re-set, but it takes some time of maintaining it to do that, at least a few months for any difference, so stick it out, in the end you will win.

earthboundmisfit

When I'm eating whatever I want and not tracking calories my weight settles at 102-105 lbs. That's a "healthy" weight for me according to the charts (I'm 5'2' with a small frame) but I don't take much stock in the charts. You can't pigeonhole people. At 90 lbs I feel great and fit into all of my jeans. It takes work but it's worth it.

scb515

I think I have an ideal weight in as much as I've already put my body through a lot, if I lose another stone, I think I'll be into loose skin territory and that won't look good. Happy to be at the upper end of healthy and not to have too many stretchmarks.

aedreana

The BMI encompasses the healthy weight range that probably applies to the majority of people but some people's ideal weight is lower and some is higher. My ideal weight falls well within the BMI healthy weight range-- 112 at 5' 3 1/2." But I have known 2 people who were both 5' 6" and one was 100 and the other was 105 and it looked fine on them, and they were comfortable at that weight. The least I ever weighed in my adult life was 101 and the most was 200. The BMI says my healthy range is 104 to 144. Although I choose 112 now, when I was young I had a beautiful hourglass figure even when the BMI considered me overweight-- and as I have small bones and no muscle development, I wouldn't be underweight in the 90s. I just prefer to look a little fleshy. According to BMI, I could be just fine at 104 but I simply do not want a lean look for myself.