Healthy weight for me?

xxsweet

I'm 14, 5'4", 113 lbs. (at the moment.. Im pretty sure I'm retaining at least 4 lbs. water weight)
I have a medium small frame, and I'm not exceptionally well muscled. I'm not fat (or even chubby, really) but I do have some excess fat.. mainly around my stomach. I don't know my bmi or waists to hip ratio, but I think my waist is somewhere from 29-32 inches.

I want to know what people would consider the thinnest I can be and still look healthy and keep the curves that I have.. (also I want to gain muscle after I lose fat). Opinions?

Crystal817

At that height, I wouldn't try and lose any weight. But you can always start strength training to help tone up!

ItsLessOfMe

i agree. thats pretty small. I think you should focus on toning

Inspiredtobe

I agree with the above. You're at a healthy weight, and that's a really good weight. You should just try building muscles instead of losing weight. I'm also 14, but I'm 5'5 and 127lbs. I'm mainly trying to tone and achieve a flat stomach. You should look around and research some workouts you can do to target your abs and tone. I think that's all you really need to do. (:
Stay healthy!

BeetleChe13

Your size sounds healthy if not slim for your height. Keep in mind that you are still young. From my observations, most young teens tend to carry what extra fat they have in their midsection for a few years before they grow taller. This could be the case for you. I grew an inch in college! But I wouldn't worry about it much because you have years left before your body truly "settles" into its adult form. Focus on taking care of yourself, and even strength training for muscle tone if you want, and you should stay a healthy size. On second thought, you may be bloated. My waist was about that size when I was about that age, even though I only weighed 105 at the time (and 5'2"), because soda and tea made me bloated. Pay attention to what you eat and especially drink. You may find that something in your diet could be the culprit.

xxsweet

Hmm.. ok I might try that. again. I tried before, but I was eating way too much... so maybe it'll work better now that I'm more in control. I. am bloated (water weight) and I know I'd look a lot thinner if that was gone.. Im trying to get rid of it by staying hydrated and eating water rich foods, while keeping refined carbs and sugars to a min. I eat pretty clean.. I try to almost always eat the healthiest foods I can (except special occasions, or sometimes when I really want something) I don't eat things I crave on a whim, unless its like.. an apple for example. lol. Thanks everyone! This made me think.

Oh and, question; should I set my calorie goal to maintain weight?

BeetleChe13

I certainly wouldn't set your calorie goal to lose weight. So yes, I'd say set it to maintenance. Especially if you decide to start toning up, you'll need all those calories for building/healing your muscles.

Oishii

Your BMI is 19.4, so well towards the bottom end of healthy.

I'd try maintaining, but do up your calories if you keep losing. For me mfp always gives me too few calories.

Also, please remember that your body is trying to store calcium right now for when you get to having kids. It may feel like forever away, but it's not something you can rectify later. I wish someone had told me when I was your age.

rlysrh

Enjoy the fast metabolism you've got while it still lasts! I'm not saying get into the habit of eating unhealthily but it sounds like you're pretty skinny so you should enjoy not having to worry too much about what you're eating while you can. (:
I remember being 14 and my biology teacher telling us that our metabolisms are probably the fastest they're going to be at that age, and I could eat all kinds of crap and not gain weight. I'm not saying make it a habit but just enjoy it. (:

Thompsonic7

At 14 your body is still developing. When I was 14 my body shape was so different to what it is now- in the space I developed hips, boobs and I shot up. Don't get too caught up in dieting right now when body changes are inevitable anyway, just wait til youre older and enjoy being young!

xxsweet

First off; thank you, everyone for your advice. Second; I set my calories to maintenance (thats going from 1380- 1760), I'm trying to eat healthy though (because it's better for growth and vitamins, ect.) and because it's better for my metabolism, which I'm trying to recover from months of extreme calorie restriction/binging.. I do have crap food sometimes though, so I'm not cheating myself out of the fun of being a teen .

Also, I did most of my growing and over half of my curve development at 12, and I want to watch what I eat because part of the reason peoples metabolisms decrease is because they don't take care of it when they're young.