Weighing more than you look

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24

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  • skierxjes
    skierxjes Posts: 938 Member
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    I was thinking about this earlier today. I look at pictures of myself and at pictures of others my height/weight and we, 99% of the time, look nothing alike. I've always been muscular. A few of my friends could not believe when I told them how much weight I had to lose. They didn't realize that I can look like I did and weigh that much.
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    I'm wearing a Size 4 dress in my profile picture. Guess how much I weigh...

















    I'm going to guess that your guess is NOT going to be 165 pounds (but that is, indeed, how much I weigh)

    I'm 5'10" and have a low body fat % with a high lean body mass... it means so much more than the number on the scale.
  • lovinbeinold
    lovinbeinold Posts: 116
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    I had a friend who was short, I forgot exactly 5' 3" or 5" 4". And that woman weighed over 180 pounds and did not look actually heavy. I think she must have had heavy bones. She looked about average. It always amazed me. If you are heatlhy and your size is nice, why worry about the numbers on the scale? They don't tell the whole story.
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
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    I'm SO SO SO glad someone posted a topic about this! I always manage to look way smaller than I am...On one side it irritates me so much, on the other side I'm like YAY! I use mybodygallery.com to look at pictures of people with similar weights, heights, clothing sizes, but the ones at my GOAL weight, look the same size I did at my STARTING weight [5'3 170, 136.6 now] ....I'm always like WTF. Right now I'm working on building muscle, when I finally start to get some I figure I'm going to look even more below my actual weight [yay kinda!]
  • embersfallen
    embersfallen Posts: 534 Member
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    love this thread... no one ever beleives me when I say my actually weight number either and how much I want to still lose. I also am running into the loose skin issue too... still have a fair chunk to go, but realizing it may not be quite as much as I have always thought... there was a girl in zumba the other day, only an inch or so thinner..but in talking about our weights, she was about 40 or 45 pounds LESS then me...but ...we wear about the same size? Our legs looked the same... my arms bigger and midsection a bit bigger...but not what you would think 40 or 45 pounds difference would be at al!!. ....then our zumba instructor, is my height, and 20 pounds above my initial * goal weight*...but she is very muscular... quite frankly, I will be THRILLED if I look close to that around her weight! Really encouraging...

    Found this calculator online...and the body fat percentage vs lean mass it gave was quite interesting... http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    It actually said my lean mass is MORE now then my original goal weight...so..these other things taken into consideration...will be interesting to see as I get closer... i think the MOST important thing is how you feel, how your clothes fit...and how healthy you are from exercise...
  • amandahust
    amandahust Posts: 15
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    Thank you for the website its AMAZING, love it:)
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
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    Definitely have more to do your body composition, body fat vs lean muscle. Weight is just one component.
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    Found this calculator online...and the body fat percentage vs lean mass it gave was quite interesting... http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    I wouldn't blindly trust that - especially not if you have a proportionately small waist. It says I am at 18.6%, and although the last time I averaged mine out (measurements, calipers, scale - took the average of the three) was 23% and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a bit lower now since I've been doing lots of strength training, I highly doubt it has gone down 4.4% in the past month and a half.
  • BeautyFromPain
    BeautyFromPain Posts: 4,952 Member
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    from my profile picture, what would you guess i weigh (3rd pic)??
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
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    You should go get your body composition tested
    http://www.cosmed.com/locator
  • LavenderChamomile
    LavenderChamomile Posts: 52
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    DEFINITELY happens to me all the time. I put on 60 pounds within a couple of months and no one even noticed! People actually think I'm lying when I say how much I weigh. When someone guesses my weight, it's ALWAYS at least 30 pounds lighter than I am.
  • OfficialPR
    OfficialPR Posts: 1,610 Member
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    At 5'8 & 181lbs I'm "overweight" yet I get alot of people surprised not only by my weight due to it's distribution or how I "wear it" but that it falls into category..in any event I have set goals and know where my body loses weight, etc. Thus I'll just customize as I see but just confirms each one of us is UNIQUE....
  • michelleck23
    michelleck23 Posts: 25
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    I am built the same way, I have always been told I have a "swimmers" body. Muscular legs, skinny waist, broader shoulders.

    I think they need to make a BMI that shows where your weight should be if you are such n such body fat percentage. My body fat has always been good along with blood work!
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
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    Found this calculator online...and the body fat percentage vs lean mass it gave was quite interesting... http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    I wouldn't blindly trust that - especially not if you have a proportionately small waist. It says I am at 18.6%, and although the last time I averaged mine out (measurements, calipers, scale - took the average of the three) was 23% and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a bit lower now since I've been doing lots of strength training, I highly doubt it has gone down 4.4% in the past month and a half.

    I agree. I don't think using measurements can really let you know how much fat you have. Or maybe I am in denial that I am at least 24%, because that's the number I get on all the online calculators I've tried.
  • michelleck23
    michelleck23 Posts: 25
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    I'm 5'8" and 180lbs. A lot of people never believe me when I tell them that. But I have D's, and broad shoulders and thick muscular legs, so I assume that's the reason.

    Woops meant to quote you in previous post! :)
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
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    I look slimmer than I am I think because I have a larger bottom half and a tiny upper half, so my face looks quite slender but I still carry a bit of weight around my butt and thighs.
  • embersfallen
    embersfallen Posts: 534 Member
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    Found this calculator online...and the body fat percentage vs lean mass it gave was quite interesting... http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
    I wouldn't blindly trust that - especially not if you have a proportionately small waist. It says I am at 18.6%, and although the last time I averaged mine out (measurements, calipers, scale - took the average of the three) was 23% and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a bit lower now since I've been doing lots of strength training, I highly doubt it has gone down 4.4% in the past month and a half.

    I agree. I don't think using measurements can really let you know how much fat you have. Or maybe I am in denial that I am at least 24%, because that's the number I get on all the online calculators I've tried.

    Definately not * blindly* trusting it to be sure...I know there are MANY different methods of measuring...but I do think it offers some basic insight :) My omron hand held BF tester held says slightly more, about 6 pounds less lean mass...and that is the one I use most frequently and it has been also consistantly going down... Wish I could afford a BodPod or underwater test, but it's not feasable... i DO know that with not that huge of a number change on the scale... about 10 or more different people including one who can not usually really tell too much kept telling me within the past 2 months or so that I was * much smaller* and had lost a * lot* of weight...even though the scale was not really supporting that...and this during a time with a lot of weight training :)
  • dizsolvedgirl
    dizsolvedgirl Posts: 26 Member
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    I've always thought that people were being kind by being shocked by my actual wight number.
    I've been blessed with a well proportioned body, but I also have a big bone structure (i.e. I cant wrap my fingers around my own wrist .... defined with wrist bones, no fat there).

    I think the first time I really believed I weighed more thank I look was when I was going in for surgery and I was going through the pre-op check in the nurse took me back to the scale to weigh me because she was positive the number was wrong...and this was someone who weighs people all day long. She kept going on how much smaller I was compared to what the scale was reading.

    because of this I really use a dress size as a goal and not what the scale reads. While I do weigh myself, i take more joy in seeing the tapemeasure numbers go down than the scale.

    Much rather see my clothes are starting to fall off me, than 10lbs down on the scale. There is so much more validation in seeing the NSV.
  • laurastrait21
    laurastrait21 Posts: 307 Member
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    I have never got a DEXA or anything but I have been told I don't look like I weigh as much as I do. My uncle had gastric bypass and I jokingly mentioned that he weighed less than I do now (he does!) and I think because I am so tall I look thinner than I actually am. None of my fam believed I weighed over 200 lbs. It's annoying!!! I know "big boned" isn't really an excuse.. but I think I am!
  • michellebelle1
    michellebelle1 Posts: 34 Member
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    I think I am in a similar situation. My starting weight was 148 lbs (I'm 5'4") and wore a loose size 6/tight size 4 depending on the brand. Pants were always several inches too big in the waist, but quite a stretch in the hip/thigh area. My current weight is 130, and I am finding that I have become much slimmer in the hips. I always thought it was muscle mass making me heavier, as I do a lot of heavy lifting and running, but after watching my calorie intake more closely, I found that I did have room to lose a bit more weight and land solidly in the "healthy" range (though I don't think I was unhealthy before).

    I liked that I looked smaller than my weight, but it was discouraging to think that I would always be heavier than I thought I should be. It turns out that's not necessarily the case. :)

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