it feels so much better when you "cut the crap"

I don't know how tall you are, so if you're very short, this might not be a problem...but generally, a woman of 23 shouldn't weigh 94lbs. Unless you're 5'0 or shorter, 98 lbs is underweight, and even at 5'0 it doesn't allow for much bone density or any muscle mass. If you're taller than that, you need to maintain or current weight or even allow for some muscle mass. You're at an incredibly high risk for osteoporosis, and if you've been underweight for a great length of time, you probably have some osteopenia already.

You can still eat healthy food and cut out junk while building some muscle mass and/or maintaining a healthy body weight, and the lowest number isn't always the healthiest.

I don't know how tall you are, so if you're very short, this might not be a problem...but generally, a woman of 23 shouldn't weigh 94lbs. Unless you're 5'0 or shorter, 98 lbs is underweight, and even at 5'0 it doesn't allow for much bone density or any muscle mass. If you're taller than that, you need to maintain or current weight or even allow for some muscle mass. You're at an incredibly high risk for osteoporosis, and if you've been underweight for a great length of time, you probably have some osteopenia already.

You can still eat healthy food and cut out junk while building some muscle mass and/or maintaining a healthy body weight, and the lowest number isn't always the healthiest.

Hey - Songbyrdsweet - it's been a while since I've seen you on here!

What do you use for a gauge of "ideal weight"? I'm only 7lbs from my "goal" but I'm thinking I could go a little further, or maybe the issue is that of toning up!!! Just wondering if you might have some good calculator or site to reference! Thanks :flowerforyou:

Coming up with an ideal weight actually takes a lot of steps. I start with plain old height, age, and gender...using those, you come up with a range of what's acceptable. Once you know that, you add other factors in--bone structure, menstruation. A Caucasian female with small bone structure and the loss of menses is at great risk for osteoporosis, so even if she's in the acceptable range, those problems tell you that her weight needs to increase. Finally, I look at body composition and training. Two women with the same height and weight can have very different amounts of fat and muscle, and depending on the age, body type, and training, those ratios can change. Generally, a fully-grown woman without any growth problems shouldn't weigh less than 100 lbs just from my experience in the field. But there are exceptions to that rule, which is why I said it may not be a problem if she's an extremely petite individual.

If you feel that your weight is healthy, but you're not visually what you were expecting, it's a sign that your body composition just isn't in the right place. You just need to either lose/maintain body fat and gain some muscle mass to shape your physique. I actually weigh more than when I started, but my body fat is lower and my muscle mass has increased, which is a big reason why weight can be misleading in very athletic individuals. According to a BMI chart I'm overweight, but visually it's obvious I'm not.

I don't know how tall you are, so if you're very short, this might not be a problem...but generally, a woman of 23 shouldn't weigh 94lbs. Unless you're 5'0 or shorter, 98 lbs is underweight, and even at 5'0 it doesn't allow for much bone density or any muscle mass. If you're taller than that, you need to maintain or current weight or even allow for some muscle mass. You're at an incredibly high risk for osteoporosis, and if you've been underweight for a great length of time, you probably have some osteopenia already.

You can still eat healthy food and cut out junk while building some muscle mass and/or maintaining a healthy body weight, and the lowest number isn't always the healthiest.

I don't weigh 94 nor have I ever. I once weighed 98 and was thin, could have used a lb or two, depending. 100 is fine for me. I'm 5'2" and am shooting for 100-102. The other two to four lbs probably goes to my face and chest and after that, stomach!

I have a very thin frame and can circle my thumb around my wrist and hit my pointy finger.

at 98 lbs, though, I had really lean nice legs but not a lean stomach. I have ab muscles under my stomach, but you can't exercise away skin. I had a baby three years ago. Anyway. I lost a lot of my arm muscle...and I used to have decent enough arms. boo.

At the moment I look grossly misporportioned and nearly pregnant.