Question for "Athletic Build" ladies

best idea- get your body fat tested with calipers, find out from a trainer what puts you within the "fit" range (this is the range above good and under professional athlete). That would give you a good idea. I am built very muscularly and was pleased to find out that I am not nearly as over what I need to be!

I've always been small and "solid". Even at my VERY thinnest I was only 104, and I'm just 5'0". My muscles are built densely, and in compact little "balls", which actually works to my advantage, because they start to pop out with great definition after only a couple of weeks of heavy lifting.

5'7" - Used to body build when I was in my late teens (up to 20 - when I got prego) I was in the high 150's then. When I got back into shape after the baby I was 164 (best shape post baby - with heavy lifting) I wore a size 10

Now 176 and in a 12 (some 10's)- hoping to get to the 160's again and a solid size 10.


Edited to mention - BF% is really more important to me now anyway. And Maybe if I can get it in the lower 20's then I may even wear an 8...

Btw, I KNOW that lifting won't make me huge...but I am aware that muscle does weigh more than fat.

A pound of fat and a pound of muscle both weigh a pound. The fat just takes up more space.

thank you.

I know it's a pet peeve thing- but I can't stand when people say "a pound of X weighs more than a pound of Y."

NO IT"S MORE DENSE. dense- dense is the word for which you search.

I'm 5'8" and am around 162- and looking to add. But ideally I'd be around 150.

I see your logic but I don't think the statement is completely incorrect. hypothetically if you and me both wear the same size of jeans but your legs are all muscle and mine are all fat, then you will weigh more than me BECAUSE YOUR MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN MY FAT. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can see both arguments

No, sorry that is incorrect. A lb of muscle is simply more dense than a lb of fat, just like a lb of brick is much more dense than a lb of feathers. They still all weigh a lb.

As defined by Free Dictionary, weight is, "The force with which a body is attracted to Earth or another celestial body, equal to the product of the object's mass and the acceleration of gravity." Which is why you would weigh more on Jupiter than Earth, but your mass would stay the same.

There is no argument. It's physics.

ETA: I consider myself an athletic build. I'm 5'5" and currently 130 lbs.

But 1 cup of muscle weighs more than 1 cup of fat. She really didn't specify measurement as a pound.

When I was rowing crew and lifting I was 130 and that worked for me. I'm 5'4" and have always been on the powerful side even when not exercising.

5'5", looking to settle into 125-130 (basically I want <18%BF which should be in this range). Even athletic women who lift heavy have a hard time having enough LBM to maintain low bodyfats at very high weights (although you can look dang good at higher than 18%, that's just my personal goal) because building muscle takes time.

Btw, I KNOW that lifting won't make me huge...but I am aware that muscle does weigh more than fat.

A pound of fat and a pound of muscle both weigh a pound. The fat just takes up more space.

thank you.

I know it's a pet peeve thing- but I can't stand when people say "a pound of X weighs more than a pound of Y."

NO IT"S MORE DENSE. dense- dense is the word for which you search.

I'm 5'8" and am around 162- and looking to add. But ideally I'd be around 150.

I see your logic but I don't think the statement is completely incorrect. hypothetically if you and me both wear the same size of jeans but your legs are all muscle and mine are all fat, then you will weigh more than me BECAUSE YOUR MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN MY FAT. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can see both arguments

If you compare same size portion then the muscular leg will weigh more because you will need more pounds in muscle to make up the same space as the fat leg.

You are comparing a cup of lettuce to a cup of pasta and saying pasta weighs more than lettuce. What you mean is 1 cup of pasta weighs more than 1 cup of lettuce. However 1 lb of lettuce would be a whole lot of lettuce if you were comparing pound to pound.


1 lb will always be 1 lb.

5'6, 130 lbs and around 18% bf. Wear a size 2-4

Hi. I'm 5'8" with an athletic build. I am not a small framed woman...maybe medium framed? I was an athlete from the time I was able to play t-ball until now. I still play softball in the summer on a league and basketball with friends. My legs are definitely the legs of an athlete and will never be "skinny" bc they are so muscular. I still lift weights 3 times a week. I remember in high school, instead of taking photography or some other elective, I always took conditioning with the guys. Pretty genius, I think :-P

My goal weight is 150ish. Right now, I am at 176 and I am in between a 10 and 12. 11 Juniors is working pretty well for me. Feel free to see my pics in my profile. Anything under that is probably going to make me look sick. The bmi chart says my healthy is like 140-160, I think, so I hope to hit right in that. I will never be able to be a "skinny" woman because of my frame, but I don't want that anyway. At 150, I will probably be a happy 8.

Good luck, hun!

Hello! I'm 5'0" and very muscular. My trainers have suggested a goal weight for me to be 145. (30 lbs to go).

I'm 5"3.5" and I've been an athlete my whole life. I definitely have an athletic build and lots of muscle under the fat that I have

For me, I could never go below 125 (I'd have to starve myself) My goal is somewhere in the 125-130 range, but I'll be ecstatic just to be at 135!

I am setting monthly goals in increments. I started at 171, and I'm 164 now, so I'm hoping to be 155 by mid-March and 140 by July.

I feel that I'll just figure out how low I want to go as I reach my incremental goals. If I reach 135 and I feel it is ideal for me, then I will maintain there.

My cousin is my height and she's 115-120 just naturally. She was never an athlete but always just thin. We just have completely different body compositions.

i'm 5'3", trying to get to 118 pounds and 20% bf, and am trying to lose some muscle. crazy. i know. :]
eta : i race motorsports, so i'm trying to get super strong and as light as possible.

Good question!

I'm 5'4 and definitely athletically built. I could barely lift and still have arm muscles and muscly legs! I am around 150-155, but definitely look my best at 140 (though I have to work my butt off to get there!) I'm about 22% body fat, which is pretty good because I'm a pretty curvy girl (boobs, butt, and hips!)

I would say if you're built like this, focus on shaping your curves. Us girls with this build have naturally larger hips/butt, so I like to firm it up (not make it smaller, but firmer!) I would say try not to worry so much about weight, because we're naturally heavier, and more on shape/firming it up.

I love circuit training for this! (bootcamp/insanity style training)

I'm 5'2" (an extra 1/2 inch on good days) and currently weighing in at 154 lbs. Goal is 130, but I'd settle for something in the 135-140 range. They said I'm on the "larger side of medium" frame when I had some dunk testing done (based on ankle measurement) & I have a pretty muscular build.

About 2 years ago, I was 137 lbs and 22.5% body fat... and that was not much weight lifting (mostly I run long distance but mix in some pilates/core strength training to prevent injury).

Would love some other friends with similar goals - I don't make it onto the forums as regularly as I'd like (iPhone app only allows newsfeed) but please friend me if you would like to keep in touch on newsfeed too!

I'm 5'8 and a bit and I feel best at around 140.

I have an athletic build and a lean mass of 109 lbs

I'm 5' 2" and "large" framed. My wrist measurement is 7"--makes it difficult sometimes to buy bracelets and watches. The lowest weight where I looked reasonably good is 125, and that's pushing it. I'm older now, so I have set my goal at 140. Once I reach that, I may try for 130, depends on how I look. I also seem to build muscle pretty easily, so the scale is not the best way to evaluate!