Is 5’7 160 too skinny?!

Without knowing more about why your doctor is making that determination, it's hard to make a fully informed comment. It is possible that there is something he is seeing that we can't see as people on an internet message board.

That being said, at the numbers, 160 is certainly not too low for the average person who is 5'7. It is not even in the normal BMI. So I am confused as to why your doctor thinks it is at eating disorder levels. I also can't imagine that 5'7", 190 would be considered a "don't go any lower" weight for you, considering that is just right at about an obese BMI. I am 5'11, 195, and I am definitely overweight still and could lose at least 20 more pounds to be at a good weight for myself.

It's hard to tell from your doctors comments if he thinks you are abnormally muscular which is why he thinks that 160 is too low for you or if he thinks that you don't have much muscle, and you look frail and "skinny fat". The former would make more sense as to why he would want you to stop, but if he thinks you look "frail" that would mean he thinks the latter. So I am not sure where he is coming from or why he thinks 160 is a good weight for you. Have you gotten a proper body fat test done? That may give you some insights.

I don't agree with "trust your doctor" as just blind advice to follow, as many primary care physicians have little to no knowledge or training of nutrition, diet, or weight loss just being a doctor does not make someone an expert on it. It may benefit you to see a registered dietician to discuss with them what they think about your weight and diet.

Now, all that being said, there are a few things you've said in your post, such as "being incredibly unhappy at 190" and "scared to maintain" that do set off a bit of red flags that you could be having an unhealthy relationship with food and body image. If you are worried about gaining at 2000 calories, that could indicate that you've been eating considerably lower than that, which could have been too low to be considered healthy for you. So your doctors concern could have some merit to it, especially if it's not the number of your weight, but the way you are getting to it that are of concern. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to see if you could find a counselor to talk to about this stuff, even just at a basic level, to make sure that it doesn't grow into something more serious.

MikePTY wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

One part of what you relay makes your doctor sound strange. The second part makes him sound potentially correct.

As a person who is older than you and wears medium at 5ft 7"+ (172.25 cm) and 155lbs and well above the midpoint of normal BMI I have a hard time envisioning you as catastrophically too thin, but I am also having some trouble seeing me wear small... so who knows!

The difference to what you looked like before and the potential end result of currently being malnourished if you've been under-eating beyond prudent to lose weight fast, may be making you appear to be thinner and drawn out as you're concluding a period of eating restriction.

Eating at maintenance and stabilizing for a good six months to a year will help your wobbly bits settle down and redistribute, and hopefully improve your "lustre" <think shinny coat and a wet nose>

Now moving beyond jokes. If you're having trouble eating 2000 Cal or contemplating doing so I can see where your doctor is concerned.

Again I can only go from n=1, but I lost from a similar start to a similar finish over a longer time frame, eating more calories, and I found it to almost be too fast for me.

Large caloric restriction triggers brain chemistry changes that can be reversed with time and normal eating. Your brain also takes time to catch up with your loss. And unless you're sedentary your maintenance calories are closer to 2500 than 2k.

So....

Well done so far; but time to snap out of it, especially if your doctor thinks you're looking haggard, has already told you to slow down, you haven't, and you haven't not because you CHOSE; but because you "were afraid" and/or "couldn't"

By the way: the same results with less side effects can be had with a smaller restriction over a longer period of time.

Don't keep pushing things... already you're in danger of rebound hunger when you start eating normally because something tells me you've been restricting way more than 1000 Cal a day

And if you seriously cannot increase your calories to the mid 2000 range which would be the normal level for your age, height, weight, and sex, you should really consider taking your doctor up on their offer for a referral.

My friend, you have to stabilize and concentrate on maintenance and a maintenance weight range. You can then re evaluate after a good year, or so, of "normalcy"...

Yeah the more I think about it, the more the issue could be around rapid loss, extreme restriction, and overall attitude towards body image rather than the specific number on the scale. That would make more sense.

If that is the case, then it is irresponsible for the doc to throw out a specific number and threaten the patient.

Awesome job losing weight. I preceive neither haggard, nor worryingly thin.

1500 being the absolute minimum recommended intake for males, if your intake was accurately measured at sub 1500, that restriction was too high. Some indications do exist that your intake may have been measured a bit more loosely which would make things not as bad as they sound. Yet, you both said 1lb a week and more than 100lbs in a year. In general, if I were you, I would consider the issue moving forward: you do not get bonus points for making things harder on yourself.

A break, some strength training... both sound good.

Do note that the closer you are to normal weight and the larger the restriction the more your ratio of fat to lean mass lost tends to deteriorate. Whereas when morbidly obese you may have been losing fat to lean mass on an 8:1 or even 10:1 ratio, when you are closer to normal weight and with a large restriction, little strength training, and perhaps inadequate protein intake, that ratio can easily become around 1:1

Great job on the weight loss. You look fantastic and not unhealthy at all. Your doctor does sound like he has some personal bias based upon what you've said. Regarding your fear of gaining at 2000 calories, I'm 5'4" 134 and still losing. When I reached 143, which was my initial goal which put me at at high end of a normal BMI, I went into maintenance for a few months to give both my brain and skin a chance to catch up to my weight loss. I also wanted to give myself time to enjoy, accept and appreciate my smaller size without that nagging voice in my head telling me that I needed to keep restricting. The last 10lbs I lost, I lost while increasing my calories every two weeks or so. I went from 1400 to 1500, to 1600, to 1700, to 1800. I also worked out about 5 times a week, never more than an hour at a time, workouts ranging from yoga, strength training and running. I did this so when I reached my maintenance weight I would be able to consume around 2000 calories without gaining. It seems to have worked. I started losing again about two months ago and have lost another 9lbs. My daily calories are set at 1900 and my workouts are about the same, except I eat around 2400 calories (or more depending on how I'm feeling) on the weekends because I run between 10 and 13 miles every Saturday and I feel famished if I don't eat back these particular exercise calories. I run not to lose more weight, but to be fit and it is nice having these days when I know I can eat a bit more. Sorry, I say all this only to say, at your height and weight, you should not be afraid to be gaining at 2000 calories. But considering you've been eating at such a high calorie restriction, I would start increasing your calories slowly as I did until you are able to eat at 2000 calories a day. Again, great job on the weight loss and you do look great.

Is your doctor overweight?