At ideal weight but family says too skinny

brtgl
brtgl Posts: 129 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
About five years ago, I dropped 30 pounds and have maintained that weight ever since... well, plus or minus 10 pounds. Family and friends said I looked great. However, all these resources said I was still "overweight", which was surprising to me. So for a wedding two years ago, I dropped another 12 pounds. When that happened some family that hadn't seen me in a while thought I looked too skinny. Some thought I looked sick.

I ended up gaining that 12 pounds back (sort of on purpose) and am back at what I originally thought was my ideal weight and appearance. Now fast forward to this morning. I bought a new Renpho scale and weighed myself and it says I'm overweight and that I need to lose 16 pounds to be in my idea weight range, which is five pounds below my lowest weight from two years ago.

So now what do I do? Did I look too skinny two years ago because I didn't lift weights enough? Should I ignore this "overweight" level? I'm thinking the former, which is to add a better weightlifting routine. Any thoughts for a guy who was a teenager in the eighties?

Replies

  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,000 Member
    edited October 2020
    As stated above, what are your stats.

    Height, weight, waist circumference...?

    I go through something similar. According to BMI, I should weigh no more then 170lbs to be considered normal weight. I typically weight in around 180lbs. For the past few months I have maintained 175lbs. At my lowest, 172lbs my friends thought I looked too skinny. Mind you the range for a male my height (5'10") is somewhere around 130lbs - 170lbs.

    For me personally, I go by the height to waist ratio. I believe it's as long as your waist is no more then 50% of your height you are considered healthy. I am 70" tall and my waist relaxed is 35", flexed is 33" so I don't sweat it too much. Who knows, I know it's all averages and is impossible to apply to everyone...

  • gisem17
    gisem17 Posts: 50 Member
    I am about 15 lbs away from being overweight. After that, it's a 40 lbs journey through overweight to get to normal. I dont know yet if I actually want to go all the way to normal or if a little overweight is my ideal.
    First question to ask is what does your doctor think about being a little overweight? My guess is that it probably doesn't bother him. Second question is how do you feel about being a few pounds overweight? If you're ok with that, then who cares what a scale says?
    The scale is probably using BMI to make that determination, and BMI gets a lot of flack for being unfair because it doesn't distinguish between muscle and fat.
    I have memories of being close to normal and there wasn't an ounce of fat on me. I am not convinced that normal is necessary to be healthy.
  • IronIsMyTherapy
    IronIsMyTherapy Posts: 482 Member
    I've been "overweight" at 8% bf because of lean body mass. Forget the label, forget your family and be the size that makes you happy.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    I went for a clothes fitting and the person measuring me said she thought I should stop losing weight. I was getting towards goal at that point, to be fair, but all the same...!
  • vampiregirl955
    vampiregirl955 Posts: 2 Member
    I would suggest trying a diet that works for you and exercising often. I am trying out keto as a birthday present to myself (next month) and mostly walk for exercise.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    I wouldn’t worry about if one of those body fat scales says you are overweight as those are immensely inaccurate. I also wouldn’t put much thought about BMI either. My husband was in the best shape of his life a few years ago and because of the amount of muscle he had, his BMI was “overweight”. The man was definitely NOT overweight. I was super jealous lol.

    If you are maintaining your weight and you’re happy with your results, enjoy. As said above, lifting weights is NEVER a bad idea even if you aren’t trying to pack on the muscle.
  • Mellouk89
    Mellouk89 Posts: 469 Member
    Measure your waist, what does it say?
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    I wouldn’t worry about if one of those body fat scales says you are overweight as those are immensely inaccurate. I also wouldn’t put much thought about BMI either. My husband was in the best shape of his life a few years ago and because of the amount of muscle he had, his BMI was “overweight”. The man was definitely NOT overweight. I was super jealous lol.

    If you are maintaining your weight and you’re happy with your results, enjoy. As said above, lifting weights is NEVER a bad idea even if you aren’t trying to pack on the muscle.

    BMI is a fine benchmark for the vast majority of the population, saying not to put much thought into it is a disservice. If someone is overweight/obese on BMI it is in their best interest to do an honest assessment of their weight that may include consulting a medical professional.

    If someone is doing resistance work and has a significant amount of muscle they are aware they are somewhat of an outlier to the BMI measurement. Take a look around next time you're at a public beach, there really aren't that many outliers.

    Based on weight alone the OP doesn’t sound obese. Without SEEING the OP we obviously can’t say one way or the other. BMI is for fine for measuring if you don’t lift weights. Muscular people fall into the overweight category in BMI which shows that BMI has some very obvious limitations, so, yes, if you are working out and building muscle, you shouldn’t put too much stock into what BMI says.

    Some people get too caught up in BMI. My husband switched doctors because his doctor was insistent that only BMI mattered and that he needed to lose weight. He had 6 pack abs and very little visible body fat. Again, my point is that BMI is a tool with limitations and should be recognized as such.
  • Dogmom1978
    Dogmom1978 Posts: 1,580 Member
    Sigh, it won’t let me edit obese should read as overweight in the above post
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Dogmom1978 wrote: »
    I wouldn’t worry about if one of those body fat scales says you are overweight as those are immensely inaccurate. I also wouldn’t put much thought about BMI either. My husband was in the best shape of his life a few years ago and because of the amount of muscle he had, his BMI was “overweight”. The man was definitely NOT overweight. I was super jealous lol.

    If you are maintaining your weight and you’re happy with your results, enjoy. As said above, lifting weights is NEVER a bad idea even if you aren’t trying to pack on the muscle.

    BMI is a fine benchmark for the vast majority of the population, saying not to put much thought into it is a disservice. If someone is overweight/obese on BMI it is in their best interest to do an honest assessment of their weight that may include consulting a medical professional.

    If someone is doing resistance work and has a significant amount of muscle they are aware they are somewhat of an outlier to the BMI measurement. Take a look around next time you're at a public beach, there really aren't that many outliers.

    Based on weight alone the OP doesn’t sound obese. Without SEEING the OP we obviously can’t say one way or the other. BMI is for fine for measuring if you don’t lift weights. Muscular people fall into the overweight category in BMI which shows that BMI has some very obvious limitations, so, yes, if you are working out and building muscle, you shouldn’t put too much stock into what BMI says.

    Some people get too caught up in BMI. My husband switched doctors because his doctor was insistent that only BMI mattered and that he needed to lose weight. He had 6 pack abs and very little visible body fat. Again, my point is that BMI is a tool with limitations and should be recognized as such.

    I wasn't speaking about the OP who as you say, does not sound like he is obese.

    60% of the US population does no resistance work at all, of the rest, based on observation there isn't a lot of work going on to build significant muscle.

    I have been overweight on BMI since HS, but have also been lifting since HS sophomore year consistently. I was 6'2", 205 lbs in college and although not athletic enough people would ask if I was on the football or baseball team at my D1 school and have remained at the same weight +/-10 lbs since. I've had a physical annual for 40 years often with a different doctor each time (large company physicals). They have always put my BMI in the form on the doctor's report. When discussing results the doctor (who physically examined me) would get to the BMI that said I was overweight per BMI and that was not an issue since I had good muscle mass and my waist/height ratio was good.

    I would suggest the doctor that told your husband he needed to lose weight when he had a 6 pack was an outlier.
  • Rockstar_JILL
    Rockstar_JILL Posts: 514 Member
    I agree with ninerbuff, above that most that say you don't need to lose anymore weight or you are too skinny are overweight! In my experience this has been true!

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