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Well it is all in what you see in the mirror, America is obese on average, I see it now every time I come back to the states. And I was a culprit of it myself, did not see what was looking back at me in the mirror, still thought I was as fit as I was when in my early 30's just out of the Army. Then a couple of years ago I looked in the mirror around Christmas time, I mean really looked and realized I was so far out of shape and over weight, it shocked me into action. I bought a scale and stepped on it 267 lbs at 5'10". Hot the gym, cut my calories to 1500 per day, ate super clean, weighed and recorded everything. And still allowed my self a chunk of dark chocolate at times and even a brownie. I made it a life style choice to change my diet and eat cleaner, I had never been the processed food or jumk food type, but I did enjoy big steaks and good home made food, I love to cook.
Joined CrossFit and within 4 months was down to 200 Lbs, could run a mile in under 10 min, and looked and felt good with body fat at 18%. 4 months later is was down to 184 lbs, and now currently at 178lbs and 11% body fat with abs and muscle definition. Feel fantastic, and love crossfit, I bike 15 to 20Km per day plus do my WOD's and Oly Power lifting 3 days a week. ALso kite surf, dive, and many things I used to do in my 20s and thought I was to old. I am told I do not look 55 and I know I look better then most men my age, and my soon to be wife is 29 and does crossfit as well.
So we need to look in the mirror, really look
Pictures below are before, 4 months in at a throwdown, and a couple of months ago
For 5'4 a good weight would be 120 pound, so 140 pound is slightly overweight.
But we are ignoring something important. 140 is not the average weight. The average woman in the world is 140 pound. However, the average American woman is 166 pounds FASTSTATS - Body Measurements
166 pound is clearly overweight if they don't have an abnormal amount of muscle.
At 5'7" when my scale said 160 a year or so ago, I about cried. I don't workout and I eat whatever, whenever, but that was just too much. I was 125-130 when I was 20, before kids. I was up to 178 while pregnant... After having my three girls, I was around 140, give or take, and I felt fat. Last summer, I got myself back down to 145 and I felt good. I'm currently between 145-150, depending on how active I was or what I ate the previous days. I still don't work out and I still eat what I want, when I want. I just tried being a little more active around the house and eating a little less of my cookies and cakes! :-) This was me summer of 2013. I am a self proclaimed plain Jane. I don't do makeup, at all, so forgive my pale complexion, lol. And I don't have a big anything to hide the weight in! It is what it is!
I still wouldn't mind losing 10lbs, but I feel I am average... My husband thinks I look great just as I am! :-) I'm hoping to get motivated to start walking or something this spring/summer, just to tone up a little bit.
It's important not to get too, too tied up in the number on the scale. The scale tells you how much you weigh, but it doesn't tell you how fit you are, or how healthy you are, or your worth as a person. There's all this talk on the thread about what women "should" weigh. Women should weigh whatever is healthy for them and what they're comfortable with. Throwing out an arbitrary number and saying everyone above this is fat and everyone below it is fine is stupid.
It's important not to get too, too tied up in the number on the scale. The scale tells you how much you weigh, but it doesn't tell you how fit you are, or how healthy you are, or your worth as a person. There's all this talk on the thread about what women "should" weigh. Women should weigh whatever is healthy for them and what they're comfortable with. Throwing out an arbitrary number and saying everyone above this is fat and everyone below it is fine is stupid.
That's true. What a heart rate monitor says is a far more important instrument than what a weight scale says.
I'm about 50 lbs heavier than the average woman (and only 4 inches taller), yet have a smaller waist. 37.5 inches is awfully high for a 166 lb person...male or female.
I was thinking the same thing myself. I started my diet the day after Xmas and weighed 174 at 5'4" and my waist was closer to 35 and I'm very much an apple. Now I'm down 22 lbs and it's more like 31", and 140 sounds pretty good to me, but I look best at 130. Still, at 140, my waist will probably go under 30". I'm thinking that this weekend I'm going to have to go buy new bras though--I shrank in band and cup size. Oh, and I've had 2 kids.
I am 5'4 and 139. Before I had kids I was 110. I am 33, hypothryoid, and have 2 kids now. My waist is 31 inches. I could loose about 10 pounds, but I can still wear a bikini and look good in it. I work out 4-5 times a week and have a lot of muscle. I run 5K's and go for walks. I also work full time at a school. I am very active. Most people tell me I have nothing to even try to loose, but I would love to loose about 10 more pounds and I am working very hard on it. I do not think I am fat, but I am not a perfect model either
I agree that BMI is an imprecise guide, this is why they quote ranges to indicate underweight, normal weight etc.
I agree entirely with the taller women who pointed out that weighing 160-170 lbs is not a problem if you are 5 ft 10.
I also agree that a lot has to do with your build, my son is about 15 lbs heavier and 2 inches shorter than I am but has a 30 inch waist while mine is 32 inches. He is much more muscular than I am, and clearly slimmer.
I do not agree with the notion that older people should expect to put on weight, and I know a woman with 5 children who has an abdominal 6 pack. She is 44 years old.
Ron, you are a very strongly built guy, you are never going to conform to a typical scale of height and weight. Any weights I could lift would not even be a warm up for you- on the other hand at the age of 63 I can run a mile in 6:36, and 13.1 miles at an average pace of 7:48 per mile. (Half marathon-1:42.)
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Oh, and I've had 2 kids.
