Ed Levine's Serious Diet, Week 59: How Much Should I Weigh?
After last Friday's weigh-in of 225 pounds, I am well within single digits of what I thought my goal weight was: 218 pounds. But all week I have been thinking: How much should I weigh? Where did I get that number? Is it right?
So many pounds, so many inches, so many questions.
When I look at the federal weight guidelines for men six feet tall, I find nothing but agita.
Even big-boned, large-framed six-foot-tall men are supposed to weigh somewhere between 164 and 188 pounds. I have not weighed 164 since I was ten years old, and hell, I haven't been south of 200 since I got married in 1978. Who puts together these ideal weight charts, anyway?
So if I don't use the government's ideal weight charts for real world guidance, who should I take my proper weight cues from? What should my goal weight be? Is it wise to even have a goal? Isn't my serious diet a journey rather than a destination?
The 218 number that seems to be stuck in my brain from an elaborate set of calculations involving waist and wrist measurements, age and gender-appropriate ideal body fat percentage ranges, and lean and actual body weight figures, that I found in the book Protein Power. I just pulled the book off the shelf and, aha, the calculations I did in 1996 indicate that my ideal body should be somewhere between 205 and 220.
How 218 became stuck in my head, I'll never know.
Anyway, does any of this make a difference? I weigh somewhere around 225 pounds at this moment (we'll find out exactly how much in a moment). I feel good, I look pretty good, my wife thinks I'm sexy, and I'm getting around the squash court a helluva lot better than I used to. 218 is as good a goal weight as any, especially since I now know that my real goal is to find a way to eat the things I love in moderation so that I can live healthily alongside my wife to be a ripe old age, so that I can keep posting on Serious Eats when I'm 85 and we can play with my grandchildren alongside my son.
The Weigh-In
224. Down another pound from last week. Grandparenthood here I come.
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30 Comments:
it's a good question. i'm 23 yo woman, a hair over 5 feet, and i weigh about 134. That's about 20 pounds from what I weighed three years ago, and I'm hoping to maintain. But most literature says a woman of my height should weigh more like 115-125. But I feel good, I bike, I run (half marathons!), I walk...would I look a little more shapely at 10 pounds less, probably, it'd be kinda nice to be even lighter, but do I HAVE to be? Am I still considered healthy? I think so.
sarahlucy at 9:37AM on 03/20/09
I think about this all the time. I think the official government guidelines are one piece of information that's part of bigger picture. When you consider how different we are, it seems absurd that everyone of the same height should weight roughly the same. What really bothers me, though, about those numbers is that striving to be thinner that your body wants to be can set you up for failure big time. If you can't get down to that weight, you might give up. If you do, and it's too hard to maintain, you might feel like a failure and give up. Right now in my own weight loss/weight management journey I seem to have leveled off at a weight. I'm trying to get comfortable with it because the messages I'm getting from my own body are saying that this is where I belong. That's better information that I'm going to get from any official chart.
Joy Manning at 9:56AM on 03/20/09
The best thing that I can say is stop worrying about numbers. If you feel like you're near a decent weight for yourself, do exactly what you said you planned on doing: stop dieting and start eating normal, small-portioned meals of both things you like and healthy things. Your weight should find it's set point and pretty much hover around there. If you're happy and feel healthy, you should be in good shape :)
Gastronomize at 10:09AM on 03/20/09
i think your BMI matters, but overall, it's your body fat percentage that is most important. you know those people who are super-tiny, eat whatever they want, and never exercise? i hate them. :) i also call them "skinny fat". they can have a host of problems (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) and don't have an ounce of muscle on them, but they are perceived as "healthy" because they aren't overweight. so not the case.
keep doing what you're doing, ed - we're all so proud of you. you're establishing a diet and exercise program that will work for you long-term. as long as you keep reminding yourself that being healthy is a lifestyle, not a goal, you'll be fine. as joy said, your body will let you know where you belong.
anniedra at 10:16AM on 03/20/09
I go by what my doctor is comfortable with for me -- and I've always chosen doctors who themselves aren't super skinny! seriously, if you are healthy that's more important than a specific poundage target.
elisabeth58 at 10:18AM on 03/20/09
On the one hand, all things you write about (feeling good, being balanced, at a maintainable level) are all really important. Potentially the most important. BUT. One of the things that's weird about American society is that most people's conception of what a truly 'healthy' or 'slim' weight actually is, is quite skewed from a global or health-based standard. Having very few slim people around has caused people to believe that slimness is an 'extreme' state not to be aspired to, rather than the weight that Americans used to consider 'normal'. So maybe think about that - does 218 lbs seems 'normal' based on the people around you, or does it seem like 'your ideal'? Are you settling for the average, or aspiring to the healthy?
kololo at 10:27AM on 03/20/09
I think talking to your dr about what makes sense for you is a good idea. You also want to find a weight that you can maintain without being obsessed with dieting.
saraann at 10:34AM on 03/20/09
We nutritionists and dietitians have a couple of ways to calculate "ideal" body weight. First, there's BMI which is a relationship of height to weight. Your BMI should be between 18 - 25. There are problems with BMI though, it doesn't take body composition (fat, muscle) into account so if you're really muscley your BMI might say you're overweight when you're not. But it's a guide.
There's also a calculation:
Women: 100 + (5lb for each inch over 5 feet), and +/- 10% of that result
Example: 5'7" woman: 100 + (5 * 7) = 135 +/- 10% = 122 to 149
Men: 105 + (6lb for each inch over 5 feet), +/- 10%
Example: 6' 3" man: 105 + (6 * 15) = 195 +/- 10% = 176 to 215
This formula is what is routinely used for patients. It's not perfect, and again doesn't take into account body composition, but it gives you a target range.
And I agree with kololo -- our perception of what slim is has been skewed. Height/weight tables have been adjusted for the years so what is "slim" now would have been over weight 30 years ago. In Japan, a BMI above 23 is considered overweight; in America it's over 25.
ilovebutter at 10:44AM on 03/20/09
You go Ed!!!!!! What I love about your serious diet is that you are EATING that you are NOT dieting.....I truly believe it is all about appreciation of food and eating more slowly but it doesn't mean the quality of what you eat and what you want to eat has to be compromised. I fit into a dress this week that I have not worn for 10 years. The last time I wore it was to a Park Avenue dinner party when I lived in NYC. I work in a retail store for the moment, and I had a husband ask if we carried size 0 for his wife. I felt like saying," if your wife wears a size 0 I can pretty much say she has a eating disorder". Society is so screwed up when it comes to diets and size. I will never be a size 2 or a 4 but I will be happy to be a 6. I am not quite there yet but pretty close. I think you have to go by your clothes and how you feel, physically and mentally. I am at levels in my ashtanga yoga class I never thought I would be, meanwhile some friends have cabinets full of pills. My goal is "NOT" to have a cabinet full of pills as I grow old, this is from someone whose father died of a heart attack at 48. I do stick with my blue green algae, and my sauteed spinach and my arugula and my fascination with all the different types of heirloom vegetables out there. I say, go with the weight level that your" inner Ed" tells you to go to.
Jbout at 10:45AM on 03/20/09
BMI is not a good system for estimating a proper body weight if you are a tall fellow. The BMI system was invented in the mid 1800s in Europe. The fellow there, Adolphe Quetelet, only looked at the people around him, which were of a certain height. Six feet was never the norm back then, and I really can't say that the formula works out well when you get up that high. It becomes skewed when reaching these extreme heights. No fellow I've met around that height has been that weight without looking unhealthy.
Never go by a set weight. Pay attention to how you feel overall, and past that, how much muscle you have. Muscle is much denser than fat, so athletes and other fit people show up as "overweight" on BMI when they obviously are not. Visible body fat always seems to pool in the wrong places or take forever to remove, and some areas just need padding, so it's never a good idea to get hung up over a body location not looking the way you want it to.
Jikuu at 11:50AM on 03/20/09
Thinking about grandparenthood so soon?! You're going to freak out Will, Ed!
Jenn Sit at 12:23PM on 03/20/09
I think what you should weigh is a weight that doesn't stop you from doing what you love. For me, I'm not quite at a weight that lets me sit comfortably on the floor with cats or kids without my stomach feeling a bit in the way. I'm close, and I'll get there. When I do, I'll probably still be a size 8. Compared to weight charts I've seen, I really should weigh about 30 pounds less than I do, but when I reach my goal, I'll probably only be about 10 pounds lighter than I am now.
However, when I get there, I'll still be able to have a few spoons of custard for dessert or enjoy french fries on occasion in moderation.
cooklocal at 12:54PM on 03/20/09
Like anniedra said: ignore the scale, focus on your body fat percentage. Figuring out your ratio of body fat to lean body mass (bone+blood+muscle+etc) is what is critical. This can be done easily and most accurately with a simple hydrostatic water tank test – search your area for a mobile one that visits health clubs, usually $40 for a quick painless test. The other easy way is a $5 caliper that you can pick up online. A few pinches to the skin and you can have a pretty good estimate – doesn't work well on larger people. If you perform the same test on the same spot every few weeks, you can easily see the trend and have a good guage of where you are.
By working with percentages of body fat and not weight you take out the "big boned" factor and have an accurate look at _your_ body and not some military sampled testing system from the 50s.
Do you have too much fat relative to your lean body mass? That is the real question.
In modern times, there is no reason that men should be carrying around more than 25% body fat – at any age. You said you were 225lb. Lets say your body fat was 25% today. You would be carrying around 56 lb of body fat and 169lb of muscle/bone/blood/organs/etc. That's just under 200,000 calories of reserve on your body for those times when you're stranded and need to stay alive for a month with no food – yeah, there is essential fat and you couldn't use all 200k but, you get the idea.
When you look at body fat as a percentage and then convert the stored fat to calories, you quickly see how much is "needed" vs how much is excess.
barbarism at 1:11PM on 03/20/09
As long as you're healthy and your doctor says you're healthy, you're good. People who become fixated on numbers often develop disordered eating patterns (I differentiate between disordered eating and eating disorders because they are not always the same). The problem with government numbers and BMI is they often don't figure in all the factors. Muscular and big boned people can be "overweight" but healthy, and people with very little muscle are sometimes "underweight" yet have lots of visceral fat. According to BMI, since muscle mass isn't taking into account, Lance Armstrong is obese!
cycorider at 1:20PM on 03/20/09
There isn't an ideal number for each person, and even the range of what our bodies look like when healthy gravitates over time (just like an 80 year old doesn't have the same face as an 18 year old, s/he doesn't have the same body composition). Yes, some cultures tend to have smaller boned, less muscular populations, so what is healthy and fit there is a lot smaller than what is healthy and fit in other populations (and there are exceptions in every group).
I think it's good to realize that what's healthy for you (the point at which you are eating a varied diet without consistently feeling hungry or stuffed) is different than for someone else. Striving to be too small doesn't just set people up for failure mentally - it trains the body to expect and prepare for famine.
Personally, I threw out my scale a couple of years ago, after realizing it only made me obsessive and unhealthy. It tells me absolutely nothing about my health that I can't get just from paying attention to my body.
tangledgray at 1:49PM on 03/20/09
Ideal weight and BMI are, strictly speaking, used as statistical markers for health risk. They are by no means good indicators of healthy appearance. If your BMI is elevated, you are at increased risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and other related illnesses. In general, most people at a "normal" BMI of 20 do not look terribly healthy by modern standards - they are TOO thin. Other factors must be considered as well - body fat percentage, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and serum glucose. If your BP, cholesterol and sugar are all well-controlled, your risk of life-threatening illness is markedly less, even if you are obese (so-called "healthy obesity") - the risk of arthritis remains high, though, due to joint strain.
DrGaellon at 1:52PM on 03/20/09
I agree that if there's some way where you can check your body fat you should look into that than just the numbers on the scale. A lot of people are way above their "ideal weight" based on BMI, so a better goal to aim for is losing 5 - 10% of your body weight, and lots of different studies have shown that even that amount of weight loss comes with TONS of benefits, like decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes, etc.
Vincci at 3:34PM on 03/20/09
I'm going through some weight loss myself and have lost 9 pounds over 3 months thanks to diet and exercise. But, I have lots of muscle. People have told me I look like I've lost 20 pounds. Instead of focusing on the weight, I'm aiming for clothing sizes. I've dropped two sizes already - my goal is ultimately to be 2-3 sizes smaller. I know I will have reached my goal if I can go into a store and buy clothes from the regular sized racks.
I'm never going to be a stick - my body structure is too big for that. But I am determined to be healthy. Beyond size, I'm starting to think of physical achievements too. I may even start training to run a half-marathon sometime in the next year.
Reading your posts have helped too. Thanks for that.
anonymoose at 4:03PM on 03/20/09
@jbout- not a kind thing to say. People come in all shapes and sizes, including 0.
mhurst826 at 5:01PM on 03/20/09
Some years ago, I took off a bit of weight. I had a target weight based on the standard charts, and a goal size as far as fitting into a certain pair of jeans. When I hit both targets I asked a number of people whether I should quit losing or not. Without exception, everyone I asked said I was perfect where I was, and not to get carried away. So I decided that was it. I felt good, I looked good, I fit into the jeans, I was a size smaller in new clothes than I expected I would be (clothing apparently has grown) and some people were referring to me as "thin" or "skinny."
Now, I'm the same weight and the jeans still fit, but I don't think I'm skinny at all. I'm thinner than a whole lot of people, but that's because all these folks around me are chubby. I'm not overweight according to weight charts or my doctor but I'm not on the thin side of the size range, either. When I was setting goals, I wanted to be a size that looked normal and healthy and not like a starving model, but now I think that I should have NOT listened to all those people and forged on to lose the little bit extra. I'd still be within the normal range.
The thing is, once you're in the long-term losing-weight mode, it's easy to keep losing. In fact, it was hard for me to stay stable without working at it. I gave myself a setpoint and three pounds either way, and there were more than a few times I dipped below and ate an extra dessert. Not a bad situation to be in, but I didn't want to find myself losing another clothing size and having to get rid of the new stuff I bought.
Then I stabilized, and I've been this weight for quite some time.
So now, I'm thinking that I might cut back some more, put more miles on the bike, and drop a few more pounds. And I know what's going to happen. All those people who think I'm "perfect" now are going to nag me about how I'm getting too thin. No, I'm not. It's just that the average weight in the US has gone up so much that we've gotten used to it.
If you're happy with the weight you are, that's fine. But if you're going by other people's opinions, keep in mind that the chubby ones are jealous and the skinny ones are sucking up. Do what you feel is right.
And keep in mind that if you do lose another 10 or 15 pounds and you feel too much like a stick, then you can always put it back on.
dbcurrie at 7:23PM on 03/20/09
That's fantastic! You said you feel good and your wife thinks you're sexy. Well, there you are! I think the key is to eat in moderation, like you said, maintain a weight within a range you feel good at and stay active. Your body knows when you're hurting and when you need to lose a few. Listen to your body and hopefully you wont have to obsess with a number. Congrats!
yankeesgal at 8:15PM on 03/20/09
Ultimately, your body will probably tell you for you. If you're happy when you get to your target weight and you feel healthy, then that's where you're supposed to be. @dbcurrie is right: if you lose so much that you feel like a stick, you can certainly put the weight back on.
Amandarama at 12:27PM on 03/21/09
I just looked at some photos of myself at about the point where everyone noticed I had lost weight and everyone was cooing about how good I looked. Which is where you are now. At some point, people suddenly notice it. I don't know if it's because your face finally changes, or you buy new clothes, but there's a point where people suddenly notice.
And you feel all good about yourself because everyone's praising you. And, yes, you feel better than you did before. And you look better than you did before. And to your eyes, which were used to looking at the fatter you, you actually look decent.
But is it the ultimate, best you? Probably not. These people are praising your efforts, giving you encouragement, and the ones who care are hoping that you won't start backsliding. But I doubt your wife has tried stuffing cream cheese bagels in your mouth because she thinks you like a starving orphan.
It's hard to look at yourself realistically. It's easier to look at other people. Try to find other people who are your height and wear the same size clothes you do. Go to one of those clothing websites that have virtal models and create one for yourself and see what shape you're in. Then find people who are your height but weigh twenty or thirty pounds less. Do those people look painfully thin, or do they look like they're in better shape than the ones who are your size?
You've gotten this far. Keep going. Take people's comments as encouragement rather than as confirmation that you've reached your goal. Lose the extra weight that you want to, and if you don't like the results, you have some room to backslide a bit.
dbcurrie at 1:33PM on 03/22/09
Congratulations on your progress! Although weight charts and BMI are guidelines, there are other factors too, as so many have pointed out. My doctor feels that the amount of "work" your body is capable of is a good indicator of overall health. He's 60 years old, plays city league hockey, bikes, skis, and hikes. When I took up weight training, I actually gained weight (muscle weight), but my clothes fit better and I feel strong and healthy. So don't fret about being perfectly lined up with the weight chart--you know your body better than anyone, and can manage your life so you feel your very best.
bavaria at 1:43PM on 03/23/09
So if you lose abt a lb a week, does that mean you will stop writing this column in the next couple of months when you reach your goal? Many readers have looked fwd to it on fridays.
kitchenraid at 8:54AM on 03/24/09
the best answer to the question of how much should I weigh is, whatever number you feel strongest at. I'm not kidding, I asked a dr friend and he said as long as you feel strong and healthy thats where you belong. If you can keep active and keep your stamina through the day, your actual number is meaningless. BMI is probably the best measure, but most of us can tell when we feel strong and healthy. Keep up the great work Ed! and I plan on reading your posts when I'm 90 ;-)
huneybumper at 12:35PM on 03/24/09
Ed - I'm 6'2", and am down to 210 lbs (from 235-240 in November) thanks to a martial arts class I started taking, and slightly more careful eating. Will I hit my 'ideal' weight of just south of 180 lbs? Probably not. My goal is to hit 200. If I hit 190 (my college weight), I'll be ecstatic.
But the important thing is to be happy with what I've accomplished... but to remember that I can still do better.
stratusgd at 2:59PM on 03/24/09
Ed,
I just started to seriously read your weekly Blog...how much did you weigh when you started the diet? I am a culinary school grad from way back and have some great low-fat, low calorie, and low carb recipes.
villas2000 at 9:57AM on 03/30/09
love your diet ed. i'm not big. in fact i'm pretty skinny but i'm trying to tone up and eating well is a big part of that. you've stuck with this for so long there truly is no going back. you're a winner. keep going. keep blogging i want to hear more
jimmi at 3:02PM on 03/30/09
I thought you married in 1982; does it just seem like longer? You met your wife in 1978, so that's probably the number of years of fidelity you are carrying around in your head. And you are very close to looking just as good as you looked then. congrats.
Caramanlis at 3:09PM on 03/30/09