weight

[hellosunshine]

this business of weight,how on earth do you know what you are meant to weigh,some of the guys i race with are stick insect thin,im begining to wonder if i need to seriously address he weight issues and shed a bit,im 49.5kg NAKED and 5'5"......aged 39.......

[Eden]

that sounds pretty thin already to me
listen to your body - if you starve yourself you certainly won't be helping your racing at all and certainly don't compare yourself to men. Women need more body fat to continue producing all of the nice hormones that we need to stay healthy.

[mimitabby]

this business of weight,how on earth do you know what you are meant to weigh,some of the guys i race with are stick insect thin,im begining to wonder if i need to seriously address he weight issues and shed a bit,im 49.5kg NAKED and 5'5"......aged 39.......

how many stone is that ??
you sound like you're in great shape. but don't show us a picture of you naked.

[Grog]

50 kg (about 110 lbs for those who wonder) is really thin for 5'5".

You certainly don't want to loose weight, that would be muscles. Actually you might even benefit from gaining muscle weight (or maybe not).

Don't worry about it.

[chickwhorips]

50 kg (about 110 lbs for those who wonder) is really thin for 5'5".

and sunshine you don't think your thin! sheesh!

how do you feel? do you feel good? powerful? fast? if you feel good and like what you have its a perfect weight. though adding muscle like grog said could be a good thing (or bad), but you will weigh more.

i go by how i feel (thankfully bc i swear the scale lied to me on sunday).

[extra-vert]

If my conversion is right then you are right around 109lbs?? At 5'5" that's great! You're luckier over there in Europe than us Americans in that not nearly as much of your food is sabotaged like ours with hydrogenated oils and other things that don't need to be there. Our nation is getting FAT FAT FAT - and a huge reason for this is the fact that our packaged foods are so damn fake! Of course I can go on about this, but I know it's only the tip of the iceberg. My good friend from France eats Nutella every morning. She's a size 0. She looks very healthy. She will only eat the nutella friends and family bring her from France, because unlike our nutella (which looks identical on the outside) hers does NOT have hydrogenated oils in it!!! Anyway, that is only one example, and she is a very disciplined person who naturally practices portion control. That said, there is a lot us Americans can learn from others nations and cultures about our diets and our attitudes toward food. Enough from me, I'll shut up now.

[jobob]

Hee hee. Reminds me of the time a co-worker from Denmark came out here to visit our US site.

I'm driving him back to his hotel and he pipes up, oh so politely, "May I ask you a question?"

and I said "Sure".

"Why are Americans so fat?"

All this time he's puffing on a cigarette ...

[LBTC]

My good friend from France eats Nutella every morning. ...because unlike our nutella (which looks identical on the outside) hers does NOT have hydrogenated oils in it!!!

The store brand I buy here in Canada has canola oil and palm oil, but nothing hydrogenated. It's yummy, too, especially spread on whole grain raisin toast with "just peanuts" peanut butter too.

Yummy!

Ah, yes, and the weight v body image debate. At my lightest in the last 20 years (117 lbs at 5 1 1/2") I was not as strong as possibly even now as I try to regain my fitness (135 lbs). My goal for muscle strong weight is 125, because I've been there and understand that I can be strong and fit and fast at that weight. If I manage to dip down to 122 or 120 I won't complain I still feel that I looked my best at 117 lbs, but I'll take how I feel when I'm fit and strong over the look of the lighter weight!!

Lots of positive vibes for healing for you hellosunshine!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[limewave]

If you want to be faster, maybe work on your leg strength and build the strength-to-weight ratio. I, on the other hand, need to work on the weight end of the ratio, I have plenty of strength. I weigh WAY more than 109lbs and I'm only an inch taller. I've been working with my doctor and she wants me to shoot for 25 more pounds but no more than that--and that would still be more than 110 lbs.

Oh, and I SAG'd for my husband this weekend in a tri and was shocked that a woman who was my size kicked his butt! I didn't think larger woman could run fast--but she ran 7 minute miles in a rather lengthy tri. She's my new hero. DH is sooo sick of hearing about getting beat by a girl, but she rocked. I want her autograph.

[SAMbike]

Just for reference, I'm 5'3" and 113 lbs and I've found that to be my ideal racing weight. I do lift weights so have a fair amount of muscle mass. I believe that you can be too this, too light. If I go down to below 110 I do not have the strength that I need to compete on a mtbike... but that's just me.

You might be interested in seeing what the expert responses are to similar questions posted to the cyclingnews.com forum. There are many, you can do a search for the topic, here's an example:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?...4/letters05-17

[hellosunshine]

again,brilliant thread you posted,ive decided that trying to lose weight has been a daft idea,im now in a state of faintness post riding and generally becoming withdrawn,i thinki maybe im starving myself of the energy that makes me happy!so ive stopped the nonsense and am eating to win again,thanks,its easier somehow to talk to people in a different country on things that really bother me,i dont want to be labelled in britain as getting in a twist with some issues you openly discuss on these forums!

[SAMbike]

Glad to hear it! There's such a range of weights that work well for different heights. Again, it's all about what works best for you. Check out this chart:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?.../rider_weights

Happy riding!

[7rider]

Glad to hear it! There's such a range of weights that work well for different heights. Again, it's all about what works best for you. Check out this chart:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?.../rider_weights

Happy riding!

Wow. Interesting....
Well....I can't make myself any shorter, as I'm a bit taller than all those women's points. But I'd have to drop 20 pounds to be in their range....30 pounds if I want to be a successful climber.
Yikes!
Good think I have no dreams of being a "top pro" on the bike!

[GLC1968]

Wow. Maybe I'm looking at that chart incorrectly, but the women's weights seemed very, very normal. The men, on the other hand, seemed extremely light.

I looked up my height....and in comparison to women pro's my height, I'm about 10-15 lbs from being in the smack middle of the range...about what I expected seeing as how I'm about 10-15 lbs from my ideal weight.

When I looked up my husband's height, I was was shocked. For his height, he is almost 30 lbs over the men pros average. And my husband is not even slightly overweight! He just dropped 15 lbs at the beginning of the season to get where he is now and he doesn't have much spare weight to lose! He really would have to let his upper body atrophy significantly to compete (not that he plans to). I'll have to make sure he doesn't see this chart!

[run it, ride it]

okay--I've been there. High performance athlete (varsity running), 5'5", 115lbs, 17% body fat. Yes, even -heavier- than the original poster. But that was muscle, and let me tell you, my genetics do NOT dictate a thin build.

I looked like a freak. My period stopped, I lost my boobs; I -thought- I was eating too much because I kept collecting fat around my jaw and middle, but that was just my body going into starvation mode. I had to stop running due to injury; thought it would be a few weeks offtime.

Two years later, I think I -might- be ready to go back into light speed training. But with my injuries I simply cannot push the speed. Cycling has been a godsend: non-impact excercise that I can't hurt myself with the same way I did running; easy on the asthma; builds all the right muscles. When I was too injured to run a track practice, the workout was modified and I sentenced to the stationary bike. Now, I hardly think of cycling as a second-rate sentence!

I am finally getting my curves in the right places. The weight under my chin is dissipating. I know when I'm hungry and don't just have to guess. My metabolism isn't going to speed up any and my digestive system is a nightmare, so I have to be extremely careful of what I eat--but damn it, I look like a girl!

I look THINNER now at 124lbs because I have a jawline and a waistline. My hormonal levels are normal. I feel emotion again; trust me, going from 'training too hard to feel anything' to 'experiencing all repressed emotions from aforementioned time period' is no walk in the park.

What I'm trying to articulate is: DON'T push your body past its normal function. Doctors will tell you it's 'normal' for high-performance athletes to stop menstruating. Normal does not mean healthy. Your hormonal levels are worth more than a few percent body fat.