New Weight Loss Challenge

[Zen]

OK, so I've seen one person weighing 116 and another weighing 118.
Unless you're four feet tall, why do you want to lose weight?

[TNGIRL]

Good question. On a tall day I'm 5'1. Three years ago before I met my husband I was 108-110. Since falling into the comforts of marriage and getting lazy with my diet I had gained 12 - 15 pounds. I have taken some of the weight off, but if you can imagine 10lbs is a lot of weight on a small person. I want to get back to a more comfortable weight, but mostly I just want to be more consistent with healthy eating.

[katluvr]

I am only 4'10". I currenlty weigh between 117 and 120...depending on the contant flucuation. I was truly 99 pounds in my younger years. Even then I was not fully toned and had some "fat". I reached a max of 140 pounds. I know for many people 120 - 140 is "ideal". Not if you are barely at or over 5 feet tall. Even at 120 pounds AND riding AND strength training my % body fat is 30% (not good) my BMI is just now 25-ish (normal). So by no means am I thin or anorexic. When you are short, a little poundage means a lot! Yes, I see folks cringe when I say I need to lose weight but wear a size 6. But then again, I am not even close to average height, why should I be an "average" weight or size? Hope this explains things a bit. I am truly trying to lose weight for body fat%, BMI, health and cuz I see the fat around my tummy! Good luck to everyone! At any size weight lose or keeping it off is a lot of work!

[Zen]

Ah...so you are four feet tall

[kelownagirl]

I'm in the same boat as the other two. It's not so much about weight as it is body fat %age. This time las year I was about 4 lbs heavier and was at 30% body fat. I think that's lower now but I'm not sure how much lower.

I can completely understand why it must be frustrating for us to see ourselves in the same boat as others who might be trying to lose a great deal more weight but at the same time, it's so hard to compare. My original weight of 141 lbs would be a perfectly wonderful weight for many of you who are taller and perhaps larger boned, but on me, it looked and felt awful. Losing 25 lbs from a small frame can be like losing 50lbs on a taller person. Also, it can hard for people to uneerstand that we're not necessarily trying to be skinny 20 year old models - we just want to maintain a healthy body weight.

[Crankin]

Thank you for saying this. I am not in the weight loss challenge, but at barely five one, if I gain a pound, I can't button my pants. When I got out of college, I gained weight for the first time in my life. It took me a year to lose 25 lbs. It was long and painful. Us short people have to work twice as hard and long to lose a pound! Thankfully, I have been thin since then, but I had to lose after both my pregnancies (which I exercised through). I am best at 105-107. I tend to get a bit above that in the winter, even with all of the winter sports I do, the gym, etc. nothing keeps me as skinny as cycling.
I like to eat too much to starve myself, but I do eat very healthy stuff, no junk food, soda, fried food, and rarely have dessert. I do like my piece of dark chocolate almost every night and some wine a couple of times a week, but now I notice even that can push my weight up. I guess I'm going to have to do some major weight training, because I can see this getting just a little more problematic every year as I get older. It doesn't matter if others think I look skinny or if I have acceptable body fat percentage; if I don't stay vigilant, I will be 10 pounds heavier in a flash.