Nasty ! Gotta watch where you get your water.

age:53
weight: 183 lbs
bodyfat index 22%
My first love is cycling but I have always maintained upper body mass as it is more natural and useful. I also do pushups, bicep curls, core exercises and kettlebell weights. My other cardio workouts are elliptical, treadmill, rowing machine, versa climber, roller blading with ski poles and running (which I HATE).
I am 18-20# over my ideal weight but am a single parent of 3 yrs after the loss of my wife of 18 yrs from breast cancer so work-out time is at a premium.

Damn...I'm really sorry about the loss of your wife. I know it's been a while but things like that are life changers.

Right now my body fat is around 20-23% and if you pinched my waist there wouldn't be much to grab and yet I still weigh 190 Lbs. I have no idea where the weight is but I've decided to stop worrying about it and just enjoy riding. Hopefully I'll lose some weight just riding 'cause I, too, hate running.

Post date says you missed it by a day. Maybe you can borrow a cigar though?

That is the ultimate HTFU picture. Even the Marines would say "Dude". Cigarman looks like he has a lot more left in the tank.

Formulas for ideal body weight are kind of meaningless applied to everyone. Some people are just heavier or lighter due to bone structure, body type, etc. When I was in college, I was about as thin as I will get without starving myself and my ratio according to that formula was 2.46. This is what I weighed after spending a summer hiking the Long Trail in Vermont, backpacking about 20 miles a day and carrying about 40 lbs. on my back. You could see my ribs. Yet, according to these formulas, I was overweight.

When I got out of Ft. Jackson, SC I was 178 lbs and 5'10" so I guess that's 2.54. Now I'm 2.75 lbs/in.

Damn...I'm really sorry about the loss of your wife. I know it's been a while but things like that are life changers

Thanks bruce19. Three kids ages 11,14 and 16; so we are in the busy years. All 3 kids and I do Tae Kwon Do, ride horses and my daughter does gymnastics.

I believe in being a generalist in most things. Having a body type exclusively for cycling would be too limiting for me. Having a general fitness would be more useful in other life endeavors.

True dat! (Been watching The Wire too much, I guess.)

70in / 150lbs = 2.14...used to be a tub 'o goo in my early 30's (235lbs). Have been as low as 145lbs. but was accused of being the walking dead at that weight.

I seems I'm a clydesdale. 5'9" 199lbs. I lift a lot of weights and have a physical job, I suppose muscle weighs a lot. Kills me on the hills though. Once got down to 182 and my wife said I looked terrible.

Well, that opinon must have slipped by me.. Lots of muscle, but no weight!! ...

I lost 5 lbs last summer doing Ride the Rockies which was 500+ miles over 7 days. I was eating more than normal as well. By the time you hit the Rockies you'll probably already be at your desired weight.

I try to keep my BMI at 23. I do other sports beside biking. For example, traditional archery, kayaking and backpacking. I keep up my upper body strength with weights. I believe pull ups and chin ups are especially good upper body strength builders.

I've found that nothing affects my overall speed as much as my weight. I was as 182 and 6'0" a couple of years ago, and easily 1 mph faster than I am now at 194. The question is, is cutting out a glass of wine in the evening (good for the heart, you know), worth a few pounds, and 1 mph? I think so.

Allegheny, you have an owey on your knee.
What the heck are you doing there, anyway? Bike hurdles?!

It's called cyclo-cross. Short laps on a dirt track that includes a "run up". Often raced in mud and snow, the races are 1 hour at the top level, 45 minutes for amatuers.
Here, the ladies are facing a mud wall run-up.

Well, I suppose that I am inching my way away from my ideal weight. I am pushing 170 these days and at 5'6" that seems to be a lot. But, I do weight training 4-5 days a week, heavybag workouts 3-5 times a week, plus my bike. Seems my baseline is moving up, but my waistline is staying the same. Muscle does weigh more...doesn't matter I have never been a fast rider anyway, slow and steady. Don't know if you have noticed or not, but at our ages there are becoming fewer and fewer people to compare ourselves with, as far as fitness goes, so maybe even if we are inching upward we ain't doing too bad, eh? Of course, for me at least, my only true comparison is with myself. My objective has always been more of a balance in my training AND I am going to eat well....I hate feeling like I am starving, period! So, me and my extra poundage with plod our way along throughout the year.....

5' 11" 219lbs at the gym the other day. my trainer said my target should be 196. been trying to reach 196 for two years and I can't even get close. I'm happy with my upper body strength and muscle mass; working on getting my legs and butt back, but wondering where this belly came from. I feel lucky to ride and just accept my accomplishments and strive to do better

Without actually seeing your training routine or you, my opinon is you CAN get to your 196 lbs..

IMO, you whole training routine should be geared towards losing weight. All weight training moves should be light weights, high reps, and little rest in between sets. Also, and this might be more important than your routine, your DIET.. Your diet has to be geared toward losing weight. In my humble old opinon, you will get down past 196, might be hitting on 180..

Luck to you,

+1 on the diet idea. After years of exercising to lose weight, I concluded that (for me) exercise is good, and holy, and should be done six days a week, but that it doesn't make me lose weight, it only makes me eat more.

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At one time I could get away with losing weight and inches with just a simple adjustment to my diet. All that went out the window after I turned 50. Now it's diet and exercise, the two have to be done together or neither comes off.

I know that if I try burning up the road then I'll start eating more so I have to crank things down a notch or two to stay in fat burning mode. If I go out before I eat, I feel like eating less when I get back. I always thought that it was a myth but from what I've experienced over the last year it seems to be true.

Yesterday I was out all morning so I didn't get out for a ride until about an hour after lunch. To make matters worse, lunch was a big fat cheesburger with fries, something that I eat perhaps a few times a year. I felt like a python that just finished off farmer Browns's prized cow.

One caution: The mantra "light weights, high reps" has a specific meaning. Probably not the 10# and 20 reps the guy next to me was doing.

I guess this 2 lbs/inch of height formula is meant to apply only to males? I'm 62 inches tall, and on me 124 lbs is quite chubby.

My 5' 11" and 196 is not doing so hot here....