steve-in-kville 

This may sound odd, but as an active cyclist who is loosing weight, how does one know when they hit a healthy weight? I know calories in must equal calories out, and too many will cause weight to come back on. I've been cleaning up my diet for the past few years, upped my cardio (mostly cycling). I lost 30 pounds so far, hit a plateau for about 6 months, now I'm slowly dropping again. If I go by my "back when I was 20 and just married" weight, I'd have another 30 pounds to loose yet. But I'm close to 40 y/o now and obviously things are different.

I don't like to obsess over numbers on a scale, but I feel like I should establish a target. Ideas? Thoughts?

Carbonfiberboy 

I don't think "things are different." At 72, my current weight is 9 lbs. over my 18 y.o. weight. And I'm about 5 lbs. too fat and trying to lose it. So I think I've put on ~4 lbs. muscle since then. I was pretty fast on the bike at 18 and skied XC on my college's varsity team. So I wasn't like underweight! I put on a little weight in the Army and was about 2 lbs. lighter than now when I climbed in Yosemite, but I don't need that much upper body on the bike. As we age, our power goes down. We can fight that by trying to keep our power to weight ratio up.

So keep on losing it. Weight loss is the biggest predictor of all-round health if it's done the way you're doing it. The only battle I'm fighting weight-wise is my wife's good cooking, which is a great battle to have to fight. Take it on down. No target. Back off the weight loss when you can see your abs clearly. I guess that's your target. You don't have to do a lot of ab work to see them, either. We all have 'em, they're just hidden on most of us.

Machka 

I dropped a little over 50 lbs in 2015 ... down to the lower end of my normal BMI range ... borderline underweight. That was fine while I wasn't cycling quite as much, but as soon as I got into longer distance rides and a whole lot more exercise, my weight edged up a bit.

I am still well within my normal BMI range, about the middle of my normal BMI range, so that's good ... and I seem to be able to sustain this weight while cycling long distances.

I wouldn't mind dropping a little bit because it is possible climbing hills could be a little easier if I were slightly lighter, but then again, at this slightly heavier weight, my speed seems to have improved so who knows. Maybe some of this is muscle ... maybe it is that I need the fuel for longer rides ... not sure.

MikeOK

I don't think I have abs. At least I haven't seen them in more years than I care to remember.

steve-in-kville 

Now that sounds like a reasonable measure to go by. Thanks!

berner

It has been established, evidently without controversy, that being thin with minimal body fat will give you longer life. Most of us, especially if we were active, were at near ideal weight at age 17 to 18. There is no reason I know of not to use that weight as a target.

At present I'm at the same weight as when I was in high school, 158 pounds. The fly in the ointment is that in those days I worked on a dairy farm during summer and played sports the rest of the time so there was little body fat. Today my weight is the same but the waistline is about 3 inches larger. I probably should be at about 150 pounds. At least that is my new target weight, just as soon I empty those bottles of ale in the fridge.

rumrunn6

I got a # from a personal trainer (20 lbs higher than my HS weight & 39 lbs lower than my wedding day weight). never did reach that number despite lots of really good progress. currently 17 lbs over it. at this yr's physical my Doc was happy that I weighed less than last year, lowered my cholesterol & had a spot on ideal BP. I feel good where I am, but I'm still trying to do better. good luck!

wphamilton

Are you certain that whatever is "different" from age 20, now that you're close to 40, means that the same weight is out of the question? I'm not saying that there can't be important differences. I added 15-20 pounds of muscle mass one year after graduating college, after which my HS weight wasn't that desirable. There could be other reasons. Yet I question it, if the difference is simply age.

I am 58, and right at 15 pounds more than my football weight in HS. I am targeting another 5 or 6 pounds, which I think is reasonable.

noglider 

I haven't lost as many as some have. About three years ago, I was about 178 and thought I ought to lose ten pounds. I started cycling more and eating less junk. I got down to 153. I had no idea that I had 25 pounds to lose. I think that's about my high school weight. I'm 56 years old. I've crept up to 155 or 156 now, and my waist is still getting smaller, so I guess that means I'm losing fat and gaining muscle. I've also started lifting weights which is probably helping.

One thing that helps my appetite is to allow myself to eat large amounts of one thing at a time. It has to be something nutritious. For example, I might buy a pound of hamburger meat and make some and say I'm still hungry and make the rest of it. I did have some fruits and vegetables with it, but those are kind of free calories. Once I'm full of nutritious food, I have no more cravings for junk food, and I don't think I'm overeating. I make sure to eat different stuff every day. I also hardly drink any alcohol, like one or two beers or glasses of wine per week.

Quiglesnbits

I think any target number depends on your height and how you are built. 30 pounds for Shaq is different from 30 pounds for Simone Biles.

I have lost 50 pounds (25%) since I graduated from college. I am 5'8" and initially thought 180 would do it since I was pretty fit at that weight in high school. Alas my muscle mass is not nearly what it was when I had coaches making me lift weights, so I realized I'd need to knock off more than that. I think for the next 4 or 5 years, I hovered around 165-170, and every year the doctor said "You need to lose more", "you need to be more active".

I thought I'd be rail thin at 160, and in fact did plateau there for a year or two, but it did not appreciably change the way my chest and stomach looked (at least to me), and still the doctor said "move it fatty".

Fast forward and I've been between 148-152 for about three years. Like others, I had no idea that this was a reasonable weight for me. I think I am pretty close to my target weight at this point, and I am regularly setting performance records better than HS in running and cycling. If I wanted to build muscle, I'd likely gain weight, regardless of the body fat I have left, and if I tried to lose weight, I don't know that my body would greet that with kindness.

Unless you have particular health issues or severe time constraints, I sincerely believe there isn't anything stopping you from adopting a healthy diet and fitness routine that can get you to the "20 and just married" stage you mention. The hardest part will to be to do it in a healthy way, avoiding fads, and avoiding the urge to jump after random quick fixes. It will take hard work, over a dedicated period of time, but hopefully you can objectively review your progress and see the improvement with pictures, journal entries, etc.

Drew Eckhardt 

When you have visible abs but no vascularity on them. Below 10% body fat but with enough to avoid problems. The weight that occurs at depends on your physiology and how much extra muscle mass you're carrying.

I'm 5'9.5" and was worried about weighing too little when I dropped below 144 starting from over 205. My endocrinologist said that was great. My usual doctor said it was great and asked if I'd seen the studies relating leanness to longevity. Every doctor I saw was happy with 137. Apparently, there's a big difference between "thin" by conventional standards and a healthy athletic lean weight.

While I was OK with oblique vascularity, I thought ab vascularity was creepy and ate when I wasn't hungry to stay above 136.

We just tell ourselves things are different so we feel better. Having slacked off riding because life got in the way, at 44 I weigh what I did graduating from high school and can wear pants I had tailored for a high school dance at 16. In optimum cycling shape I weigh about 10 pounds less.

Get rid of your excess fat but don't worry about the weight that occurs at unless you need to lose muscle mass to do better racing in the mountains. Sir Bradley Wiggins has about 35 pounds between his Olympic track racing and Tour de France winning riding weights.

steve-in-kville 

Now that's an interesting fact!

All these replies are great, thanks. At least I know what to aim for, and what to expect.

superdex

I keep losing until the wife says stop.

canklecat

In the old days you could walk into any boxing or wrestling gym and an experienced coach could take one look at you and tell you what your fighting weight should be. Pretty handy and the good coaches were always right, no need to take any measurements. But nowadays boxers are much less disciplined and tend to compete overweight and underpowered, or bulk up with PEDs beyond their natural optimal weight class.

I'm 5'11" and my optimal weight was 156 lbs before I stopped amateur boxing. Now at age 59 my weight fluctuates between 160-165. I'd need to give up beer to drop those last few pounds. That ain't gonna happen. At age 59 I'm pretty satisfied with my weight and am mostly focusing on conditioning.

About 15 years ago my weight got up to 205 lbs. Injuries from a car wreck limited my mobility but I kept eating the same. I didn't even realize I'd gained that much weight, until I was weighed in a doctor's office. To me, in photographs, I looked closer to 180 because the weight was so evenly distributed. Most of it was hidden under clothes. I've always had a big head and large face, so I look about the same regardless of weight in casual fitting clothing.

I changed my diet, eliminated sugary soft drinks, cut way back on sugar in coffee and cooking/baking, and stopped buying ready to eat snacks. I bought stuff to make snacks. So if I wanted muffins or cookies I had to bake them.

Just cutting back on the sugar and carbs dropped my weight to 175 within a few years, no extra effort or exercise -- my mobility was still limited by the busted up back and neck.

So when I resumed cycling in 2015 I weighed 175 and didn't have much to lose. The lowest it's gotten was 155 last autumn, but that was due in part to a low grade chronic infection that cleared up with antibiotics. Since then it's been 160-165.

bbbean 

The internet is lousy with tables showing what a "healthy" or "ideal" weight is. Look at a few dozen of those and find the common ground. Shoot for that number and see how you feel and how your numbers are when you get there.