i dont do triathlons but i do cycle and swim so i figure this applies to me.

i am dieting now and trying to figure out what my goal should be. what would you say is the ideal weight for 5 foot 10.5 inches male ?

Dude, kudos for aiming to get fitter but I think taking this approach will not serve you well. There are probably charts & things out there that can be googled but frankly, I'd be aiming for performance more than anything else. So many things afffect weight that its a very innacurate way of assessing your health or fitness. Look at goals around your swimming or cycling rather than your weight and the weight will find its own level. There are many top level athletes who can verge on tubby during the off-season ( including swimmers & cyclists) but its the goals of their season that they focus on.

Apols if this is completely meaningless to you.

Thanks for the reply. I should have stated in the OP that i am interested in ideal weight for aesthetics, not performance.

I know if i just train diligently i'll be fit regardless of the weight but i don't want to ONLY be fit, i want to also look the part.

Not-so-Funny story: one time perhaps 2 years after i quit steroids i weighed about 220 lbs and had about 20% bodyfat. i was with a friend who never exercised in his life, had about the same waist size as mine but weighed about 170 because he had no muscles. we were with a girl that was my friend and she ended up seducing him and having sex with him. i later asked her why she didn't have sex with me instead and she said it was because i was "fat". i had a lower bodyfat percentage than my friend but i was much heavier than him. i thought it was obvious that i was much more fit than he was but apparently it wasn't.

i very recently had a thread on a diet forum ( not this site ) where i had women rate pictures of an extremely thin guy ( about 130 lbs ), the statue "David" by Michelangelo, picture of Bruce Lee and the statue of Hercules. Most women ended up split between the 130 pound guy and David, saying that even Bruce Lee was too muscular, let alone Hercules.

in my college days my goal was 220 pounds ripped. i thought if i achieved that it would be obvious that i am extremely fit. instead it turns out that most women would simply think that i am "bulky" or "freaky"

so now i don't want to just be fit and lean. i want to be at the "right" bodyweight. the women in the thread ( before i got banned for being too opinionated ) cited runners and male ballet dancers as having best bodies. and this is why i am asking - what is an ideal weight for a 5'10" triathlete ?

Holmes I know guys who are your height and look good @ 150lbs some at 175lbs depends on body types...Look into the mirror it does not lie.

i am interested in ideal weight for aesthetics, not performance.

Lost me right there dude. BF is about bicycles & cycling. Please take this rubbish somewhere else.

Triathalete, huh? Well as far as size goes, swimmer > cyclist > runner. To be a competitive runner, a guy your height would probably be 135-140 lbs. A cyclist might be 150, and a swimmer would be heavier still. Take your pick.

certainly runner is the smallest.

but i disagree that a swimmer is bigger than cyclist. an olympic level swimmer is about 6'4" while TDF level cyclist is about 5'9" - that certainly makes the swimmer heavier. but for same height i think it would be even.

a swimmer would have more body fat and more upper body muscle. a cyclist would have bigger quads.

For looks i'd say 150-170, if all the mademoiselle magazines i've read lately are true the new thing in looks is toned not bulky/ripped but definitely not manorexia either

thanks. i was thinking 160 lbs myself.

i'm 200 now btw. was 230 when i joined this forum. i already feel like a friggin balerina at 200 i wonder what i will feel like at 160

I'm 6 ft and went from 185 to 165 and look almost the exact same to everyone with clothes on, only real difference is i have to wear a belt! without clothes i'm more defined and could still stand to lose more in my stomach area, but i don't want to get too skinny just to show abs, and i don't want to put on too much muscle to not look skinny the maintenance on it would just be too much for me personally...

i think the goal for me is to just look healthy and be fit, not too skinny and not too muscular. I will say that after dropping the pounds i feel "better held together" during runs and when cycling, stronger and lighter, guess if it works for sports cars it prob works for people too!

* and was joking about the mag

For 5'10", the ideal weight for a triathlete is 151.64 lbs, period. one ounce more and you are way too fat to race.