I have a very small frame--specifically with respect to hips and shoulder width. Americans tend to describe me as "very thin," whereas everyone else--Europeans, Asians, Central Americans, et al--just consider me "thin." Moreover, I have no difficulties finding clothing that fits outside of the U.S. Within the U.S., it's another story... I don't put much stock into BMI charts, as they do not take frame size into account, but even so, my height and weight put me at 18.3--just 0.2 below the bottom end of what's considered "normal." My only concern, if I'm wont to call it that, is my atypically low percentage of body fat--but it's yet proven to be cause for concern, so I don't fret about it.
@ parmalee- I'm four inches shorter and about 25-30 pounds heavier. On a technically female frame... When I ran a tape measure around my hips I got a 41-inch circumference, and these days not a whole lot of that is my jelly belly. I suspect if I were as thin as I could be, I'd have a hip measurement of about 38-39 inches around, although I wear a men's 34 inch waist pant these days. Along with size 10 mens' shoes. If you happen to not be traveling and have a tailor's tape handy, I'd be curious to know what your hip circumference is.
Just checked--roughly 30-31" and my waist measures 27" I wear a 28" waist in men's pants (and buy the "extra slim" cut when I find them cheap on Ebay; otherwise, I have to track down old--from the 60's and 70's--thrift store 28's and tailor them myself). In women's sizes I typically wear a 2 or 4, and an occasional 0, given the massive disparity in sizing between clothing manufacturers. I know it sounds odd, but I really don't appear to be that thin, just kinda Kate Moss-like, albeit male (at present, that is, because I sport a Fidel Castro/Robert Wyatt beard; sans beard I look pretty androgynous--like Ishmael in Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander). The weight thing is kinda confusing though, as muscle weighs considerably more than fat, and yet I've got mostly muscle and virtually no fat--maybe I simply have very "light" bones?
Try this out to get a general idea of your caloric requirement per day. I'd take those numbers, and aim for a daily deficit of 3-400 Calories. If you're not losing weight after a few weeks or a month, decrease your intake again. Keep tinkering until you're losing weight at a rate of a pound or so a week. In my personal experience, the equation estimates a little high, but maybe I estimated some of the values incorrectly.
I get "You're too thin!" from my Mom, my brother, and several of my coworkers seemed to think I was going anorexic. But most of them are overweight. I wanted to be ten pounds thinner, but every time I tried to get below 150 I felt like I was starving, complete with feeling dizzy on occasion... So 150 seems to be the lowest I ought to go. At the moment up to 155, need to get back down.
Interesting. For me, it's just the opposite: At one point, I was up to about 145 and I felt lethargic and sluggish. 130-135 seems to be the perfect weight for me--I can scale a cliff like a gazelle, and bike 100-120 miles with relative ease. At one time, I was down to 105: dysentery, untreated. I looked skeletal and felt like crap (not to mention the projectile vomiting). And another time I was down to 115-118, owing to a crappy epilepsy drug which seemed to have a profound effect on my metabolism. Again, looked and felt like crap. I don't take any anticonvulsants anymore (save the occasional benzo for "crisis" situations) and seem to fare much better without. I think frame size is an enormous factor in determining one's optimal weight.
Topamax? Stuff's great for my migraines...and ok for irritability. Have to make sure I don't get overheated though. Neurontin? I may try it, but the doc does not want to play musical medications when I'm in crisis and the depression's controlled.
Yeah. For me, Topamax seemingly had little effect on migraines--but mine come and go over the years anyways. That is, I'll go for years having only one every three or four months, and then I go through periods during which I get 24 to 72 hour ones at least once a week. And I couldn't sweat, at all!, on Topamax. It may actually have made me slightly less irritable, but it didn't do a damn thing for epilepsy. I'm considered refractory, as treating focalized epilepsy is a crapshoot. Honest neurologists, i.e. researching ones who are paid a modest salary and are not loathsome shills for Big Pharma, and ones practicing outside of the U.S., openly acknowledge that it's almost pointless to try to control a focalized seizure disorder with meds in a person who shows epileptiform activity on EEGs pretty much all the time. "Lifestyle" changes and "as needed" treatment with benzos are more effective than any alleged "anticonvulsant." (I'll back this up with documentation, if someone requests; but there's plenty of conflicting data from the oh-so "disinterested" American science--you know, all those "scientists" who work for the Defense Department, Big Pharma, etc. have just so much integrity! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ) Anyhow, over the years I've tried quite a few (no small feat when you're uninsurable), and most caused more problems and didn't do a damn thing for epilepsy: Depakote: irritability and overt hostility. Tegretol: generalized seizures (which I'd never had before, except for occasional secondary generalized). Lamictal: mania headaches and the undesirable kind of synaesthesia. Dilantin: something akin to mental retardation. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. I'm most aggravated by, uh, dealing with people, so I mostly try to avoid it outside of musical contexts. And two separate neuros (the honest variety) actually recommended simply leaving the United States permanently. I've heard slightly better things about that one, in that it's somewhat more predictable than Topamax.
Neurontin=Gabapentin...is used off-label for anti-anxiety. Turns into GABA in the brain. The county doctors do NOT hand out benzos. I guess they are afraid us poor folks are going to sell them. (And...frankly, I really, really, really had things hit the fan moneywise and didn't need the benzos myself... :tempted: Those things sell for like, $4 a pill, I think...) Therefore I get to work past what's blossomed into full-blown panic attacks without benzos...seems to be something about grocery stores, the randomness of motion, and people walking behind me. My PTSD, after consenting to mostly disappear since, meh, '08...is putting in a truly spectacular reappearance. I am officially taking der Topies for migraines, a low dose...unofficially they were to keep me from yelling at the wife as much. The effectiveness on that front peaked and diminished. Fortunately, the couples counseling's going very well, we're not fighting hardly as much...this is good. Man, my brain cooties... they follow me wherever I go...derailing threads. Sorry OP.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I've always been lucky and never had to think about calories. I like food but never been in love with food. I will go out on a limb and say that the older you get the stomach losses its elasticity, like everything else, so taper down your intake as you age so the stomach stays small and not distended,.
Good advice John, but when it's time to start tapering off on the food you might find it tougher than you think it is. After all a life time of eating habits don't want to change easily and as you get older food becomes one of the things you really appreciate about living. But if you can force yourself to exercise regularly even that might not be a problem.
Well, back when I had to track my calories for nutrition, I wasn't particularly that active. I walked more than the average person, but that was about it. These days, I still eat about the same amount in terms of calories, but I am more active and my macronutrient allocations have changed considerably. I used to eat mostly fat and protein. Today, I eat mostly fat and carbohydrates. Maybe that would explain why I packed on a little bit of extra fat and feel sort of sluggish. In the last few days I have been working to cut carbs and eat more protein... so far, it's giving me the energy I used to have. Why not do some sprinting work? It's been shown, scientifically mind you, to change the metabolic mechanisms in the body to be geared more towards fat burning than fat storage. What's this mean to you? You'd body won't store fat as much and if you enter a slight caloric deficit, you will lose fat while keeping muscle mass. Not only that, but sprinting 2.5 hours over time is just as effective as jogging 10.5 hours Read this if you're interested in learning the science: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par46.htm
oh yeah, i know about addictions so i dont fault people. Another good thing is i dont really like cake so if i were a cake\cookie eater i would have cravings for cake. These are things we have to deal with weather it is cake or something else.
I know you are right, but my knees would not hold up to jogging let alone sprinting. I would rather go to the gym, but that's 10 miles away and cost $40.00 per month. I might have to give it a shot for a few months, but I want to evaluate the slim patches first. Will be glad to keep you posted on how well they work.
I'm 1,62m (5'1 ish) and around 48kg ( like 108 lbs) I eat when I get that weird stomach pain thing. Love candy though
I've been eating a 3000 calorie diet since I was a teenager, and I'm 67 now. I'm 6 foot zero/183cm and weigh about 190lb/86kg. I was underweight when I was younger and now I'm five or six pounds over, but it's because I was injured in November 2009 (rotator cuff) and couldn't exercise normally. Since I've been back to my normal three days a week in the gym I've lost a couple of pounds and the rest will follow slowly. I eat lots of meat, lots of starch, lots of fat and lots of sugar. My wife is a chocolatiere and she also makes great doughnuts and other munchies. But I drink diet soda and use aspartame in my tea because I simply don't find sugary drinks refreshing. My secret is that I have never, ever, gone on a diet. (That's why I'm losing weight so slowly, a few pounds per year.) My inner caveman has never been fooled into thinking that the world has suddenly plunged into a famine, taken control of my autonomic nervous system, and caused me to start burning less energy and digesting food more efficiently.
Or. . . you could just have really great genes that have predisposed you to not gain lots of weight. There are plenty of people who've "never messed with their inner cave man" and have ended up with toe tags at 50. ~String
This. My genetic relations fall into two categories: Incredibly obese or very carefully working not to be. As in...most of my family would qualify for gastric bypass surgery candidacy based on weight alone. Meaning over 100 pounds overweight. My brother-full brother, is 6' 4" and probably about 350-360lbs. Not all fat; he's a mechanic...he as to buy extra large mechanics gloves, has arms like a gorilla... But he's a big ol' boy. Never dieted. Some people can get away with eating the standard American diet...we are just not those people. The one grandparent that did not have adult-onset diabetes died of a heart attack at 48! That's some crappy DNA, folks...
