Discerning 'ideal weight'

[Auxin]

Lately I've been confused trying to figure out what my minimum 'ideal' weight might be.

Many people go by body mass index but that really only applies to sedentary people of normal medical status on a typical western diet. By typical BMI standards I'm severely underweight. But I'm not exactly the 'norm', thats especially emphasized by the fact that I have always been substantially underweight even back in my unhealthiest decade when sedentary, eating mainly meat and unlimited quantities of junk food.

Today I get daily exercise, my energy metabolism is quite non-standard, as is my skeletal structure- all contributing to making me thin.

I'm 179 cm tall and 51.5 kilos. Yet I can maintain a large garden without it seeming like effort, every night I either walk a mile or kick-scooter 3 miles and do more exercise upon getting home and that never makes me tired. My hairs healthy, skins healthy, I tan without burning, cheeks arent sunken, and for a 31 year old white male I have a reasonably nice ass

As far as I can tell I havent passed the point to being underweight enough to produce slow bodily deterioration but really I dont know exactly how to tell where that subtle line is.

So how do I figure when I'm 'too' light?

[watertrade]

and for a 31 year old white male I have a reasonably nice ass

 

Any pics?

you could see a doctor and see what they say. But in a way, I think you answered your own question - if you feel healthy, don't get sick very often plus all the things you mention..

I figure your probably fine.

Edited September 27, 2011 by watertrade

[CβL]

I would check your bone density. Once you hit 45-50 it will be almost impossible to increase bone density (if my memory serves), as the bone catabolism rate will become dominant. That's dangerous indeed, so as long as you don't get sick often, or have a hard time recovering from illness - I think that's about it.

[Auxin]

I dont trust doctors, most here are incompetent in regards to anything not centering on block buster pharmaceutical drugs. All my life they've told me I'm 'underweight' and 'need to gain..' 20, 30, 50 pounds while totally refusing to consider my actual medical status, even my severe scoliosis.

Since I dont seem to be overtly unhealthy in any way and have good levels of stamina and disease resistance these days I'm not particularly worried about immediate implications. But I'm concerned about the potential subclinical stresses mainly because a combination of heredity and damage done in my teens makes me prone to joint deterioration. Also, as blunt pointed out there are landmarks on the horizon for me where limits on future bone health, heart health, brain health, etc are fixed. I'm about a year into a campaign to make sure I dont fuck my shit up any worse than I already have.

I'd like to know what my bone density is, but at a price of $300+ per test I'm not sure I'd like to know that bad lol I'm just instead focusing on getting enough vitamins D and K and enough but not an excess of calcium. And also working out with a giant 8 kilo bolt every day.

Any pics?

You sound too eager

Edit: as a preliminary test, since my diet is fairly stable now for the last week and a half I've been intentionally consuming an extra 200-300 Calories per day in the form of home made cookies and dry plain oats to see if my body jumps at the change to gain a pound. To date there seems to be no effect.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Auxin

[CβL]

There might be noninvasive techniques to estimate your bone density. Maybe have a look at them to get a ballpark figure.

I'm not certain which diet spectra are healthiest for joints - but I'm pretty sure fish would be the easiest single food source to add if you don't eat it weekly or so already.

[watertrade]

even my severe scoliosis.

 

Hey! I have severe Scheuermann's disease ;)

[ThunderIdeal]

no clue how they work or how accurate they are, but there are scales that pulse electricity through your feet or whatever and give you a few different readings, one of those is the weight of your skeleton (you need to key in your age and gender).

apparently skeletons don't weigh as much as you'd probably think, my skeleton was something like 4 or 7 kilos and my skeleton would be larger than average. okay, now i am just having fun referring to skeletons. it's not a word you get to use very often! from now on any bone issues shall be referred to as skeleton issues, eg "i went cunt-up on me pushy and fractured me skeleton"

[FancyPants]

no clue how they work or how accurate they are, but there are scales that pulse electricity through your feet or whatever and give you a few different readings, one of those is the weight of your skeleton (you need to key in your age and gender).

 

Would people not be able to use that if they had metal in their feet?

[Gunter]

Auxin, have you had any measurement of your body fat?

If you are underweight then this might be abnormally low, I bet it is just on the low side, but not abnormal.

Also most mammals gain weight as they age, in ten years you might be built a little stockier.

[ThunderIdeal]

Would people not be able to use that if they had metal in their feet?

 

probably alright to use, it's not like you can feel the electricity. i reckon pins would throw the calculations out a bit.

[Auxin]

Nope, never measured. It may have just been low a year ago, but since then I've built significant muscle and still lost 3 kilos. Barely anything between skin and muscle now.

At least muscle can be metabolized into energy if needed.