Ideal Weight/Eating Right

[Mysterio]

I am 43 yrs old. I work eve/night shift. I am 230 lbs and I am 5'9. What would you all think is an Ideal weight for me to be at. I say at least 190 lbs.

 

Another thing is there a way I could eat that would keep me around 190 lbs.

 

I seem to have a hard time eating the right thing. In my fridge for protein I have chicken cutlets that I cook and flavour. I also have Salmon as well. Thats what I have been eating for the last week or so. I can't seem to eat salad on a daily basis and it just goes to waste.

 

Any insight would be great.

[MidwestUSA]

Unless it's solid muscle, even 190 sounds heavy at 5'9". But if you need a goal, it's a good place to start. Get down from 230#, then see where you want to go from there.

[pink_sugar]

Well, lets start with this. Are you a man or a woman?

 

What you eat definitely has a lot to do with your weight, but the biggest key to weight loss is portion control. Monitor your daily intake and get an idea of how many calories you are consuming daily. Then see where you can cut back. For example, if you drink juice/sodas/frappuchinos or any calorie dense beverage, start with cutting back on those. If you eat dessert, chose a dessert with less calories, such as chocolate dipped strawberries. Sometimes we consume a lot of extra calories that we don't notice...beverages for example. I've switched to drinking home brewed iced tea since it is calorie free. Give me an example of what you normally eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each person's ideal weight is different based on your body type, but you can get an idea by googling it.

[kiss_andmakeup]

190 lbs is quite heavy for 5'9, whether you are male or female. It puts you at roughly a BMI of 28, which is at the top end of the overweight category. Unless you're a body builder or have an extremely large frame, that's probably too heavy. If you are male, 160lbs would put you in the top end of the healthy range. Obviously the BMI chart is not one-size-fits-all, so if you are in fact a body builder or have an unusual frame size/shape, you'll be able to take some liberties with it.

 

Unfortunately strangers over the internet aren't going to be able to help you much. Your best bet is asking your doctor what is a healthy and practical weight for you to aim for.

[pink_sugar]

Huh!!

 

I'm a nurse. If you were in our clinic, your ideal weight would be in the mid 150's...190 is borderline obese.

 

At 230 you are a candidate for serious cardio issues. I hope you are under a doctor 's care. If you think 190 is normal then you need a serious reality check. There is a good chance you will have diabetes and/or a heart attack before 50.

 

Anyways. Go see your doctor. Your weight is far too serious a health crisis for Internet advice. To put it blunt...you could die.

 

150 on a 5'9" guy is pretty slim. My husband is about 145 at nearly 5'10" and he is very slender. My brother is about 5'8" and 170, muscular/athletic build and he looks very trim. It wouldn't look good on him if he got much thinner. It really depends on the person.

[Mysterio]

I am a man. I am in the process of changing my eating. So I am going based on whats in my fridge.

 

My fridge has eggs/ 2 just of 4 L water. Flavored water. Shreded cheese. Oasis Smoothie juice. I do have a blender. In my freezer I have chicken cutlets that I flavor with oyster sauce/cupboards have mac and cheese 4 pack so they are like a cup of soup style.

 

When I go out I usually have cheeseburgers or salmon/pizza/chicken wings. Thats 1-2 times a week. As I like to go out with friends. I do have salad. For some reason when I make it at home it gets wasted. Perhaps I should just by vegatable juice instead.

 

I do excersize and my cardio on the elipticle/tread is about 300 cals burned minim. I do one or the other or both ideally and I burn about 600 cal in the gym at work or the ymca when I go. I usually am doing that 4-5 times a week for at least an hour.

 

I do machine weights. I have a kettle ball 20lbs. Dumbells 35/20/10 lbs. My job is active. I am usually walking. I am a Patient Transporter and move patients but usually its not many patients in the night.

 

My body frame is a Mesomorph. I guess if I had a goal for body type it would be more like Denzel Washington who is about 190 lbs. As he stated in the Jimmy Fallon show a couple of months ago.

 

Thanks once again for any advice.

[Mysterio]

I have an apointment with a my doctor in August for a full check up. I have developed Sleep Apnea. I have a c-pap machine. Thanks for the advice everyone. Keep it coming. I am doing something. I was 170 lbs 8 yrs ago. I have crept to over 230 in the last couple of months. I am not doing fast food as I have cut down.

 

I guess I don't know how to eat properly and its caught up with me.

[dichotomy]

Waist to height and waist to hip ratios are often better evaluations then pure weight and the resulting weight to height BMI stuff. Especially if you ever lift or workout heavily.

 

Basically you know what pant size you ought to fit in to be in good shape ...right? focus on that and not your weight.

[PerfectStorm]

I think BMI wise, your max should be 165lbs for 5'9. I'm also at the top of my "healthy" range, 140 for 5'4" but I'm happy with that. It'll be hard but you can do it! A little exercise 3-4 times a week, healthier food choices.

 

I do think that people's vision of healthy has been distorted by today's standards, based on the current obesity epidemic. I live in the midwest and people are always telling me I'm "too" skinny. I'm far from skinny I'm a size 5/6, I'm healthy.

 

More specifically on food choices, I've followed a low glycemic (lower carb diet) for the last 5 years. Lean proteins, lowfat dairy/cheeses, LOTS of veggies, whole grains. There's isn't anything I don't really eat I just eat the healthier version. For an example instead of eating out for a cheeseburger...I cook at home. Buy whole grain buns from a bread store, lowfat cheese, very very lean ground beef or ground turkey. Instead of fried french fries I'd make baked sweet potatoe fries.

Edited July 21, 2014 by PerfectStorm

[Bruce Leigh]

The mid 150's is not slim for someone who is 5'9.

 

Again, this depends on body type. I am 5'7 and weigh 154 lbs.

I was 180 lbs around 12 months ago.

Just a few hours ago, someone told me to not lose any more weight as i will look ill.

I hear this most of the time.

[learning_slowly]

It does depend on muscle percentage. Check your body fat %. If you use a monitor they are usually way out but you could get it professionally done?

 

However, you seem to have a lot of sugary drinks? And cheese is just fat. Could you not replace that with something else? Processed packs and sauces usually have loads of hidden fat and sugar to make them taste good.

 

And when eating out, go for lean meat options e.g. breast or loin. These will be more expensive, but you have to choose whether your health is worth paying for.

 

Could you not use frozen veg if you're worried about it going bad?

[MidwestUSA]

I have an apointment with a my doctor in August for a full check up. I have developed Sleep Apnea. I have a c-pap machine. Thanks for the advice everyone. Keep it coming. I am doing something. I was 170 lbs 8 yrs ago. I have crept to over 230 in the last couple of months. I am not doing fast food as I have cut down.

 

I guess I don't know how to eat properly and its caught up with me.

 

Since you mentioned c-pap, and have an appointment coming up, here's a tip. Let your doc know you're intent on making lifestyle changes. If the topic of surgery, a UPPP, comes up, do not go there. Plan on being successful and ditching the c-pap eventually, because you can, and WILL.

 

A UPPP (uvulopalatopharyngoplasty) removes the excess tissue from your throat (uvula, tonsils, adenoids, and more). Completely unnecessary, but find a money hungry doc, and next thing you know, you're under the knife.

 

Best of luck to you!

[lollipopspot]

From what you describe, it sounds like you use protein as the mainstay of your diet, and you probably limit carbs, thinking they're fattening. I don't think that's particularly healthy or satisfying.

 

I think you might read this book, which is about making starches the mainstay of your diet. That's a traditional diet, and that's the way that I eat (except I include more fats):

http://www.amazon.com/The-Starch-Solution-Regain-Health/dp/1623360277

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/shopping/books/starch-solution/

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/videos/free-electures/the-starch-solution/

[pink_sugar]

Again, this depends on body type. I am 5'7 and weigh 154 lbs.

I was 180 lbs around 12 months ago.

Just a few hours ago, someone told me to not lose any more weight as i will look ill.

I hear this most of the time.

 

My brother gets this too from our family. We can even feel his ribcage. My husband is very very slender at 145...far from being overweight.

[Mysterio]

I have accepted that I have gained way to much for my age and frame. I just can't believe that at 5'9. Even if I went down to 190 lbs that I would still be considered over weight.

 

I will not go under the Knife until I am 180 lbs or so. Its just so frustrating as it just does not seem to let up. Its not like I have eating Chocolate bars and Mc Donalds every week. I have a fitness app called My Fitness. I just need to use it more. Sometimes I am not around Wifi and I don't use it then. I also don't eat 3 to five meals a day as specific times.

 

Wow. I really need to get this under control over everything else. I was heavy about 20 yrs ago when I was 23 and I managed to lose the weight. I was working at a catalog store. I was layed off for 3 months. When I came back my co workers said that I lost a lot of weight. The only thing I think I did was maybe an hour of Aerobics and dumbbells on a reular basis. 3-5 times a week. I did not have junk food. I know I did not have a major clean diet. It must have been metabolism at 23 yrs of age.

[EasyHeart]

I am a man. I am in the process of changing my eating. So I am going based on whats in my fridge.

 

My fridge has eggs/ 2 just of 4 L water. Flavored water. Shreded cheese. Oasis Smoothie juice. I do have a blender. In my freezer I have chicken cutlets that I flavor with oyster sauce/cupboards have mac and cheese 4 pack so they are like a cup of soup style.

 

When I go out I usually have cheeseburgers or salmon/pizza/chicken wings. Thats 1-2 times a week. As I like to go out with friends. I do have salad. For some reason when I make it at home it gets wasted. Perhaps I should just by vegatable juice instead.

 

I do excersize and my cardio on the elipticle/tread is about 300 cals burned minim. I do one or the other or both ideally and I burn about 600 cal in the gym at work or the ymca when I go. I usually am doing that 4-5 times a week for at least an hour.

 

I do machine weights. I have a kettle ball 20lbs. Dumbells 35/20/10 lbs. My job is active. I am usually walking. I am a Patient Transporter and move patients but usually its not many patients in the night.

 

My body frame is a Mesomorph. I guess if I had a goal for body type it would be more like Denzel Washington who is about 190 lbs. As he stated in the Jimmy Fallon show a couple of months ago.

 

Thanks once again for any advice.

Weight is controlled through your diet. Cardio is for strengthening your heart; weight training is for strengthening your other muscles. Exercise won't do much to help you lose weight, and for a lot of people it just makes them hungrier so they eat more. (Sorry ladies, but that five pounds you gained doing 30 minutes of cardio 4 times a week is not muscle).

 

Get rid of the empty calories in your diet. Empty calories are those that give you calories without much (or any) nutrition. First on the list is sugar. Don't eat it. None. It won't be easy - you'll probably go through a withdrawl period where you crave it like crazy -- but after a few weeks you won't miss it anymore. And after a few months, sweets won't even taste good anymore.

 

Next on the list of empty calories is starches: Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice. If you really want to lose weight, don't eat them. None. You don't have to go that far if you don't want to, but you'll have to cut back on carbs a lot if you want to lose weight. Again, you'll go through a withdrawl phase where you crave them, but after a few weeks you won't miss them at all. (If you want to lose serious weight (ie, more than 5 pounds), I suggest cutting them out completely. If you just cut back, everytime you eat them your body will be reminded how delicious they are and the cravings will start all over again).

 

Train yourself to eat vegetables. I grew up in a family where the only vegetable we ever saw was corn, so I know I think i know where you're coming from. Start with something easy, like carrot sticks. Or celery. Or bags of frozen vegetable from the supermarket. Try to eat a new vegetable every week and in 6 months you'll completely turn around your diet. The thing about veggies is that they fill you up. Once you get rid of sugar and starches, you're going to be hungry. The veggies will fill you up.

 

Adjust your brain to think of vegetables first. Most of us are trained to think of starches and proteins as the core of our meals, and vegetables as a side dish (or nonexistent) . Instead of that, train yourself to think of vegetables as the most important part of a meal. When you look at your plate, it should be 3/4 vegetables and 1/4 protein. Keep that picture in your mind when you're thinking about what to make for dinner.

 

A lot of eating is psychological conditioning: We eat what we're used to eating. So changing your diet is really just a mind-over-matter thing. Some people think the best way to do that is to eat exactly the same that you're eating now, just eat less. IME, that just leads to people being hungry (and crabby) all the time. And that makes it hard to maintain for very long.

 

The best nutrition advice I ever got was the simple adage of "Learn to like what's good for you." You (unconsciously) trained your body to like the foods that made you fat; now it's time to train your body to like the foods that will make you thin -- and healthy!

[Mysterio]

So Easyheart. Are you saying that when I am out or at home. I should be thinking I will have a salad with a side of Protein? I thank you for your suggestions. I will start to clear my place out of Starch and mac/cheese. I realize its psychological. I have to start now. I will let you know my progress by next week.

 

It really reonates in my head that eating is psychologiacal and I was thinking the other day that Sugar to me is some sort of treat and that veggies are bland.

 

So all I have been doing for the last couple of years is having a strong heart and weights are just making my muscles stronger. The loosing fat and having a lean look is being hindered by starch and sugar. I am really going to have to try to get rid of that sugar fix. I guess you would not have any suggestions on how to curb sugar.

[fieldofdaisies]

I think the BMI charts are very misleading and inaccurate for men.

 

My hubby was at a doctor's appointment and he brought home a sheet that listed what he should take for pain medication, (we recently had a serious car accident). Anyway, on the sheet I noticed his height, weight and BMI. He's 6 feet even and 195. His BMI was 26.

 

I couldn't believe it! I know that 25 is the high end for healthy. My husband is skinny as a rail. He is much more lanky than his friends at 40 years old. I think he would actually look more attractive with a little more weight on his chest and arms. I'm overweight and working on losing it, and my BMI is 29. Only 3 points higher, but I look chubby while he looks skinny.

 

So BMI doesn't seem accurate at all for men. I think 170 would be a good goal if you're a 5'9 guy with a mesomorph, muscular build. See what looks good on you. I know my goal is 145, because that was what I had weighed when I felt my best and looked the prettiest in photos.

[Eternal Sunshine]

My brother gets this too from our family. We can even feel his ribcage. My husband is very very slender at 145...far from being overweight.

 

I agree. A 5'9" 150lbs man would have to be very small framed not to look too thin. It would be a total turn off though. Guys that are larger framed with wide shoulders and healthy amount of muscle would be at least 20lbs heaver at that height to be even remotely attractive to me. I know, I know it's not about me - but a lot of women feel the same

[Thruster]

I am 43 yrs old. I work eve/night shift. I am 230 lbs and I am 5'9. What would you all think is an Ideal weight for me to be at. I say at least 190 lbs.

 

Another thing is there a way I could eat that would keep me around 190 lbs.

 

I seem to have a hard time eating the right thing. In my fridge for protein I have chicken cutlets that I cook and flavour. I also have Salmon as well. Thats what I have been eating for the last week or so. I can't seem to eat salad on a daily basis and it just goes to waste.

 

Any insight would be great.

 

 

Can help out here

 

TOSS THE SCALE OUT THE WINDOW!

 

well actually -- 5'9 -- 10 / 15% body fat you should roll in around 195 / 200

 

you need more than the good food

 

it is a great start -- good carbs (also required)

 

and - -it might be new - -exercise and diet -- make the change - -keep us updated -- a log is the best toll to keep you on track

 

good luck

[Mysterio]

So then all I need to eat is just Vegatables and Protien and just stick with that. No rice/Mac-cheese/No smoothy drinks or pop for the most part.

 

Does anyone know what I could take to curb the sugar/carb desire that I have. I am looking at sites on the net and it seems so confusing.

 

I am on my way. I really need to lose this extra weight once and for all.

[EasyHeart]

So Easyheart. Are you saying that when I am out or at home. I should be thinking I will have a salad with a side of Protein?

Yes! A salad with some meat is a good basic meal. They are also quick and easy to make. Get creative with what you put in your salad -- tomatoes, onions, carrots, cheese, eggs, celery, cucumbers, etc. -- are easy to toss on a salad.

 

If you don't like veggies, you might want to try some cooked greens instead of a salad. The basic cooking technique for greens is called wilting because that's what it looks like. Take some spinach and put it in a pan. The heat will cook the water out of the greens and it will look like it's wilting. You will be shocked at how a big pile of spinach will turn into a small serving about the size of your palm. A little butter and salt, and it's delicious. It may be easier to eat something like that than a big salad.

 

 

Does anyone know what I could take to curb the sugar/carb desire that I have.

Unfortunately, there isn't any short cut. I treat it as an addiction - you just have to go cold turkey and realize that you're going to have bad cravings for a few weeks. Some people have success using artificial sweetners like Splenda, but my experience is that artificial sweetners make me crave sugar even more. Just keep in mind that if you give in and eat some sweets, you'll have to start all over again. And if that happens, don't beat yourself over the head about it. Most people need a few tries before they can break away from sugar. It's not easy, but it's a hell of a lot easier than quitting smoking or somesuch!

 

I am looking at sites on the net and it seems so confusing.

I know this is going to sound weird, but some of the absolute best nutritional information out there is from Jack LaLanne's TV show from the 1950s. The shows are all on Youtube now, so I'd suggest going there and looking for some of the shows where he talks about diet. They look hokey nowadays, but the info in the shows is top-notch. If people had listened to Jack instead of Ancel Keys and the US government, we'd have no obesity in the US at all!!!

[lollipopspot]

I will start to clear my place out of Starch

 

No, that's an opinion, not a fact, that that's a good idea, and it's just one way to do it.

 

Look at the links I posted above. I think whole foods starches should be the mainstay of your diet. They're the mainstay of most traditional diets of successful civilizations.

 

Edited July 24, 2014 by lollipopspot

[EasyHeart]

Depends on what you mean by "successful".

 

One straight forward example of what paleopathologists have learned from skeletons concerns historical changes in height. Skeletons from Greece and Turkey show that the average height of hunger-gatherers toward the end of the ice ages was a generous 5' 9'' for men, 5' 5'' for women. With the adoption of agriculture, height crashed, and by 3000 B. C. had reached a low of only 5' 3'' for men, 5' for women. By classical times heights were very slowly on the rise again, but modern Greeks and Turks have still not regained the average height of their distant ancestors.

 

Another example of paleopathology at work is the study of Indian skeletons from burial mounds in the Illinois and Ohio river valleys. . . . Compared to the hunter-gatherers who preceded them, the farmers had a nearly 50 per cent increase in enamel defects indicative of malnutrition, a fourfold increase in iron-deficiency anemia (evidenced by a bone condition called porotic hyperostosis), a theefold rise in bone lesions reflecting infectious disease in general, and an increase in degenerative conditions of the spine, probably reflecting a lot of hard physical labor. "Life expectancy at birth in the pre-agricultural community was bout twenty-six years," says Armelagos, "but in the post-agricultural community it was nineteen years. So these episodes of nutritional stress and infectious disease were seriously affecting their ability to survive."

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race

[deathandtaxes]

Can help out here

 

TOSS THE SCALE OUT THE WINDOW!

 

well actually -- 5'9 -- 10 / 15% body fat you should roll in around 195 / 200

 

you need more than the good food

 

it is a great start -- good carbs (also required)

 

and - -it might be new - -exercise and diet -- make the change - -keep us updated -- a log is the best toll to keep you on track

 

good luck

 

 

 

At 5'9 with that low body fat %, to be around the 195-200 mark, a guy would have to have a LOT of muscle on his frame.

 

 

OP, eating right is just something you have to learn. You have to learn about portion sizes, the calorie contents of a lot of what you eat, and especially how much you need to just maintain.

 

 

Here's a good site that gives some ranges for ideal weight Ideal Weight Calculator

 

 

Don't give up, OP!