Quote:
Originally posted by sugar and spice
It depends on your frame size, where you tend to carry your weight, and your fat-to-muscle ratio.
As for the question about healthy body fat, I think the generally accepted figure is 18-25% for women (much lower for men). Of course, the most accurate ways to measure body fat are generally very complicated and/or expensive, so most people don't know their actual body fat.
And as PC as we try to be sometimes . . . lots of fat is generally not attractive. Nobody's saying that a woman who's 5'6" and 160 can't be hot -- but when it's 5'6" and 260, the general public is not going to find that attractive. It may be insulting, but it's also the truth . . . and it's not their fault that they're not attracted to it.
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Looks like I hit a nerve with my post... I certianly don't mean to say anything about anyone's particualr happiness or attractiveness as realting to their body shape and size, we all know attractiveness is a higlhly personal thing. However, this post that sugarandspice made is what I was getting at with mine. This is one of those un-PC views that I hold. Of course everyone's ideal body fat percentage is different, but having a *really high* body fat percentage is unhealthy, and as our above example simply states, is considered by many as unattractive (me included). Also, since young people are not often inspired by health reasons to eat well and get good exercize, using physical appearance to drive behaviors that are ultimately good can be effective (to an extent, since we've all seen it backlash).
As for the personal part of my post... I was making a statement about myself and how I feel about my body. My body fat % is about 28-30% now... which while isn't awful, isn't in the ideal range either (I wear a size 8-10 and would cosider myself normal and curvy). I'd like to hit that ideal range and take pride in how my body looks, since I haven't looked how I've wanted too since I stopped competing and all my muscle left me! I wanted to make that point because a lot of my friends don't support my goals. I get a lot of "you're dieting??!?!? OMG, are you bulimic?" I don't think you have to be morbidly obese to try and gain muscle mass or eat more veggies.
I don't know what you all look like, and I don't really care! I'm sure you are all sexy and beautiful, and people who actually know you and love you think so. But there are two sides to every question, and this is one of them.