Eugene wrote:Thank you casual_cyclist, you were able to articulate what I was trying to say.
I know that I am carrying more weight than I should be, that is why I working to improve that, but chasing a low BMI is not my goal, smaller waist, and much lower body fat % is my goal, I would like to get to 9-10%, but I dont know if a 42 year old can achieve this safley, but I know getting close to it instead of being above 30% has to be a good thing, but I am not willing to reduce the amount of muscle mass I have to get to my ideal BMI.
I see body fat %, hip-waist ratio, overall waist size, cardio endurance (inc resting heart rate etc) and general mental health to be more important factors in determaning a persons health, BMI is just a tool or indication, but there are too many variables for it to be applied to the whole population.
i'm 42 years old as well , i've ridden 200kms in the last 8 days , and have put on 1kg . i'm not taking measurements although i wish i did , because i was pulling my belt up around my belly button and squeezing it in to hold my pants up , under my belly button was still bigger than my hips so unless i did this my pants would fall down . now my belts are where they should be , around my waist as it is now smaller than my hips , however my stomach is stil larger than my waist . the point i'm trying to make are a few , you can lose quite a bit of weight and still look fat in body proportion , my belts are all too big for me now , and my clothes are loose , but naked i can stick my stomach out
aside from bmi , we know if we are over weight naked . and the muscle thing , well i'm going hard to lose weight >( the gut now ) and have put on 1kg this week , my thighs are smaller though and harder , so this could be a long haul to get the right body fat loss , its a case of gaining while losing , think of the image relationship now , smaller thighs to belly ratio , i'm actually looking a little fatter naked , it's the 1st time in a long time where my goals now just arent pure weight related . we can look good in clothes , and still be over weight because clothes hides it , but really look in the mirror at your proportions , when they are right , take your bmi then , and i bet you'll be close to the money .
cheers and good luck . remember all here in this thread are doing it too .
also i dont know about body fat , but when i was 20 my room mate was very into fitness and marshall arts, he was like a steel door , with a twig waist . he had 7% body fat , he would get every flu or sniffle going around , and would spend a day in bed if he missed a meal . i wouldnt aim for any body fat before speaking to a proffessional .