Body weight question

Question
I apologize. I am not sure exactly how to ask this. I read in a magazine article where the author said something about "ideal weight" (I think that is what they call it) in people who exercise. I understand if you do a lot of aerobics and very light weightlifting, you will end up with a dancer-size body. And the opposite; lift very heavy and you end up like a football player body. But the author was saying that with average exercise; including moderate weights, aerobics, etc. - the body will shrink, or grow into an "ideal" body weight and size suitable for the person doing the exercise. Not body-chart/height weight and size, but sort-of a balanced body weight and shape, size, mass, etc. Is this true?

Answer

Hi,

Firstly it is diet that really changes your body shape in regards to how much body fat you have for weight loss purposes, aerobics etc.. Affect shape moderately.

You are right as this is a relative term depending on the somatype of the person. There are some 88 variations of the human body type. Basically you cannot change your skeletal (bone skeleton shape). And also you can't change your symmetry (relative muscles sizes to each other). Some people are born with large calf muscles for instance, so when they reduce body fat/muscle to reduce the calf, then the rest of the body reduces proportionally, and the calf muscles are still relatively bigger than other muscles still.

So there is no average anything, everyone is different and everyone wants to look different. And the most important factor is being happy with the way you feel. forget weight  ( except in severe obese situations), are you happy with how a pair of jeans fit, a shirt fits, the way you are able to run for a bus, your flexibility, your ability to pick up your son and walk for miles easily with him etc...

Fitness is an overall feeling combining many factors.

You can reduce fat in your body with a re structured diet, and by controlling calorie intake. You can increase muscle mass/definition with a diet and weight lifting.

So yes you are right, it is a balanced mix of many attributes that YUO want and feel comfortable in. But there are also scientific limits like body fat %, men should; have a body fat % of no more than 15-17 % generally. But of course you could be 7 feet tall or 4 feet tall, but it is a relative % to you personally. Same with cholesterol and blood pressure. You could have a low body fat % but be hyper tense and have a high blood pressure, which is not good for general health.

So always remember what you are happy with and then make sure you have the scientific limits of body fat %, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Thanks.  

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