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What is a healthy weight for an Athlete?
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I have been training very consistently and (I thought) eating healthy as in lots of fruit and veg and cutting back on meat. I weighed myself for the first time in a long time today and think its the lightest I can ever remember! I am 5ft 9in and 9 stone and 1lb. The BMI index healthy range is between 18.5 and 25 and I am 18.7 about 2lbs away from being classed as underweight. The thing is as my legs are all muscle and weigh a lot so am my already a bit underweight? I think this is something I need to start looking more closely at. It is not something I planned on its obviously a side effect of how I have been living. I was putting coconut oil in my Coffee but ran out a couple of weeks ago which probably has not helped! I think my body fat must be very low which I do not think is all that healthy either! As Phil would say there is probably more meat on a chip! I have never had any body issues or mental issues about my weight. I think that is part of the problem I just have not thought about it really, until today. 
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I wouldn't worry about it Lyndon. I did notice you were looking lean at the handicap 10 but the ultimate goal of any distance runner should be to look as much like skeletor as possible.
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Provided you don't drop any further wt. it sounds pretty good to me Lyndon. I try & keep around the 19 mark on BMI (& about 5% body fat). The BMI has been criticised for certain body types (eg short, female body builders), but I don't think this applies in your case!
Don't forget you should weigh yourself at the same time, & in the same state, ie morning or before run, no clothes etc. & well hydrated. The scales should also be very accurate & medically approved with a fine gradation (mine are 50g). |
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
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It purely depends of what your aims and goals are. If you are feeling good and your body doesn't require more calories its completely fine. The other issue is about racing - mainly all distance running pros are trying to get as light as they could get before their target races and it's most of the time being done over your body needs, so after the season time is done, during off season a lot of people gaining some weight again.
I'm not fan of universal body mass indexes and similar scientific calculations which "should be" true - I rather checking myself and asking questions like: do I feel like I have lack of energy? is it related to my diet? is my current body structure/weight is somehow related to my overall health and sports performance? If you'll find harmony among answers to these questions, body will correct itself...
Another thing, staying HEALTHY and increasing SPORTS PERFORMANCE are two completely separate aims. A lot of pros are not healthy and vice versa. So yes, to wrap it up: if you want to run faster, you rather loose as much weight as you possibly can, but I don't think your body will like staying in such a starvation-like state. Same like recovery after long hard runs, like marathons and ultras - it's not so healthy to get that calorie deficit during such a short time and also you should consider nervous exhaustion, muscle tension, etc. but there are loads of people who does that...
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Let me tell you a true story, Lyndon.
The landlord of a Barry pub I used to frequent, once said to me:
"You know that Steve Jones, has he got aids or something?"
"Pardon, whatever do you mean?"
"Well he looks so ill!"
If I ever had anyone accuse me of looking ill, which I did on occasion, I took it as a complement!
It meant that I was extremely fit!
And, of course,so was Steve Jones! It's just that the training drained him of every surplus ounce, which can make you look gaunt. If you feel good, and you're running well, and you're happy, that's all that matters.
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When I lost all my weight my wife had friends coming up to her and asking if I was ill. People openly wondered whether I was on the way out. Off course I wasn't. people are just hardwired to see a few pounds extra as "normal looking".
However, a close family member has just recovered from a serious eating disorder. We believe part of the trigger was wanting to run faster and be "better" at it. Initially you will run faster and get "better" but you have to know when you are at your peak and stop there. My family member didn't and it took a year to recover and get back to normality.
A year of difficult conversations and troubling moments.. to put it lightly.
I will echo part of Micks final statement as the most important: "If you feel good" that is the bit to keep sight of. It is too easy to go so far into losing weight that you stop feeling good. You will soon start wondering where your energy has gone and why you can't manage the times / distances that you were. If this happens then stop, re assess your ideas and for goodness sake, eat to fuel yourself properly.
As it happens, I saw you running the other day by Cardiff High School wearing a backpack.. I presume you were on the way to or from work. You looked lean and fit.. But I would not think you could go with looking much leaner. All I would ask is take care of yourself and make sure you do fuel yourself correctly to carry on doing what you obviously love doing. You will be sorry if you don't, I promise you that from bitter family experience.
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Thankyou for some great feedback.
I will monitor things as there is certainly a line that can be crossed. I think perhaps I just need to make sure things at least stay where they are.
I cover a half marathon a day biking and running 5 days a week and race most weeks on top. I use the car sometimes if I feel out of sorts or my heart rate gets a bit high. I adjust the pace or type depending on the structure of the week and how I feel.
On top of this I am on my feet 8 hours a day working rushing around and managing a delivery team.
All of this demands alot of calories and if you are not careful the weight drops off. I aim to arrive at work 30 minutes early to eat and if I dont eat reasonably well I quickly get light headed.
You notice your performance drop right off if you really underdo it with your calories. In the main my diet is really healthy but I ocasionaly eat rubbish. I try to have a good intake of carbs to fuel me as you just have to.
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