[Closed] How do you know when you are getting too thin?

Not sure there are any easy ways to find out

For me when I was loosing weight a few years ago
It got to the point where my endurance started to fall at this point I stopped the dieting and went back to normal eating for the miles I was doing.

Need a good way to measure your body fat percentage

Im quite heavy for my height 6ft 76-78kg range

No you're not!

to be honest i dont think you're overweight. i just checked your stats on an online body mass index calulator and your bmi is 19.5. for your height a normal weight ranges between a bmi of 18.5 - 24.9. this was a us website but you can double check this on the nhs website to be sure.
as you said, you dont want to lose power so i'd stay as you are and focus more on improving your riding and pedalling technique. also look at what sort of foods you are eating....carbo loading a few days before an event is a good way of making sure your body is ready. also look at replacing lost salts during exercise so some sort of energy drink supplement to go with your water...you may also want to try some core strengthening exercises to help condition your body better.

Wiggins is 6'3" AND 77kg you just need to grow 3 inches. 🙂

Im 6'1" and 73kgs. Folk (including doctors) are telling me I could probably do with putting on a bit of weight.

I could have kissed them. To Greggs!

I reckon that if it's easy to lose weight then you are a bit overweight, if it's hard then you're probably about where you should be. A least that's been my experience. Either try upping the work a little or cutting the diet back a little. If the weight drops easily then carry on. If you need to cut back a lot on diet and work a lot more for weight loss then I'd suggest you're probably where you should be already.

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Wiggins is 6'3" AND 77kg you just need to grow 3 inches.

No way is Wiggins 77kg (unless he's having an Ulrich like off season of cake eating.) I'm 6ft and about 75kg and Wiggins is so much skinnier than I am.

Last year my mate who I ride with in Wales went down to about 8st (51kg) he's 5'7". I usually weigh a nip over 9st so am around 58kg at 5'4". He wasn't weak at all, I couldn't catch him up the hills and he'd accelerate away from me quite easily. His bike was probably about 3lbs lighter than mine but I'm not sure how much that had to do with it. Now he's back up to weight we're about the same pace again.

Cheers, I know I am not overweight just looking to find my racing weight. I think I read Wiggo was around 69kg. Fabian Cancellara is closer to 80, but then he is not a climber and produces more power in one leg than I do in two!

I have in my head that 73-74kg is realistic, I know I do not have a climbers frame so I am never going to get in the 60 something range. It is just one area I am working on I am doing all the other things too. I am not going to win any of the events I just want to improve on last year.
Thanks

Thanks for that Drac - I'm bang on the line between overweight and obese 🙁

Full name Bradley Marc Wiggins
Nickname Wiggo[1]
Born (1980-04-28) 28 April 1980 (age 32)[2]
Ghent, Belgium
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[3]
Weight 69 kg (150 lb; 10.9 st)[4]

Get a set of withings body fat scales which analyse your fat mass, thats what you need to concentrate on. Aim for under 10% body fat and you're going in the right direction.

If you do a good amount of exercise then bmi is a total waste of space imo

Get a set of withings body fat scales which analyse your fat mass

Well...they have a good go at guessing it.

I'd have to drop about 2.5 stone to get there yoshimi. 😳

I guess lots of fatties say this but I don't reckon I am anywhere near as overweight as that graph suggests - I have a pretty muscular build.

How are those scales meant to measure body fat then?

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[i]Well...they have a good go at guessing it.[/i]

Not really, they are pretty accurate. And its all relative anyway - if you're at 20% bodyfat on withings scales and want to get to 10% on withings scales then you're still losing 10% boday fat.

It's probably a case of how committed you are to it. If you don't train that much or watch your diet then 3kg should be pretty easy to lose as you wouldn't need to change much. If you train lots and are careful with diet already then it might be harder. A few years ago I was down to 66kg. I was much quicker than I am now and got some good results, but maintaing that weight meant life became all about diet and exercise. No fun.

When you turn sideways and disappear

Im quite heavy for my height 6ft 76-78kg rang

No you're not!

I am still <30 inch wais

and

You can just about see the outline of my ribs

Sounds like you're already on the skinny side of things, I'd be very very careful about losing any more weight.

[s]If you do a good amount of exercise then[/s] [b]on an individual basis[/b] bmi is a total waste of space imo

Cany you read the paper through your stomach? You're too thin 🙂

At 76kg and 6ft I don't think you need worry about being too thin. Commenting without knowing your body make-up (fat and muscle distribution) is a little pointless. But I'd recommend Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald if you want some guidance in dropping weight while maintaining strength.

I think you've got to get really thin before you have to worry about performance drop off. I'm 179 cm, not particularly slight of build, normal weight about 72/73kg, got down to 68.5kg last summer, and kept going faster on the bike - but my wife didn't like it much.

Thanks for the replies. I am fairly cautious so I tend towards health than undereating. I train 15-20 hours a week most of the time so its pretty easy to eat a tiny bit under my requirements. I think I may take it at a pound every couple of weeks and do it by feel/power. I might use some scales to see if I am going in the right direction, but as their accuracy is a bit iffy I wont know when I have really reached the lower healthy point.

The trouble is I weigh quite a bit as my legs are big, plus a bit of swimming has given me big shoulders too, so I dont reckon 68kg is likely to happen.

How do you know? Girls/colleagues start giving you numerous compliments.

I thought girls liked big men. Nope- they like em thin.

Ianpv. We're you loosing all your weight off the old chap then?

I thought girls liked big men. Nope- they like em thin.

Up to a point. Mrs blobby says I use to look like a concentration camp victim and much prefers the current healthy look. Now complains if I start getting thin.

Well...they have a good go at guessing it.

They're just a random number generator!

How are those scales meant to measure body fat then?

A vague correlation between conductivity of a human body and % body fat - but with a huge emphasis on the word vague - like +/- 10%.

The trouble is I weigh quite a bit as my legs are big, plus a bit of swimming has given me big shoulders too, so I dont reckon 68kg is likely to happen.

what do you see? you like? 🙂

FWIW at 6ft and <30" waist it doesnt sound like youre overweight!

I'm 6'2, 63kg and according to my scales I'm 3% body fat. My two best mates are 16st and 17st and I'd say I probably eat 25-50% more than them every day. I think some people are just meant to be skinny and it doesn't hinder them where as people who aren't naturally skinny can suffer from losing to much weight.

Technically I'm under weight, I've got the energy to ride my bike everyday and jog with my dogs 2/3 times a day so I don't ever think about it, have tried weights and protein shakes in the past and achieved very little! 😀

When you turn sideways and disappear

When you shrug your shoulders and fall through your arsehole.

TBH if you're training 15-20 hours a week, you ought to be able to manage some weight loss anyway but I'm not sure it's going to give you a massive amount.

You might want to consider lowering the training volumes and upping the recovery time. Bet you'll go quicker than aiming for any less weight.

If you lose weight very slowly, and start doing strength stuff in the gym (if you don't already) you should be able to lose weight and not power. But IME, you'll know when you get too light - i train anything from 8.5 - 18 hours per week depending on where I am in my programme and lost 3kgs over 3 months. But there was a noticeable difference in my energy levels / perceived effort when i hit the 3kgs (ie it felt harder on the flat when going fast, i didn't feel i had as much power etc) compared with 1-2kg of weight loss. I put on 0.5kg and I'm feeling much stronger and training is going really well.

Boxbuster - are you my twin 😆

At 6ft 4" and 70kg I'm rather thin. People have also recently commented that I look like I've lost weight! Not weighed myself for a while but I bloody hope not!

As a mate once put it, being a cyclist isn't a particularly heathly/attractive look. I certainly think you can look too thin, especially around the face.

I'm 6'2, 63kg

Hora, they do like big men, but only specific areas of said men.

Drac, are you calling me fat?

(I am by the way)

I weigh 30kg more than the OP and I'm shorter, but I do love cake!

Boxbuster - are you my twin

Not unless there's something my parents aren't telling me! 😆

Sorry to break it to you like this, but...

The trouble is I weigh quite a bit

No, you don't.

as my legs are big

I really doubt that.

plus a bit of swimming has given me big shoulders too

Equally doubtable.

At 76kg you're about as large as a thin man, i.e. not large at all.

Personally I'd start hitting the cakes if you get any below 70kg.

But the best advice has already been posted - when you start losing performance, you've gone a bit too far.

Wow, well over 6 ft and 63 kg. That is a proper climbing body. 'They'reckon' less than 2 pounds per inch of height to make a good climber!!

mrmonkfinger- I really do have big legs. I even made the other men in my lab measure their thighs. Mine were by far the largest.- I love the way that makes me sound, I am fairly normal honest. And as for my shoulders, all I know is that shirts that were ok struggle to fit now. It is not fat, just muscle. Ideally I would like to lose the bulk and keep the strength, I am assuming that is not possible, so I am just going to have to get stronger and more aero to make up the time on the flat sections 🙂