How much should a homesteader weigh?

I'm 5'5" and very overweight. It does make certain activities harder. 'Throw in the fact that I have diabetes, several anemias, high bloodpressure, spinal fussions, sleep apnea, and damaged lungs from acid reflux I am limited to what I can do. But still I am trying to work on each problem in order to get in the best shape that my conditions will allow.

Oh, and I'm old too.

I'm 5'7" and around 200 lbs which puts me firmly in the obese category. I can tote the 50 lb feed bags from the car to where they belong, move 60 lb concrete bags from the back of the truck to where they belong, make the 2 mile round trip walk to the grocery store at noon when temps are exceeding 110 degrees. We don't have A/C on the house, only evap cooling (which makes for a pretty warm, muggy house when temps are 115 and dew point exceeds 70 degrees) but I'm able to function quite well, especially since I'm in the house all day long (it's still cooler inside than outside during the day!)

For me, my ideal weight is where I feel comfortable and don't feel the weight is hampering me.

I am exactly what I should be. (5'7", 148) If I feel I'm putting on extra fat (rarely), I just stop eating cheese. If I'm feeling scrawny (more often), I eat more cheese. (I love cheese. )

But check this out :

"AMAGASAKI, Japan — Japan, a country not known for its overweight people, has undertaken one of the most ambitious campaigns ever by a nation to slim down its citizenry.

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

A poster at a public health clinic in Japan reads, "Goodbye, metabo," a word associated with being overweight. The Japanese government is mounting an ambitious weight-loss campaign.

Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.

But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/wo...in&oref=slogin

I'm 5'5" and at 120 lb had no trouble handling 100 lb feed bags when I was younger. I've done enough damage to myself in the intervening years (namely dropping one of said feed bags into a barrel that wasn't sitting steady and it kicked back and seriously injured my hip) that I can't manage those kinds of weights any more.

I'm 6'4, 290. Down from 320 playing football in university. Feels about right, I'm in Ross' camp. You can take a real beating doing lots of farm chores if you're on the light side.

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The internet - fueling paranoia and misinformation since 1873.

I'm 5'6" 180lbs but I've been working for an airline for 15 yrs ,after lifting hundreds of 50+ lb bags a dayfor years, i have plenty of upper body strength for anything around the house, for everything else leverage is your friend

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http://www.backyardtechnology.com/technofarming/

I'm 5'2" and my best weight is around 120 lbs. If I'm over that by much I find that I am getting in the way of myself and just not nearly as comfortable in my own body. It isn't a matter of appearance as much as it is my own comfort zone. I do have a higher percentage of muscle than most people my size/weight though, the nurses always do a double take when I have a physical.

To be honest though, you really shouldn't lose any significant muscle mass if you are dieting/exercising. If you are losing muscle mass you are not getting enough calories or you are not doing enough to work those muscles. I find it hard to believe that anyone couldn't be getting enough exercise this time of year, there are just too many things to be done!

Kayleigh

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http://kayleighjeanne.blogspot.com

5'11" and 230 and I'm a medium frame with a lot of muscle mass. I'm softer in the middle than I used to be, but I'm also older.

Brad

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"Seek first to undersand, not to be understood"
http://richheritagefarm.blogspot.com/

If you are skinny, you can hide from the bill collectors easier But also retreive a dead cat under the barn.
If you are fat you won't have to run much, But you can block a path from a hog or calf.
If you are tall you can replace lightbulbs and pick more apples without the ladder, But bump your head more.
If you are short you can feed the baby goats and gather eggs from lower nests plus you are closer to the strawberries, But the taller, skinnier, fatter folks Don't pay you much mind.
Best Size? Don't Know, I've Bumped My Head To Many Times Eddie

My weight varies a lot. Depending on how much water Im carrying to the garden or how much vegetables I'm bringing in or how much wood I'm carrying

5'10 and 165lbs. with medium frame.

I'm built but not overly so. Just an overall lean, proportioned frame.

I'm a lineman so the work keeps me in great shape, with forarms of twisted cable.

I just doesn't matter. What ever YOU feel comfortable with, that's the weight you should be. All the "studies", BMI, and what others think have no bearing on YOU.

I'm just right at 6'7" and 243#.

I'm too chicken to say me, because I know it's way too high.
But DH is 6'2" and 170 soaking wet.

It might sound skinny, but he's what Louis L'Amour would have called "whip-cord lean." I've seen him carry a washing machine down to our basement or dig fence posts all day.
He's lean all right, but definitely not skinny...

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Less than me for sure.

I am trying but it goes on sooooo much fater than it comes off.

Oi! From these calculations, I should weigh 118! I look sick under 150, and that's my goal weight. I have a little over 100 lbs to loose, but I'm working more (and thus staying away from as much food), and working more around the house outside. I've started cooking every meal instead of just microwaving it like I did before I found this forum. I may not have lost any weight, but I am already feeling better (plus my cholesterol is way down just in the past 6 months that I have been eating better!).

Emily

PS - I forgot to add that milk is my weakness. I can drink a gallon a day, plus what I use in cooking. We are already using skim milk (due to my mother), but that is still a lot of calories. Water just isn't the same, even though it is good!

A homesteader should weigh about the same as a hairdresser.

HOLY ......(AHEM).......COW!
Not saying it's bad for you or anything but, I doubt I could DRINK a gallon of milk in a YEAR! We have milk goats, but are continually looking for ways to use the extra milk we have. Neither of us have ever been ones to just drink it.....

Weight is irrelevant. There is a big difference in someone who is 140lbs muscular built and 140 lbs out of shape. Body mass index does not correctly apply to all people and builds but is meant to serve as a general guide.
There is no magical right weight. If you really want to get technical you can always take measurements with skin calipers to determine body fat, as some bodybuilders do. Other than that just use your own judgment.

Homesteading has weight requirement???? When did this happen????

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“When I think of what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think, there are no little things.” -Bruce Barton

I am 5'8" and 140 pounds. Deliver and unload frieght no problem, garden farm, race mowers. No problems and lots of stamina. Non stop action ya might say.
Tom

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Tom Lavalette, Garden Farmer
Owner Toms Tractors, Buy, Sell, Trade Garden Tractors and Implements. Custom Built machinery by order.


If Farms were Smaller, Communities would be Closer.