I have a relatively small build. And my arms have always been pathetic little twigs. I have noticed that I have developed a LOT more muscle mass since I started hauling feed bags, lifting dripping wet bags of cheese curd, etc. I make jokes about my "guns" now.

I assume I actually weigh more than before, but only because muscle weighs more than fat. I don't own a scale. I don't really see the point. But I know that a homesteader needs more muscle to be worth a darn when it comes to a lot of jobs on the homestead.

 

if youre happy with what you weigh then dont worry about it my 2 quaters (inflation)

 

Medically, your "ideal" weight is a Body Mass Index BMI between 20 and 23. Your BMI is equal to your weight in kilograms devided by your height in meters squared.

Since that's in metric, and (for me at least) requires either a calculator or pensil and paper, I use a quick estimate.

Basically, if you are small framed, start with 100 pounds and add 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet tall you are. If you have a large frame, start with 106 pounds and add 6 pounds for every inch over 5 feet.

I don't know if there is an "ideal" weight for homesteaders. When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who was about 5'6 and about 140 pounds. He could throw a bale of hay over his shoulder and carry it a heck of alot further than I could and I was 6'2 and 165. Being bigger and 25 pounds heavier didn't make much of a difference.

 

Quite frankly, I think that the uppermost point of the healthy weight range for your height. I think the lower recommendations are just too thin. Look at the actresses! If my dairy goats looked like they do I'd be trying to put weight on them fast! What other species walks around with their bones visible under their skin? I ask you! I recently saw an actress with a BONY CHEST! You could see her sternum.

I think doctors should start checking people for obesity they way vets check a dog. Can you feel their ribs easily and yet not see them? Well, you're okay then

RedTartan

 

farm work will put you in shape & ideal weight FAST!

 

Quite frankly, I think that the uppermost point of the healthy weight range for your height. I think the lower recommendations are just too thin. Look at the actresses! If my dairy goats looked like they do I'd be trying to put weight on them fast! What other species walks around with their bones visible under their skin? I ask you! I recently saw an actress with a BONY CHEST! You could see her sternum.

I think doctors should start checking people for obesity they way vets check a dog. Can you feel their ribs easily and yet not see them? Well, you're okay then

RedTartan

Couldn't agree more!

 

I'm 5'5" and I used to be quite muscular and strong at 130 lbs.

Deb, I am technically obese now (190 lbs before I got pregnant) and I can feel my ribs! I am hoping to get back down to 140-150 in the next year, though. At 190 I felt like I was a bit too heavy to ride our 13hh Welsh/Morgan cross.

 

Basically, if you are small framed, start with 100 pounds and add 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet tall you are. If you have a large frame, start with 106 pounds and add 6 pounds for every inch over 5 feet.

Lets see 6'6"... thats (18 X 6) + 106 = 214 lbs.

Have you ever seen a 6"6" person at 214 lbs.???

I weigh 280 lbs. ... pretty solid muscle mass with a little softness around the middle. I could stand to lose about 20 lbs. or so, but I'd be checked for eating disorders if I tried to get down to 214!

I never did put much stock in those charts and calculations.

I think the original question is too relatve to have any meaningful answer.

 

I'm very tall and yes overweight. Wish I wasn't but learned to live with it in my old age. I grab a 50 pound bag of feed etc. do what I want to with it. I lift what I want, tote what I want, hold my own with the animals and pigman (just teasing). Where it does become a problem is jobs on the ground. I am amazed at how much of homesteading involves getting on the ground. It is uncomfortable to pull weeds, pick strawberries, set out plants, pick up rocks, etc. but I do it. I suppose those sort of things are easy for small women while lifting and toting my be more of a challange. I guess that means it all evens out anyway.

 

im 5 10 3/4 weigh 160 and feel great

 

6'1", about 224# last winter, but the gardening has brought me down to about 216#.

 

Ideally, one should be 6'6" and weigh 273 pounds. Hope that helps.

 

5'10" 230 pounds provides adequate anchorage to feed 200 sheep grain from buckets. Stops 1800 lb bales from rolling far. Lets you off balance a stuck hitch and keeps the front of the hay wagon in place when baling onto the wagon and tossing bales to the back where they're stacked 6 high. I couldn't farm if the equipment or livestock outweighed me by much more!! Me an gravity...... good friends!

 

5'10" 190lbs..at present age 35
at age 18 5'9" 405lbs

I'm glad a stopped carrying that other guy around.

 

Ideally, one should be 6'6" and weigh 273 pounds. Hope that helps.

That sounds more reasonable... did I figure the BMI wrong or is that a different standard?

 

Ideally, one should be 6'6" and weigh 273 pounds. Hope that helps.

LOL! My DH is 6'4" and almost 300 pounds. He says he thinks of himself as the "standard", so anyone shorter than him is "short" anyone lighter them him is "underweight".

 

5'10" 230 pounds provides adequate anchorage to feed 200 sheep grain from buckets. Stops 1800 lb bales from rolling far. Lets you off balance a stuck hitch and keeps the front of the hay wagon in place when baling onto the wagon and tossing bales to the back where they're stacked 6 high. I couldn't farm if the equipment or livestock outweighed me by much more!! Me an gravity...... good friends!

You raise a good point. I have found that I get much less worn out physically by a day of farm work when I'm heavier than the BMI suggests I should be. If you're too light, you're liable to get knocked around and pushed over!

 

That sounds more reasonable... did I figure the BMI wrong or is that a different standard?

Ahh, I sweat a lot, probably explains the 7 pound difference.

 

Me 6'3'' and 240 wife 5'6'' 125. BMI is a joke Muscle kills the index. Note back in the day Iron Mike Tyson 5'10 and 220 pounds.

 

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/world/asia/13fat.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&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.

 

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