“This may have been a rationalization for carrying more weight, but I have always said since I have the build of a running back than a runner, that I would automatically carry more weight. Would a better plan be to look at finding out body fat % first before setting a goal weight? I’m 5’8”, and when I saw my weight today, I started wondering if 165 would be a possible long term weight, but then I also have to wonder if I have 14 pounds more that I can lose. How would you suggest going about this? "
I have always said that “weight” (on a scale) means nothing – especially for people who have huge bones and solid muscle vs. people who are light and tiny naturally. If you come from (say) healthy German sheep-herder stock , you will never be a tiny light Japanese person. You must choose goals consistant with your genetic body structure… In addition, water weight (especially filled glycogen stores) are pretty heavy also. Bodyfat levels are a better indicator for your fitness.
That being said, that doesn’t mean you can’t drop bodyfat which you’ve added over the years from bad habits and the natural aging process.
Getting your BF% tested is a great idea - this can be done cheaply enough by a qualified person at a sports dept of a college or a facility which has calipers (not the BF ‘scale’). Calipers and/or hydrostatic weighing (for BF) are best methods; those BF ‘scales’ (which measure impedance) are not accurate.
I know others who are naturally bigger also - denser. Thicker bones. Massive muscle bellies. These will make you THINK you are overweight because you cannot be easily compared with others. However, if you know you have bodyfat yet to go, it’s truly better to set your sights on dropping the fat than thinking of the scale itself as your enemy.
Additionally (if you want more information), the worse you eat the more your body wants to hold onto bodyfat. I have my theories about this, but mostly I think it’s a combination of hormonal responses (too much sugar makes the insulin-response system shut down and then store fat, plus adrenal overload doing the same thing) plus the body unable to process highly-refined and highly-‘additive’ “lab-food” (food simulations created in a lab – sold as your next Lean Cuisine meal or whatever…)
This is why I have been highly advocating whole foods for this challenge. In short, your body can process whole foods – and the more it does that, the less it can process the “lab-foods”.
This is a long answer to say, check your bodyfat first and move from there – or set a quality arbitrary number as a goal but don’t think that’s the be-all and end-all. Your goal is truly BEHAVIOR (and habit) CHANGE, and the by-product will be your ‘weight loss’ (fat loss).
Lauren