# Can you be too light?



## Mo1959 (19 May 2013)

Since leaving a stressful job where I ate/slept at weird times I lost a couple of stone. I have lost even more now that I am cycling regularly, however, I had two neighbours pass comment yesterday when I was walking the dog on how much weight I had lost and sounding a bit concerned that I was too thin.

Is there a diminishing benefit for cycling if your weight goes too low?


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## numbnuts (19 May 2013)

IMO Maybe a trip to the doctors would be better than an answer on here


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## Mo1959 (19 May 2013)

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like I feel ill or anything. I am only just over 5' 3" and 8 stone 6 so probably pretty much spot on. I was more curious re the whole power to weight ratio and whether being too light could end up working against you.


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## Pedrosanchezo (19 May 2013)

Mo, the neighbours were just jealous.


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## Mo1959 (19 May 2013)

Pedrosanchezo said:


> Mo, the neighbours were just jealous.


Ha, ha.....maybe.


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## potsy (19 May 2013)

Get some pies down yer neck Mo


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## jazzkat (19 May 2013)

I read something on t'nterweb recently that said when friends/family started to get concerned that you were looking like you had a serious illness then you were getting close to your 'racing weight'


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## Rob3rt (19 May 2013)

Mo1959 said:


> Since leaving a stressful job where I ate/slept at weird times I lost a couple of stone. I have lost even more now that I am cycling regularly, however, I had two neighbours pass comment yesterday when I was walking the dog on how much weight I had lost and sounding a bit concerned that I was too thin.
> 
> *Is there a diminishing benefit for cycling if your weight goes too low?*


 
Yes.

Essentially it is about trying to strike a balance between raw power and power to weight ratio, in order to excel at the type of cycling you choose.

If you get lighter and gain power. This is a perfect scenario, you gained all round!

If you get lighter and maintain power, this is the next best thing, you didn't give anything up (you maintained) and you gained in terms of power to weight ratio.

If you get lighter, the reality is you may lose some raw power, if the drop in weight is such that despite the loss in power causes an increase in your power to weight ratio, this is a reasonably good scenario in many cases (not in all, because some types of riding and terrain will benefit more from a higher raw power than a high power to weight ratio). You gave up raw power, but made a gain elsewhere.

If you get lighter and loose some raw power, if the drop in weight is cancelled out by the drop in power, such that your power to weight ratio remains the same, then this is none ideal, you have actually sacrificed raw power for no gain in terms of power to weight ratio, you gave something up and got nothing back.

If you get lighter and loose substantial amounts of power, the drop in weight won't cancel out the drop in raw power, both power to weight ratio and raw power figures will decline, if this happens, you really have mucked up!

The reason for declining power with losing weight is not always loss of muscle mass either, it can be attributed to many things, such as insufficient nutrition contributing to poor recovery.


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## Pedrosanchezo (19 May 2013)

So to summarise Mo, you may be losing some power which may greatly effect your racing career. 

Or your Strava times.


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## Rob3rt (19 May 2013)

Also, tell your neighbours to mind their own business!


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## ufkacbln (19 May 2013)

numbnuts said:


> IMO Maybe a trip to the doctors would be better than an answer on here



You mean common sense and a proper medical opinion?

Where is the fun in that?


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## Rob3rt (19 May 2013)

Cunobelin said:


> You mean common sense and a proper medical opinion?
> 
> Where is the fun in that?


 
Common sense = Going running to the Doctor every time someone remarks that you look thin?


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## ufkacbln (19 May 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> Common sense = Going running to the Doctor every time someone remarks that you look thin?




..............or, as in the original post someone is concerned about their weight being too low?


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## Rob3rt (19 May 2013)

Cunobelin said:


> ..............or, as in the original post someone is concerned about their weight being too low?


 
Sounded more like a general question than an expression of concern to me. Mo further clarified this as being her intended motivation for posting immediately after the 1st response to the thread.


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## simon.r (19 May 2013)

jazzkat said:


> I read something on t'nterweb recently that said when friends/family started to get concerned that you were looking like you had a serious illness then you were getting close to your 'racing weight'


 
^ This sounds about right in my personal experience. When I hit the weight I feel most comfortable at I get told that I'm looking too thin, but I feel at my best!

My theory is that we're all so used to seeing people who are overweight that when we see someone who isn't we tend to think they're too thin .


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## redcard (19 May 2013)

Cunobelin said:


> ..............or, as in the original post someone is concerned about their weight being too low?



I think most of the posters here credited the OP with having enough intelligence to make her own mind up regarding a visit to the doctor.


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## Hip Priest (19 May 2013)

I'm staying at 16 stone, just to be on the safe side.


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## s7ephanie (19 May 2013)

you can never be too rich or too thin !!!!! and i'm neither


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## mrandmrspoves (19 May 2013)

I experienced the same kind of response when I lost weight. I used to look like Henry VIII and weighed 17.5 stone.
When I went down to 12.5 stone I was forever being told that I was looking ill and there was even a rumour circulated that I had AIDS!
Mind you I still looked like Henry VIII - just a skinny version (with AIDS apparently!)

If you're within your recommended BMI and you feel well - ignore people's silly comments.
I think it is just that people who know us perceive us in a certain way and if our appearance changes - so does their perception.
I am sure that even at my thinnest no stranger would have looked at me and said "He's too skinny" (Especially if they had the misfortune to see me in the bath!)


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## karl61 (19 May 2013)

the mirror never lies. ( unless its one of those at the fairground)


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## Pat "5mph" (19 May 2013)

Mo1959 said:


> Ha, ha.....maybe.


no, @Pedrosanchezo is spot on, was gonna post the same. Well done on the weight loss you!


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## Mad Doug Biker (20 May 2013)

Mo1959 said:


> I am only just over 5' 3" and 8 stone 6 so probably pretty much spot on.



I am 5'10" and 8 stone 11/ 9 stone. You have a bit of weight to loose just yet!  
Seriously, I am borderline underweight, but I have a medical reason behind that.

The power to weight ratio is good, but it isn't so good going down hills as you have no extra weight to commit to the forces of gravity, especially if its windy!


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## RussellZero (20 May 2013)

s7ephanie said:


> you can never be too rich or too thin !!!!! and i'm neither



Optimum bank balance = n + 1 
Optimum weight = n - 1

?


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## Ningishzidda (20 May 2013)

Do step tests.

http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/step-harvard.htm


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## jefmcg (20 May 2013)

s7ephanie said:


> you can never be too rich or too thin !!!!! and i'm neither


I heard a good reposte to that: you are too rich if you need bodyguards to protect your children from kidnapping and too thin if your periods cease.

However, I suspect you are not close to either.


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## thegravestoneman (20 May 2013)

I am now being told by those that I love and care about as well as a few drinking buddies that I am loosing too much weight that I look ill and look like I have cancer. The other day my mother told me I was too thin and my legs were far too skinny and I wasn't eating enough. She hasn't seen my legs in 25 years as I don't normally wear shorts and I have put nearly two inch on each thigh since I took up cycling again, at the time I was on my third slice of her rather nice lemon cake just prior to going home for my dinner. Although I am glad people take the time to notice I am not as I was before but I choose to ignore their 'stay as you were before and wait for heart disease etc to catch you up' attitude to life I feel better in my self than I have done for years I am definitely fitter than I have been since my early twenties and I look forward to getting up each day. And what is more I am now able to give my local hospice over 200 quid due to being able to take part in a charity event that I never would have done before...

Listen to what your body tells you and you won't go far wrong keep going and enjoy!!

Gaz


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## Rob3rt (20 May 2013)

Cancer has a look?


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## Davidc (20 May 2013)

Ignore the neighbours. Most of us are too fat, to the extent that we now view overweight as normal.

I'm overweight but get comments about "all the exercise you do makes you look skinny". Including from my mum! I'd like to loose 2 stone, then what would the comments be?

If you feel comfortable, can do anything physical you want to and feel well what business is it of theirs? If you aren't too interested in neighbourly relations you could try telling them they're too fat and should take up cycling, swimming or running!


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## thegravestoneman (20 May 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> Cancer has a look?


Just the sort of 'encouragement' you get for making others feel inadequate it saves them having to feel to guilty for being sat on their a*se.


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## tyred (20 May 2013)

karl61 said:


> the mirror never lies. ( unless its one of those at the fairground)


 
Are you sure?
I feel like I am really well toned and good looking but my mirror keeps showing a fat lump.
Perhaps my mirror doesn't work properly.


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## Nosaj (20 May 2013)

Mo1959 said:


> Since leaving a stressful job where I ate/slept at weird times I lost a couple of stone. I have lost even more now that I am cycling regularly, however, I had two neighbours pass comment yesterday when I was walking the dog on how much weight I had lost and sounding a bit concerned that I was too thin.
> 
> Is there a diminishing benefit for cycling if your weight goes too low?


 
So what weight/size/look is considered normal now? Years ago kids with moobs were few and far between, being fat wasn't normal but now looking around my high st and elsewhere fat is becoming increasingly normal. Depends on your perceptions, I suppose if someone is fat and their peers are all fat then you to them will appear abnormal or very thin even if your weight is spot on.

Losing weight quickly can you give you a slightly drawn look (until your skin has a chance to get back to normal) which may make it look like you are ill.

If you are at all concerned then pop down the docs.


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## SatNavSaysStraightOn (20 May 2013)

Mo
When I was at my worst 7 years ago (medical issues yet again!), I was 54kg (8 and a half stone). I am 5foot 6inches with a heavy bone structure. Anyone looking at me usually underestimates my weight by around 2 stone. I had dropped to a UK size 2 on the bottom half and UK size 6 on the top. I looked thin, gaunt and pale and even I could tell I was ill. I didn't need the hospital/GP/friends/family to tell me, it was very obvious.

When my weight eventually went back up to 60kg (roughly 9 & half stone) I was still a size 4-6 bottom and 6-8 top, but I was fitter and faster than I had ever been, both cycling and mountaineering, covering the route back from Corrour to Rannoch Station in my fastest every time - knocking 2 hours off it without even trying! (the Corrour to Rannoch Station via Cairn Dearg and down the ridge is a test route for us at the beginning of a holiday to guage our mountaineering fitness levels).

Family and friends all tell me I look thin now, better than I did, but thin. They are all concerned that I can not buy jeans to fit in places like M&S - sizes don't go small enough, yet (until this month and it is unrelated to my weight) I have been great for the last few years, stronger, fitter, healthier and more importantly happier than I had previously been. 

Your own body will tell you what is right for it. Your times on garmin, strava or any other set route over the summer will tell you what you need to know, and if you know that you are fit & healthy and tired only because of the exercise you are doing and happy with your weight, then don't concern yourself with it. If you are finding you are routinely slower overall, have less energy, lost conentration, going down with each and every bug that does the rounds at schools, your body is telling you something and you need to listen, but if you are fit & healthy don't worry.

As mentioned above, we see so much in the papers about how being "thin" is bad for you (wrong words in the media, it should be "skinny" not thin) and how it is acceptable if you are happy to be fat or obese - well why can't it be acceptable if you are happy to be thin and healthy?


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## Globalti (21 May 2013)

There's still a lingering cultural obsession with weight in Britain; anybody who visibly loses weight is assumed to be ill and babies are considered well if they're nice and plump.


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## ColinJ (21 May 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> Cancer has a look?


Dying people often do have the look of death about them. Both my parents did. I looked about 70 years old when I went into hospital last summer rather than my actual 56 years. I was ashen-faced from lack of oxygen, my face was haggard, my hair was falling out and what was left was rapidly going grey. Even in recovery, I look 10 years older than I did a year ago.


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## gbb (1 Jun 2013)

simon.r said:


> ^ This sounds about right in my personal experience. When I hit the weight I feel most comfortable at I get told that I'm looking too thin, but I feel at my best!
> 
> My theory is that we're all so used to seeing people who are overweight that when we see someone who isn't we tend to think they're too thin .


 
I agree with that theory. I'm usually 10.5 stone, circa 5ft 10 lightly built on top, have a slightly low end BMI for my height, but only slightly. Yet in a discussion with some female colleagues/ friends, they all thought I was 'skinny'

Skinny, like hell. I'm normal. Look down a high street, I 'look' skinny, but its because so many people are overweight.

If you feel good at that weight Mo, be happy. Cycle and enjoy whatever it brings.


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## byegad (1 Jun 2013)

Yes ignore the 'concerned friends'. I am 5'7" and have recently gone from 15st 10lbs (aka obese.) to 12st 12lbs (aka overweight.). A 'friend' asked me if I had been checked for cancer and/or diabetes. Considering I was starving hungry from 4th July last year, when I started my diet, until well after Xmas, I was more than a little miffed.

I intend to hold this weight until 4th July then start trying to lose enough to get me into the top of the normal range. By then some of my friends will already be collecting for a wreath!


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## gbb (1 Jun 2013)

byegad said:


> Yes ignore the 'concerned friends'. I am 5'7" and have recently gone from 15st 10lbs (aka obese.) to 12st 12lbs (aka overweight.). A 'friend' asked me if I had been checked for cancer and/or diabetes.* Considering I was starving hungry from 4th July last year, when I started my diet, until well after Xmas, I was more than a little miffed.*
> 
> I intend to hold this weight until 4th July then start trying to lose enough to get me into the top of the normal range. By then some of my friends will already be collecting for a wreath!


 
As a guy who's never had to worry about what I eat or my weight, I couldn't begin to understand how that feels....until my wife lost some considerable weight. Loads of exercise and a complete overhaul of what she eats, and how much has left me realising how frikkin hard it must be to maintain it. She occasionally says how she gets fed up of limited choices, eating lightly, missing out on treats.
I feel a bit humbled by her (and others) determination to make it a difficult, but permanent lifestyle choice.


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## Mo1959 (1 Jun 2013)

gbb said:


> As a guy who's never had to worry about what I eat or my weight, I couldn't begin to understand how that feels....until my wife lost some considerable weight. Loads of exercise and a complete overhaul of what she eats, and how much has left me realising how frikkin hard it must be to maintain it. She occasionally says how she gets fed up of limited choices, eating lightly, missing out on treats.
> I feel a bit humbled by her (and others) determination to make it a difficult, but permanent lifestyle choice.


Tell her well done from me. It is a total lifestyle change rather than fad diets that keep you at a healthy weight. I can only presume it's been getting out of a stressful job and into doing some serious cycling miles that has done it for me. I am managing to eat a decent amount of food and snacks now that would have had me putting weight on before.


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## palinurus (1 Jun 2013)

Rob3rt said:


> Also, tell your neighbours to mind their own business!


 
I could only like this once, this is to add that I like it an additional 999 times.


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## Tanis8472 (1 Jun 2013)

And BMI should only be used as a guide. There are big variances such as Chris Hoy who would be classed as overweight/obese even though he isn't

I'm 6'0" and 13st 4lb and according to that i'm overweight.
Well i'm thin so not overweight  .


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## Peteaud (1 Jun 2013)

I am just a bloater


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## gbb (3 Jun 2013)

Mo1959 said:


> Tell her well done from me. It is a total lifestyle change rather than fad diets that keep you at a healthy weight. I can only presume it's been getting out of a stressful job and into doing some serious cycling miles that has done it for me. I am managing to eat a decent amount of food and snacks now that would have had me putting weight on before.


 
I firmly believe (although without any proper knowledge) that exercise is a bigger boost to weight loss than the diet itself.
The wife went at it really hard, 1, 2 or 3 hours a day of hard exercise for the first 6 months, stepping, dancercise etc etc. Coupled with a strict calorie intake she lost weight very successfully, but she always knew if she went back to her old ways, it wouldn't work in the long run. Exercise doesn't figure as heavy now, but she still dabbles.
3 years later, she's still a size 8..and still keeps to strict calorie intake. Minimise saturated fats, eats plenty of fruit and veg, small meals, little or no snacks etc etc etc.

Trouble is...so many people can't, won't or refuse to entertain the exercise bit. 
So many people have asked the wife 'how did you do it ?'
As soon as the exercise bit gets mentioned, especially the 1, 2 or 3 hours a day of dancercise etc...you can see their eyes glaze over.


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## Shut Up Legs (4 Jun 2013)

I'm 6'3" and 13.4 stone (had to Google a unit converter for that; not used to measuring weight in stones), which makes my BMI 23.5, near the upper end of normal. Must be all that awesome quadriceps muscle mass . No doubt in the years to come, I'll be regarded as skinny, since an increasing number of people are overweight, and the definition of 'normal' weight seems to be increasing; pretty depressing, that .


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