6 feet tall... do numbers really apply?

i feel like numbers and pounds dont apply to me.  To most, 160 is probably heavy for a girl my age (23)... I'd KILL to be 160 lbs! are you kidding me!?  alas i'm 190...and heavier than my 6'4" boyfriend (and all my exboyfriends, for that matter).  Society tells me that 190 is insanely obese for the average female.  Any other tall girls fall victim to these pressures?

 

I looked at some charts and most indicated 151-165 for a 6 foot tall woman.  I assumed a medium frame.

I saw one that indicated 138 to 190 and several that must think there are no women over 5'10" !!

You have to remember that you're not average in height so you wouldn't fit into the average weight category either.

Hey Girl!!  I am 6'3" and have weighed up to 230 (post baby), and generally like to stay around 190.  If I stuck with the BMI chart and all the other charts that don't have our height, it would have me at 175 lbs.  This would be VERY skinny, and it does not take into account that I work out and have good muscle from weight lifting, it does not account for the upper end C cup I wear, and my medium/large bones.  I am currently at 212 last check, and just did a good work out, so getting back to where I want to be.

 

Here is my take on the charts:  They are a good guide line, but not gospel, and if you feel good and look good in what you wear, that is what is important.   The number on the scale is only a number.  As far as your 6'4" boyfriend who weighs less, he is obviously lanky, and men store muscle and fat differently, so don't compare.  It's apples and oranges.  I have never been lucky enough to meet any tall men who like women as tall as I am, so I usually outweigh men I date.....  They lip off less because of it...  : )

I'm 5'11, and it's so relieving to see a tall-women related post :) I can't help notice that the average norm 'round these parts seems to be about 7 inches shorter than me. 

 My current weight (I gained 15 pounds without noticing it, which scared the crap out of me.. let's just hope us tall girls hide it well :)) is about 250, but obviously I'm looking to lose a good deal of weight.  My goal was initially 150, but this post has be wondering what a "good" weight for my height and size actually is.  I've been overweight all my life, so I don't have a really good subconscious scale.  I was going to just wait and see how I looked at each milestone.  I never thought I'd be anxious to see 200lbs, haha!

i remember being aroun 165/170 when i was 5'11" and that being perfect for me...  it's weird though... i have an interesting frame in that my torso is a small to medium frame, and my hips and legs are deffinately a large frame.  (TOTAL pear-shape, haha)

 

so it's hard to take those stupid charts seriously as well. i know no matter how skinny i get i'll always have big thighs and lots of junk in my trunk....  i just remember being 170 and completely content with it.  *sigh*

If I remember the old insurance formula.

 

For women "healthy" was supposed to be

 

100 plus 5lbs for every inch above 5'. The height figure assumed you wore 1" shoes. So if you're 6' in bare feet that makes you 6'1" for the formula. 165 lbs for average frame. +10%(??) for larger framed.

 

FWIW guys get to start at 105lbs and 6lbs per pound.

 

Of course with my memory

 

Hi there,

I'm 5'11" and my personal goal weight is 200lbs, I've never weighed that little in my adult life and looking at how well I carried over 300lbs I'm sure I'll be looking just fine.

Who cares what society says we should do or weigh.

If I feel I want to weigh less once I've reached 200lbs sure I'll go for it but if I feel the way I am at that point then I'll be moving over to the maintenance forum.

What a great thread! I am 5'11 and just found this site today..tall girls of the world unite! I used to be very self conscious about my height until I met a girl who was taller than me and was a dancer (like a trained dancer, not a pole dancer.haha). She really was my first roll model for being a healthy weight and I have always tried to keep my height in mind when I see there uber thin models and such. That is not me and never will be. BUT, I do try to recognize great figures and fitness so that I can keep healthy looks in mind without resorting to numbers that I can't reach.

I just have to reply to the girl who wrote that she wants to be 150 but is 5'11"...really? That number seams out of whack to me. I am medium boned and medium build (whatever that means)(it means not too busty) and weigh 170 and most people will say that I am thinish.  I can't imagine maintaining 150 for any length of time and the struggle would be hell on my self esteme.  Please think about a goal that is closer to your heart...I think you said that you were content with 170?...

-Photochick

Yay, I love this post too. I am also nearly 5'11 and at my highest weight I was 210. I DID look overweight though but many guessed my weight at 180.

But being so heavy and taller than the average man, I was upset with my size all through my childhood and into my teenage years. I just felt so mannish and that I took up so much space. I was bigger than both the boys and girls alike.

So, a month before my 16th birthday, I decided I would do something to change the way I look and become more lovable,beautiful, and what I figured was normal. In a little more than 5 months, I was down to 123 pounds. I achieved this by pretty much starving myself and working out. I am a stubborn girl to say the least.

I always belived being thin would make me happy. Instead, I was depressed, lost my best asset (my thick,long, wavy hair thinned) I was FREEZING all the time, and retreated from my friends.

It has been hard purney but I am on the road to reovery. I started to eat a litte more my junior year and worked my way up to 135. Then last year, I started to a dapt a more normal diet but was still under 1200 calories. My body went into starvatiuon mode big time and I have gained 42 pounds in a year.

As of now, I am at 177 and still too heavy for my tastes. I am working with a nutritionist and lately have been doing some things I haven't done in nearly 3 years: Drink milk daily, eat cereals and other grains, eat past 6 in the evening, consume adequate protein and most importantly, reach 1200 cals a day.

So I just wanted to share this as kind of a warning to you other amazon girls out there. I know sometimes we can feel so "huge" because of our height and how we often outweigh friends and our enviably thin boyfriends, but being in the 150-200 range is completely normal for our height. I was on the bottom end of the weight spectrum once, and not only did I look like an emaciated concentration camp victim, but I felt horrible too.

Hi tall gals.  Yes, the numbers really do apply to us too!  :-)  We need to keep our BMI in the right range.  Just because we're tall, and a 10 pound gain can go unnoticed (so can a 10 lbs loss, I have discovered), doesn't mean we should carry it around.

Being a tall woman has many advantages... be proud!  And do help those poor short people get things off the top shelves in grocery stores :-)

P.S.  I'm 6'

Mmm- I'm average5'5'' and always wished I was taller-  has somthing to do with empowerment- a two year older (and taller) brother who never let up on his bullying was  the reason I'm sure.   Since most of my boyfriends were taller and I ended up with a 6'2 husband, it might have worked  for me.   I personly think some of these charts are silly sometimes. Even though I was in the low to mid end of my weight/height and reasonably atlethic I never felt I was that great- why- I could not touch my toes. Silly maybe but I do remember been 14 and was so impressed by seeing a woman who was tall and most definately overweight (and 3 children) who could bend over and lay her hands flat to the ground.  Do find something positive about yourself- if you find you cannot be that anymore (in the case of that lady touching the ground) then you know you have serious problems. As for actual weight try to be more flexable- If you are truely loved for yourself, fluxuating a couple of dress sizes will not be a problem. ( more an annoyance since your favouite clothes do not fit and you delighted in the way your partner liked you looking in them). More may many mean you are not doing justice to your commitment to your partner by not keeping yourself at an excellent healthy weight.  Extra weight is always harder on a taller person - have you ever noticed that at some point toddlers have to learn falling is not that "fun" anymore- at a certain weight/height they actualy look like they felt that fall. (proof is seen in the bruises and cuts they never seem to have before with the same fall)

I'm 6'0" and I started at 215 last February. I'm now down to a cool 162. Being tall DEFINITELY has its advantages. We all seem to carry our weight very well.

Poor short girls!

Okay, so I'm not quite as tall as you all (I'm 5'10"), but the thing on here says my goal weight should be 153...

Would that be ridiculously skinny on a 5'10" person? I can't remember ever being that thin at this height...probably always in the 170-213 (current weight) range.

I know I'm not insanely fat at the moment, but I don't look well proportioned anymore like I used to.

Oh well, I can always keep it as my goal weight and if I don't like it when I get there I know how to gain weight pretty well. ;)

I dunno about whether or not the charts are sane for women taller than 6', but I know mine is pretty far off. I'm 6'1". According to the chart, the outer limit of my 'healthy' BMI is 185lbs, and that 165 is what I should shoot for to be in the MIDDLE of the range.

At my thinnest I was 165, I had bones sticking out all over the place, having suffered an enforced hypocaloric deficiency of around half a year (with many attendant health problems that dog me to this day). The charts, at least in my case, are what my family doctor describes as bloody ridiculous.

The problem with the charts is that they describe a 50th percentile human. One look at me, even without the extra padding I have on, and it's abundantly obvious that I don't qualify for that middle-of-the-road frame. I'm built like a linebacker, 29"-30" across the shoulder, mesomorphic in shape and generally the "biggest guy in the room" regardless of my weight at the time. My optimum weight, determined empirically, is around 200lbs... presuming I don't go heavy into strength training. It's very easy for me to gain muscle (and, alas, to gain fat if I don't keep a real close eye on it!)

You haven't detailed how you're built, but it's not at all impossible for perfectly healthy people to deviate widely from the "50th percentile ideal model". Consult your doctor for less reflexive weight goals... and if you're really concerned about your true lean body mass and thus what your optimal weight should be, get a water displacement test done.

I'm 6' tall and 203. Last year I was 190 :(   (I started dating someone new last year--we are still together--but he loves, and i mean LOVES to go out to eat. I've never gone out so much and I packed on about 15 without noticing it.)

Anyhow, 160 is my goal, too and I do think it's possilbe as I used to weigh 160. I was still a size 10. That is what I think is different. If you plug in 160 and 6 feet into the BMI meter, it's well within the normal range. But shorter women well within the normal range wear much smaller sizes .I cant imagine ever wearing a size 2 or 4. I wear a size 14 now and I hear other women say "oh i dropped three pants sizes so far..) Well that is harder witih tall women. Someone above said you can gain and hide it over our long frames, but you can lose and it doesn't make a huge noticeable difference either--at least in pants sizes. I am a pear, too, by the way. What I wouldn't give for more slender legs!

Hi Heatherket,

I'm 5'10", currently 157, and my goal is 154. Until CC, I hadn't been in the 150s since (early) high school, so I can definitely relate with your questions about what people our height look at this weight. I know I wouldn't look healthy if I dropped too much lower (I'm all hips--at this weight I'm a size 10).

Good luck reaching your goals!

Thanks for starting this post. :) I'm 5'11, m'self, and I've always wondered what sort of numbers other tall people consider healthy for themselves.

Original Post by cosmographer:

Hi Heatherket,

I'm 5'10", currently 157, and my goal is 154. Until CC, I hadn't been in the 150s since (early) high school, so I can definitely relate with your questions about what people our height look at this weight. I know I wouldn't look healthy if I dropped too much lower (I'm all hips--at this weight I'm a size 10).

Good luck reaching your goals!

Wow - sorry I didn't come back to find this post. I'm a n00b. =D

Amazing. Size 10? I have never been a size 10. I pretty much jumped from the extra-large Girl's sizes in 3rd-5th grade to a size 12, then 14, then my current 16.

I'm assuming you're large-frame too? "all hips"?

I know there's definitely extra jiggle around my tummy that's making those pants so big but WOW! Size 10!

That is definitely a goal I can be motivated for.

I always thought tall(er) women are fascinatingly intimdating. I'm 5'9" btw.

Original Post by abigailsilk:

i feel like numbers and pounds dont apply to me. 

 

 

 The healthy BMI range (20 - 25) for someone 6' tall is from about 140 to 184lbs.  So you've only to drop 6lbs to be in the healthy zone.  I think you're wrong about society.  Few people will look at you and be wondering what you weigh or describe you as 'insanely obese'.    Most people will look at someone with your stats and think 'statuesque'.  

Original Post by travissimo:

I always thought tall(er) women are fascinatingly intimdating. I'm 5'9" btw.

 lol - If I had a $1 for everytime I heard that...:)