HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU WEIGH?
Basal Metabolism | Weight Gain
This is a really loaded question. There isn't a should. First of all, people have different body types, frames and metabolic rates. But there are some averages. Once again, keep in mind this isn't a requirement.
These are the figures in the 50th percentile, meaning that half the boys in the country are larger and half are smaller.
Age 11, average height is 4'-8, average weight 78 lbs.
Age 12, average height is 4'-9, average weight 88 lbs.
Age 13, average height is 5'-1, average weight 100 lbs.
Age 14, average height is 5'-3, average weight 110 lbs.
Age 15, average height is 5'-7, average weight 120 lbs.
Age 16, average height is 5'-9, average weight 135 lbs.
Age 17, average height is 5'-9, average weight 142 lbs.
Age 18, average height is 5'-9, average weight 148 lbs.
Age 19, average height is 5'-9, average weight 155 lbs.
Age 20, average height is 5'-9, average weight 155 lbs.
Taken from a Center from Disease Control chart, which can be found at http://128.248.232.56/CDCGrowth/presentation/slide30.htm
Oddly enough, the average man in America today is 5'-9", which is a shock, because I've don't know anyone that small that isn't from the third world. But, if you look at averages, for each man who is 5'-0 there is one who's 6'-6, since averaged together you get 5'-9. So much for statistics...
Looking at this chart, if you are, for example, fourteen and 5'-3 and weigh 85 pounds, you know there's a problem, though. Similarly, if you're 16 and 5'-9 and you weigh 260, there's a problem as well. So you can use the chart in that way.
How do you know how much to eat in the course of a day?
This is dependent on what's called the basal metabolic rate. That's the amount of kilocalories (kcal or cal.) you need for the most basic functions, respiration, cardiac function, etc.. If you didn't do anything other than lay in a bed all day and night, this is how much your body would need to remain alive.
HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR BASAL METABOLISM
Women - Multiply your weight in pounds by 9.817. Example: A 130 lb. woman
burns approximately 1,276 calories every 24 hours to keep the body alive and
functioning properly (130 X 9.817 = 1276).
Men - Multiply your weight in pounds by 10.908. Example: A 190 lb. man
burns approximately 1,963 calories during resting metabolism (basal metabolism)
every 24 hours (180 X 10.908).
http://www.ensureyoursuccess.net/basalmetabolism.html
Okay. So, let's say you weigh 130 pounds and you're a guy, you need 1,418 calories a day FOR BASAL METABOLISM ONLY.
That just keeps you alive.
Now, if you want to do anything else, like study, sleep, skateboard, have sex, whatever, you need more.
About thirty percent more minimum for a fairly sedentary lifestyle.
Studying, chatting on the internet... thinking about sex... you'd need a minimum of 1800 calories per day...
If you have a fairly active lifestyle, bucking hay, working from sun to sun in a foundry, etc., you will need considerably more. The average American man in 1946 consumed 3,000 calories (Life Magazine, January 7, 1946, p. 21). In fact, Americans were shocked and horrified to find out that in France, the consumption of food per day dropped to 1800 calories. People starved in the concentrations camps on 900 calories a day. (Check out the Slim Fast diet, which is about 50 calories less than concentration camp victims were given…makes you think, doesn't it?)
Generally, girls in the 13-to-15-year-old group require about 2,200 calories a day, while boys need about 2,800; in the 16-to-18-year-old group, girls require about 2,100 calories daily and boys need about 3,200. (To provide for the accelerated growth of adolescence, the typical teenager requires more calories than an adult of the same size and comparable activity level.)
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/texts/guide/hmg08_0004.html
Actually, anorexia nervosa affects about six percent of the young women in the country, but one to three percent of sufferers are adolescent boys. That's a figure that means relatively nothing.
The High Cost of Staying Thin.
So what does it really mean to be underweight over the long term?
WEIGHT GAIN
Put mayonaise on everything. A tablespoon of mayonnaise adds a cool 90 calories to anything you eat.
Salad dressing is just souped-up mayonnaise.
Avoid anything that says low-fat like the plague. Fat is good for you. It gives you good skin and coat, and helps with neuro-transmitter functioning.
Don't drink milk when you can have a milkshake. Hard to use a milkshake on cereal, though...
Relax before you eat.
Eat slowly.
Be careful what you discuss at dinner, and with whom. Dinner time is not the time to work over current events, your breakup with some girl, or your grades. If the people you dine with insist on talking about unsavory crap at the table, or, worse yet, fighting, eat elsewhere if you can.
Don't eat in front of the television or the computer unless you intend to snack over a long period of time.
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