Rodney

Agreed. I figure that I'm about 25 pounds over my ideal weight -- but if you went by a weight chart alone, you'd think I'd have to lose much more. That's because I've been lifting weights forever and carry a lot of extra muscle. For a woman, 5'8" , 155 pounds, with a lot of muscle is healthy. You may be carrying 10-15 pounds (or more) of muscle than the average woman.

Other factors are involved, too. My wife is 5'4", and in her youth a doctor told her that 150 pounds or so was her target weight, because her frame is heavy and broad. Her bones are very, very, thick. I'm eight inches taller and male, and her wrists are the same diameter as mine!

I have seen people lose muscle as well as fat when dieting, because they weren't careful or were obsessive about weight and didn't care if it was fat or muscle -- all weight was bad. Some people try to shape up, change their diet, and start exercising, and freak out when they gain a couple of pounds from weight training. But that's "good" weight, and frankly makes you more attractive -- shapes the body, changes the proportions in a good way , and so on.

When I first started weight training seriously, I put on about 15 pounds in six months -- and not all of it was muscle. But a few people actually asked me if I'd lost weight -- because much of the new weight was in my chest and shoulders and so made my upper body larger in proportion to my lower body.