Body type, physical fitness?

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For the first ten years of my life I spent a lot of time outside, playing. (Climbing trees, scurrying up and down hills, playing tag, baseball, chase, etc.). I was initially a sickly kid who they fed tonics to get me to eat more, and made lay in the sun to get more vitamin D. Once I got past that, I was an extremely chubby and over-fed kid (first ten years era).

We moved to a very harsh climate when I was about 10, and so I rarely went outside. I was about 5'2" and 120lbs at 12. Once I had my growth spurt, I became very tall and very thin - about 5'10" and 115 pounds when I left home at 21.

Thirty years later I'm between 5"10 and 5'11" and weigh in at around 170 lbs. (After dropping a few years ago down from 220+ pounds). If I drop below 165 I become ill (I've done this a few times as an adult), so I think I'm probably where I oughta be. Having lost the weight late in life has left me with some interesting extras I'd as soon not have, but that's the breaks.

I do, when the weather is cooler, hit the gym two to three times a week, but do nothing extreme. I do a little treadmill and use some of the weight machines. I also take a yoga class and am considering a defensive martial arts class but am not sure what kind to look for. I want something defensive that would help with my coordination, but I don't want something where I have to scream and like kick out at people or anything.

Right now it's too hot to handle much of any of them, other than some hand weights and yoga at home under the A/C. I have noticed, though, that if I do much physical exercise at all I get some decent muscle definition very quickly and drop weight rapidly. Don't know if that's good or bad, but it's what happens.

I'd rather be a big, strong, cuddly, healthy oval than look like a female model.

Sid

I quite agree; I'd rather be able to go out with friends or family to get some pizza every once in awhile without counting every single last calorie and in the end only satisfying yourself with salad. I'm definitely not the type that could only live off of salad most days. Anyways, running helps me have a stronger heart, mental strength, a stronger body, plus a faster metabolism. Maybe female models will in the future look like female runners! lol I'd say the best way to keep yourself in shape is to get involved in a physical activity and get involved in that community that likes that activity; it can also help build your social life plus have a better shot at keeping you healthy.

For decades, I have been bothered that I didn't fit the tall, slim, muscular build of pro athletes. Now as I lose more weight and gain muscle tone, I appreciate myself more. But here's the rub. I absolutely hate the way my face looks in the mirror. Detest my reflection. Acne scars, too round a face, ears stick out. Charlie Brown face, baby gorilla body.

Age 25, 5'6 tall, weight 140lbs. Body type ecto-meso

I used to run marathons but haven't done any for a few years now.
My weekly training consists of:
5 sessions of kickboxing including one really heavy session of full contact sparring
Cycling between 20 and 30 miles.
Running a few miles a couple of times
Visiting the gym for an hour between 2 and 4 times (depends on my schedule)

I'm still coming back from injury (ankle snapped in a few places) so i'd like to do more, but right now I don't want to push myself too hard as i'm still not quite 100%.

Exercising the way I do I can be pretty relaxed with what I eat as i burn off any excess calories pretty easily. I tend to eat fairly cleanly, though my big treat which I indulge in far too often is chocolate, can't get enough of it.

I'm 28, 1.79 m (~5'10") and around 65 kg (140-145 lbs). No idea what my body fat %-age is, but I suspect it's just under 20. I look skinny on my arms and legs, yet I have too much fat around my waist and the torso in general.

My upper body is pathetically weak. My legs aren't terribly powerful either, except for my calves, which seem to be able to handle pretty decent loads.

Right now, almost all of my exercise is in the form of cycling. Unless I have a cold or I'm otherwise ill, I will ride almost every day, if only the short (7 km one way, always at very high intensity throughout!) commute to and from the university. My training rides are either short (<50 km/30 miles) and high to very high intensity, or longer and lower intensity. Some days, I go out for specific training, such as hill repeats or high-intensity intervals. Quite often, I ride with my bike club, either for shorter (40-60 km) local rides or distance rides at a slower pace (often 100+ km at maybe 25-27 km/h).

During the summer, and more specifically, in July, I had very little time to ride during the day, so instead I did night rides on my singlespeed bike through the central parts of the city. I loved that, not only because of the cooler temps at night, but also that it was much calmer and quieter with less traffic!

So far this year, I've accumulated 5103 km (~3170 miles) of riding, with 3.5 months left to ride! I'm aiming for somewhere around 7000 km total by the end of the year. My singlespeed commuter bike will be equipped with studded tyres, so that will be my winter bike. On days with dry roads and temps above freezing (quite common here during the winter), I'll use my pure road bike for distance training. When it's too miserable to ride outside (I have a mild case of Raynaud's), I'll use my trainer (resistance unit that you attach a regular bike to), but I won't be counting those miles, of course.

When not cycling, I try to run. Very infrequently, unfortunately. I love running, and although it's so easy to just change into my running gear and head out, I mostly tend to go for a bike ride instead... I'm not a fast runner, but my cycling has provided me with a decent stamina. My fifth time out running (started running late last year), I did 12 km in just over one hour, and was far from exhausted when I stopped. My body wasn't quite ready to run that far, though, so I got a stress fracture in one of the metatarsals in my right foot during that run. The pain it caused was what forced me to stop running that time. I've learned from that mistake, so I've started running short distances to build up my body to handle the stresses better. Over time, I'll run farther and farther, and I expect to be back to running 10 km late this year. I might attempt an annual half-marathon held in my city in May. If my 12-km run is any indication, I should be able to finish in just under two hours. We'll see...

I'm 5'4", and a UK size 14/16. I have no clue how much I weigh - we don't possess a set of scales - but as long as my clothes fit me and I feel healthy, I'm happy. There's far too much importance placed on women being thin; different people are built differently.

Just for the record, I work on a farm. I cycle three miles there, and spend my day hand weeding and harvesting by hand, including potatoes (it's an organic property, so we don't just ride around on tractors all day ), weighing and packing the produce, stacking it all and loading it onto the van, which involves manhandling 25 kilo sacks. then I cycle three miles home again...

I think I'm fairly fit.

I'm reasonably fit and fairly strong, and I ain't got much fat on me, so I think I'm doing alright.

Although I'm not that strong yet... and I hope to become quite strong in the future for my Tae Kwon Do... I want to become a badass, man. lol
Nah I just want to be able to defend myself well if I were ever in a confrontation. The skill itself will be much more important than strength...
lol sorry for babbling.

Dead and rotting.

If you frequently do rides of 100 km or more, I find it hard to believe that you can keep much fat at all on you. But I'm sure if you did a little weight lifting to balance off all the cardio, you could take off the fat, or at least make it appear to be very minimal.

I'm thinking about getting a road bike some time in the spring when I have a good income going. I've never done road biking, but I'd like to get into it. Lemond's Buenos Aires looks like a bike I might want to get. I have a feeling that with the new job I'm going to be getting, I'll be finding a new and greater need for ever more cardio exercise (an IT job--very little physical activity). Plus, I used to be a big time runner. I kind of miss the cardio and being super fit in that aspect. I remember at one point I had a resting heart rate of 44 bpm.

I'm 5'9" 135lbs. Pretty much skinny-average. Bad shape though, I smoke and my excercise consists of like 10 push ups a week. Plus I eat terrible food. My metabolism owns.

5'6ish slender and flexable

Very horribly out of shape

I'm about 5'4" and 5'5", and weigh about 160-170

In my defense though, I recently moved in to a place and got a roomate and so I don't walk to work everyday like I used to.
I was about 130-135 pds. This was about 6-7 mths ago.

And I am supposed to have quit smoking, and so I started stress eating (/overeating). And eating lots of sugary stuff, which I wasn't before.

I got upset last week cause my roomate ate all the frozen blueberry waffles and didn't leave one for me so I got mad and went to the gas station and bought a pack
I need to get myself back into shape though.

I'm curvy and chubby. I'm fitter than average - nowhere near athlete level, but I can do vigorous exercise for extended periods without a problem.

My body is slowly taking shape even though I don't exercise everyday. My stomach is flattening and my arms are starting to maintain a bulge.

I'm 5'10'' and weigh 165lbs.

i'm very thin but i never, ever work out i hate sports
my american relatives have asked me if i'm anorexic but over here my body type is average so it doesen't attract any attention at all