Re: Weight Tied to Breast Cancer

[Guest guest]

Wow, only 20 - 30 lbs increases risk by 40%?! Geez, I weighed MAYBE

105lbs dripping wet when I graduated. So that means 120 might even

be pushing the high end of a healthy weight for me? I've been

thinking that if I got to and stayed at about 120, then I'd probably

be around 130 after menopause. Maybe when I get to 120 again I need

to think about going down another 10 lbs or so? At 120 my BMI is

about 20. At 110 it's closer to 18. Hmmm. Something to think about.

Thanks for the info!

Shanna

>

> The amount of weight a woman gains after age 18 is a strong signal

as to

> whether she will get breast cancer later in life, according to

research

> released yesterday by the American Cancer Society.

>

> In one of the largest studies to date, researchers said older

women who

> gained 20 to 30 pounds after high school graduation were 40 percent

> more likely to get breast cancer than women who kept the weight

off.

>

> The risk doubled if a woman gained more than 70 pounds, said

> Spencer elson, senior epidemiologist with the society.

>

> The cancer society estimates weight contributes to one-third to

one-half

> of all breast cancer deaths among older women.

[Guest guest]

More like 125-135 would be pushing it for you. OTOH, if you were

underweight at 18, as I was, there's no mention of allowing extra weight

because of that factor. At 5'4 " and about 110-112 at 18 years old, I was a

bag of bones. I weigh more now, as a matter of fact, than I did then, even

though then, I could eat anything in any quantity and never gained a pound.

We should try to focus on calories, not weight.

on 2/27/2004 12:58 PM, Shanna at slk2295@... wrote:

> Wow, only 20 - 30 lbs increases risk by 40%?! Geez, I weighed MAYBE

> 105lbs dripping wet when I graduated. So that means 120 might even

> be pushing the high end of a healthy weight for me? I've been

> thinking that if I got to and stayed at about 120, then I'd probably

> be around 130 after menopause. Maybe when I get to 120 again I need

> to think about going down another 10 lbs or so? At 120 my BMI is

> about 20. At 110 it's closer to 18. Hmmm. Something to think about.

>

> Thanks for the info!

> Shanna

[Guest guest]

> We should try to focus on calories, not weight.

Hi Francesca:

Yes!!! But how do we determine exactly how many is just right?

For now my best guess for my own purposes (given that I believe BMI

to be quite unreliable for those with relatively light, or relatively

heavy, bone or muscle mass) is that the ideal level of calories is

that which maintains me at somewhere between 6% and 10% body fat

(MUCH higher for females). It is going to be very interesting to see

what weight that is and what level of calories.

This does make sense after all. If we eat fewer calories we lose

body fat (until we go too far and the body starts, dangerously, to

break down protein to satisfy energy needs). If we eat too many

calories we gain fat, with almost no limit to the upside.

Since we want to minimize caloric intake without danger, surely our

BF% is the measure we need to get right - as low as we can without

depleting it to the extent the body starts burning protein because of

insufficient stored fat.

If I am out to lunch here someone needs to tell me, please.

Dr. Walford does specify 'do-not-go-below' numbers for body fat

percentage.

I guess another piece of information that would be VERY helpful to

those near the lower end of the safe BF% range is the first symptoms

one would see if BF% was too low - and protein was starting to be

burned.

Can anyone here help with that. (It is still at least a year away

for me. Probably two years).

Rodney.