Did you know that last week was National Healthy Weight Week?
Me either.
But now that I know, it brings up an interesting question: What's the difference between a "healthy" weight and an "ideal" weight? I'm not talking medical ideal here -- I'm talking that "magic number" many of us have kept in our heads for years. Maybe it's the weight you were in high school. Maybe it's the weight you were on your wedding day. Maybe it's your best friend's weight or your sister's weight or the weight your mom always tells you she was at your age.
For too many of us, it seems, getting back to a particular weight is how we define moving forward in our lives.
As many of my longtime readers of Fit In Real Life know, I spent a year obsessed with the scale when I wrote the 2007 Weight-Loss Diary column for Shape magazine. As part of that process, I had to set a goal weight for myself. Though I thought about using the weight I was in high school as a marker, I snapped out of it when I remembered that that particular weight was fueled by fear, anxiety and a mild eating disorder. So I set a slightly heavier, but definitely healthier goal for myself.
What do I weigh today? I have no idea...and I intend to keep it that way.
My new definition of personal ideal isn't a magic number, but a magic question: How do I feel today?
Check out what the folks over at the Healthy Weight Network have to say about ideal weights. And tomorrow, instead of stepping on the scale and asking, "How much do I weigh?", try looking in the mirror and asking, "How do I feel?"
The answer might just surprise you.
Great question. We sometimes have unrealistically high expectations- and determining how healthy we are by how we feel is the best factor. Thanks for the link to the Healthy Weight Network!
Posted by: Sagan | 01/26/2009 at 09:06 AM
no magic number here. First of all, with my past, weighing isnt a very good idea (well, weighing and actually paying attention or caring what the number is) but also, Ive found it doesnt make a difference. One day Ill feel really bloated and come in weighing less than the last time i weighed and felt "thinner." My weight seems arbitrary- but its probably because i only weigh about once a month, just out of curiousity.
Kelly Turner
www.everygymsnightmare.com
Posted by: Kelly Turner | 01/26/2009 at 10:21 AM
Oh, such wonderful advice!!!! I spent SO MANY years trying to get the number on the scale to go lower, lower, and lower still. Until I ended up with Anorexia.
Now, I go by how I feel. 'Course, with two young kids, I mostly feel tired, lol!
Posted by: Alyssa | 01/26/2009 at 08:47 PM
Hi Dara,
I think that's a great question - "How do I feel?". I'm of the belief, anyway, that weight can vary and a higher number isn't always a bad number. Answering this as a guy, I bounce back and forth on the scale issue - sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. What's more important - the question you've asked - and another one I use - how are my clothes fitting (like right now, my pants are a little tighter - time to put down the cookies and get outside and run)(wait...I wish it would just warm up a bit first!)(how's that for making excuses??)
Posted by: Lance | 01/27/2009 at 05:23 AM
Thanks, Sagan.
Kelly, weight does seem arbitrary, which is all the more reason not to assign it much importance. It's just one measure of a person's overall health picture. Alyssa, I've been there on the number-lowering campaign -- and thanks for the giggle with the "tired" comment. Lance, as always, I appreciate the male perspective...and for the record, I'm so looking forward to spring's warmer days :-).
Posted by: Dara Chadwick | 01/28/2009 at 06:06 AM