As I've lost weight and passed various milestones along the way - i.e. 50lbs down, 100lbs down, one that I've really been looking forward to is getting into the Overweight BMI category instead of Obese. That happened officially today with my weigh in this morning!! I'm simply "overweight" now! I know, strange things to get excited about, but it is exciting.
And it's also rather concerning. I think as a society our perceptions have become extremely skewed. For example, just a couple weeks ago I started wearing size 12s, was under 200 lbs and had someone ask me if I was going to continue to lose more, that I looked great. At the same time I was considered obese by all measurement standards, whether it's BMI, weight tables, hip to waist measurements, etc! It's like a wake up call to me that all the years of convincing myself that I was healthy when I'd lost just 10% of my weight (WW and all the talk shows tell you how 10% makes such a huge difference but don't mention that 10% on a very heavy person may not really make that much of a difference overall), or that I'd be happy and healthy if I ended up in a regular 12 or 14 clothes - was all in making myself feel better about the way I was and justifying it to make it okay to stay that way. I now know that it's all crap! And that as a society we concurrently condemn those who are overweight and obese and yet at the same time justify that it's okay and healthy to make ourselves feel better. How screwed up is that?
So, according to SparkPeople, I have 31.2 more pounds to lose to get into a 'healthy' category. That has been where I've set my goal all along, however I realize now that it's not like I'm going to get to that and suddenly stop what I'm doing! In fact, I'll likely be able to do even more with my body at that point. I'm not depriving myself - I'm eating healthy. I'm not working out like crazy - I'm doing a 60 minute class once a day plus one day I also do a yoga class. Sometimes I go for walks with Izzie. None of those are things that I'm going to suddenly change when I hit that imaginary 'healthy' goal category. This is my life now, and my goal is to get into the healthiest shape inside and out for my body - and where that ends up will be the 'right' place. Sounds simple, doesn't it? in many ways I think it is and I almost don't believe that I'm saying that! Had I met myself today a year ago, I might have thought I was crazy :)
Jackie, you really nailed it on the head. The idea of the 10% stems from the fact that initially doctors would tell you that if you were more than 10% above your ideal weight that you were overweight. So if your ideal weight was 150 lbs and you weighed 165 lbs you were classified as overweight. If you weighed 180 lbs you would be 20% over your ideal weight and therefore clinically obese as per the definition of obese on medicinenet.com. So when the well meaning media told you to lose 10% of your weight to reach your ideal weight, that was misleading, especially if you were well over 30% or more overweight. Very misleading indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe fashion industry many years ago changed the standard sizing. A 14 became a 12, a 12 became a 10 and so on. Women wanted to be a smaller size, so the fashion industry obliged. When I was 21 and getting married, I wore a size 10 and weighed 140 lbs. When I was 25 I wore a size 14 and weighed 160 lbs. But something strange has happened.... because now at 41 I weigh 167 lbs and I can almost put on a size 12. That means that I shouldn't be striving to fit a size 10 at all, gosh darnnit, I should be aiming to fit a size 8!!! I've never worn an 8 in my memory of wearing clothing!!!
See the link for the story of the wool being pulled over our eyes: http://www.wesh.com/money/10832341/detail.html