Worshiping at the altar of the most almighty!!

A recent post on Tagrel got me to thinking (I know it’s a dangerous pastime, but someone’s gotta do it.).

The holy almighty scale can be a very dangerous thing!!

I used to focus on my weight down to the gnat’s hair. I would weigh every day just to see if I was making any progress. I was determined to will that scale to start sliding to the left. But it never did. And that led to therapy(read: eating) for my daily disappointment. It wasn’t until I read “From Chunk To Hunk” (link in my link list) that I finally changed the way I approached “losing” (More on “losing” later) weight. What I finally discovered was that I was too focused on something that in the end doesn’t mean a whole lot…a number on a scale.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. There’s a lot of good use for weighing yourself. When you are as big as I am (340 pounds), that number means a lot. It means that I’m somewhere around 120-160 pounds overweight. More on that range later. In the long term (week-to-week and month-to-month), it is a wonderful indicator that things are changing. In the short term (daily), however, it is almost our own worst enemy. The numbers on the scale can fluctuate several pounds from day to day due to several things…Time of day; how much food(by weight) have we eaten; how much water have we drunk; how much sodium was in the food (AND DRINK) we ate; stress levels; sickness. I could keep going.

One of the things I’ve done lately is to try to cut back on the amount of sodium in my diet (noun, not verb). Not only can excess sodium/salt lead to heart problems, it also causes your body to retain water. If you’ve had a high sodium diet in the last day or so, guess what? You are going to retain water and ultimately weigh more. If you consider that a gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds, it doesn’t take much to make a pound of difference on the scale. Ever heard the phrase "A pint's a pound the whole world 'round"? As another thought, have you ever poured salt on a slug? Imagine what we are doing to our bodies!

In today’s diet(now it’s the verb) crazed world, we’re more focused on what we are doing with our fat than what we’re doing with what’s left behind. I don’t like to look at this process as “losing” weight. One of the definitions of lose is “to undergo deprivation of something of value”. HUH?!?! In that case, I don’t want to lose weight, I want to liberate it. Set it free….to never be found again. So, once the fat is “gone”, what to do with what’s left behind. Of course, what’s left behind is our body. Earlier I said that I am somewhere between 120-160 pounds overweight (190 pounds by some medical recommendations). That’s a 40 pound difference. Is it possible for me to weigh 220 pounds and be perfectly healthy and not be “overweight”? You bet! On the other hand, is it possible to for me to weigh 180 pounds and have all sorts of issues and be “overweight”? Yep again!!!

Now, to the meat of my point!!

Focus more on being healthy, eating healthy and doing things to keep you healthy. Work on adding some muscle. I’d rather be 220 with muscle and little fat than to be 180 with no muscle and MORE fat. Do a search on Body Mass Index (BMI). More and more research is showing that one’s BMI may have a more direct influence on one’s health than weight alone.

So, if the scale moves a little from day to day, SO WHAT!! If you’re big, like me, what’s the scale doing from week-to-week and month-to-month? If you’re not so big (or maybe if you are), do you know what YOUR body should weigh? Is your target weight below where your body NEEDS to be? What are we doing to help our bodies be healthier? Right now, for me, the number on the scale is important. But, over time as I get closer and closer to where MY body should be, that number won’t mater. And I’ll be running with Jonathan Dichter (link in my link list) in the 2009 Walt Disney World ½ Marathon!!!!

Oh, and one other thing….don’t try to lose weight. DO IT. Saying you’re trying, is assuming that you’re probably not going to succeed. So, as NIKE says, JUST DO IT!!!!!

Till next time…Take Care!!