I think most people know about BMI (the body mass index AKA Quetelet index), which was created in the 1800's by a guy named Adolphe Quetelet. Body mass index is the individual's body weight divided by the square of his or her height. The calculated number is then compared to a standardized values to predict if someone is underweight, normal, overweight or obese.
There are some pretty obvious problems with this method but I think the biggest is that it doesn't consider muscle mass.
There are other methods of determining true fat mass to muscle mass ratio. I'm not going to go into detail about them, but in on of my courses I had some methods completed on me. I am apparently overweight, both according to BMI and according to the actual fat mass recommendations.
Click here to calculate your BMI.
I always sort of new by these classification I would be considered overweight, but I guess I didn't want to accept it. There are a lot of people out there that say being overweight is always bad. But I disagree. I am healthy. I eat pretty well, I exercise pretty regularly (even if it's not always super intense) and I am happy with my body (though I know I could lose some weight and gain some muscle). So I wonder if the people that argue that you have to fit perfectly into the "healthy" range understand that health for some people isn't just about fitting into these standards.
I personally find that when I try to loss weight I become too obsessed with thinking about food and what I'll eat next. I really don't think the extra 10lbs or so that is putting me in the overweight section is worth me fighting my body and my hunger. I also don't think the extra 10 lbs I'm carrying around is going to dramatically change my health. I can still go outside and run for an hour if I want without panting, I can still do all the things I love to do. So why is there such a big stigma attached to carrying some extra weight around?
Kelly Clarkson's been getting some attention because of her weight gain over the last few years.
Before:
After:
I think it's sad that someone who is in the spotlight gets so much negative attention for something like this. She has obviously gained some weight, but I think that is something that typically happened when someone goes from being about 18 (when she got famous) to almost 30. Maybe people shouldn't gain weight as they get older, but I think they typically do. Why is the public so disgusted if it happens to someone who is famous when it so often happens to us "regular people"? I personally think she still looks great. I imagine at some point she will probably end up losing some of the weight too.
This is what she has to say about it:
“I work out when I want to work out; I don’t work out when I don’t want to work out. After a long day and I’m tired, yeah, a cookie helps. It makes me feel good. It’s soul food! There’s a reason why it’s called that. I drop, like, 15 pounds when I’m on tour.” (from Entertainment Weekly)
Just because I don't think being overweight is bad, doesn't mean I don't agree that if you are living an unhealthy lifestyle you shouldn't strive to change it. Just like I don't mean that being very obese should be acceptable, simply because there are many health condition associated with carrying excess weight. But I do think that it is important to feel our best and not to let societies standards, and even scientific standards decide what our best is for us.
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