Reviewed by: Tim Pittorino, BHSC
With champagne flowing, Christmas parties in full swing and the New Year is quickly approaching. Many of us are committing, once again, to setting resolutions for achieving better health. Typically this focuses on how much you weigh on the bathroom scales.
The problem is (bare with me on this), scale weight should not be the focus to attaining health.
Priorities
Let’s take a moment to think: Why do we always seem to set our sights on that exact number? Are we genuinely selecting it to improve our health? Is it the weight our favourite movie star is? Or possibly, like so many, do we believe in reaching that weight we’ll be guaranteeing ourselves that finding peace, love and happiness will suddenly appear?
So why can’t we simplify things and set an exact weight goal you may ask.
Human beings are way too complex a species to categorise our health by a simple numerical figure. When it comes to representing ones health, a weight OR a calculation that allocates a number to a person, definitely isn’t fully accurate. In fact one particular study reported that, regardless of exceeding the scientific measures relating to ‘appropriate’ weight when an overweight or obese person had four healthy habits (non-smoker, nil-moderate alcohol intake, 30 minutes of exercise daily, and eating 5 or more servings of vegetables and fruits daily) they still had potentially the same mortality risks as those who were within the recommended range.
A ‘healthy weight’, therefore, really is individual. To put it another way, the weight of a person living a healthy lifestyle is individual.
Your body can be healthy across a wide range of weights.
My non-numerical answer to ‘How much should you weigh’ is simply to say that your “ideal” body weight is the weight that allows you to feel mentally and physically strong and energetic and lets you lead a healthy life absent from nutritionally preventable diseases or a restrictive mindset.
How much you weigh should be just a result of a consistent healthy lifestyle, not the goal to strive for.
Where to start
What if we really don’t know where to start in terms of achieving this healthy lifestyle.
It starts with accepting where we are and the choices we made to get there and then asking for expert guidance. Guidance not by way of cookie cutter ‘healthy diets’ but true guidance on how to intuitively eat for nourishment (with enjoyment) and knowing when you’re satisfied. Learning to balance all aspects of health including movement, nourishment, sleep and connection without feeling stuck in a restricted mindset.
Achieving our ideal health is a journey that takes time. We’ve spent years creating habits and therefore these same habits may take years to change. Slowly but surely, one by one consistency will help get you to that genuine healthy lifestyle AND…that lifestyle will bring you a weight that is your ideal.
If you still want to check the numbers, we have some guidance for you right here
