Know Your Ideal Weight

Maybe you need to lose a few pounds. Maybe you need to lose more.

Do you really know your ideal weight? Is it a guess? Is it based on what you looked like in high school? Or a pair of jeans in your closet that you once wore?

I think the first step to reaching a healthy weight is to know that number from a medical or weight loss professional. A doctor can tell you. So can a Registered Dietician. They use the Body Mass Index – a ranking system that considers your height, gender and current weight. For many people who struggle with their weight, the truth can be an eye-opener.

Last week, the American Heart Association released some findings from a study of mothers and children who were either overweight or obese. Obesity is when your BMI exceeds 30. The study showed that nearly half of mothers with overweight and obese children think their children’s weight is normal. In fact, overweight and obese women and children underestimate their own body weight, too.

This is not a big surprise when you consider that two out of three people in America are either overweight or obese. Obesity is an epidemic affecting all age groups. So when everyone around you needs to lose weight, being overweight apparently seems normal.

Researchers documented this at an urban, primary care center in New York City. There, they asked participants how they perceived their body size by using silhouette images of body types that are underweight, normal and overweight. While nearly 82 percent of obese women underestimated their weight, only 13 percent of women whose weight was normal thought they weighed less than they did, according to the study.

The results for children were similar. Eighty-six percent of overweight or obese children underestimated their weight compared to 15 percent of normal weight children.

Maybe overcoming obesity is a matter of education. How can you fix the problem if you don’t know one exists?

Do you know where you rank on the BMI? While it might be discouraging to learn how many pounds you need to lose to reap all the health advantages of maintaining a healthy weight, it’s an important step to being accountable. Once we become accountable for our weight, it’s easier to make the necessary changes to our eating and exercise habits.

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Source: American Heart Association

Alice Warchol is a fitness instructor and freelance health writer.