Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Choosing Your Ideal Weight

There are several things to remember about your ideal weight.

First, it is a number that YOU should choose. There may be lists, charts and guidelines for your ideal weight based on your height, but those are only tools to help you make your own weight goals. There is nothing wrong with being a few pounds over what a list says you should weigh as long as it is a weight that you are completely happy with. Your body type and shape is different from everyone else's, so do not expect yourself to fall perfectly into the 50th percentile. 

Secondly, your health matters more than your weight. There are a lot of unhealthy, skinny people out there. If you focus more on health and less on weight loss, you will likely lose more weight! Weight loss is a natural result of healthy lifestyle decisions. On the other hand, starving yourself is bad for you, no matter what size you are. 

Thirdly, try to appreciate your body type and shape instead of hating your curves (or lack of them). Do not expect that weight loss in itself will make you love your body. Even when you lose weight, you likely will still have physical characteristics that you love and hate. They all are your God-given features, so at least accept them as part of who you are. 

Finally, do not compare yourself to others, whether friends, siblings or movie stars. This is an issue for most women and some men. Only a few women in the world look like models, but the rest of us are beautiful as well! And if we spend our time trying to be someone else, we miss out on our own life, beauty, talent and purpose. 

In your weight loss journey, it may be more effective to make goals for clothing size or waist size instead of pounds. Or select goals based on exercise instead of your weight (such as jogging 3 miles or exercising 40 minutes per day). Don't let the number of your weight become an obsession because it can fluctuate daily. Instead, weigh yourself once per week or less. Focus more on what you are doing to improve your health than the numbers on your scale. As you become healthier, you will feel great physically! And the weight will come off as a result (and stay off)! 

1 comment:

  1. In order to successfully lose weight you need to identify the triggers that are causing your weight gain. And a great tool to use to find out where your biggest weight loss challengers occur is to put together a weight loss plan "goal sheet" that allows you to plan out your diet and fitness goals. This plan gives you the opportunity to stay focused on your weight loss goals because you have a guide of how your going to reach those goals, and it also allows you to pinpoint those areas where you fall short. For example; one of my biggest challenges is over eating at night, so I was able include other things that I could focus on at night so I didn't overeat.

    ReplyDelete