Beck – Happy Zone
Oh dear. Sloth had a melt down this morning. Let’s discuss what happened shall we? I have been feelin’ myself lately. I’ve shrunk out of most of my pants. The ones that I haven’t completely shrunk out of fit loose and kind of comfortable now. My shirts are baggy. I can visibly see the change in me. I’ve gotten to the point that I like to look nice.
By look nice I mean I’ll spread my make up over my face, brush my hair and teeth and put on matching clothes. Not my socks… baby steps people. Baby steps. That takes so much more effort than I’m willing to expend. All my socks are black that’s good enough. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, I feel pretty darn good about myself. Why shouldn’t I? I lost the equivalent of a toddler in weight so far. I’m happy!
Now being in my happy zone I went to work. I got there at 6 when I’m supposed to be there. My boss however missed the memo. On time is something she never is. So I sat in my car playing on Facebook. Suddenly, I had a brilliant idea! It was a stroke of genius I tell you! Google the healthy weight chart and see where you fall on it! And so I did…
Obesity Meltdown
First thing, there is about a million of them and none of them really agree on where the lines fall. Okay… so what am I looking at here… just give me the quick answer I’m looking for, my boss does usually get here by 6:20 am. I found it.
I put my finger on my height and I traced it over to my current weight… 204 pounds. Obese. Well… darn. Okay but did I start out as something else and come down to obese? Nope. I’ve been obese for a very long time or so this chart says. I will continue to be obese until I reach 185. When I weigh in at 185 pounds I’ll simply be overweight.
Excuse me for a moment. I must throw a little temper tantrum. And I did… Why? Why is there like 10 spaces for obese and only like 6 for overweight? What characterizes overweight versus obese? Why is NOTHING clear? At this point, when I’m feeling a bit disgruntled to say the least… my boss shows up. I have to work.
Is The Chart Really Important?
Now before I changed my mind on what was important in this situation, this bit of bad news would have sent me to the taco place for the two taco Tuesday… Yup… all thoughts of diet woulda been see ya. It’s impossible anyway! Let’s just call the whole thing off! Ice cream shots for everybody! Yay!
No, that is counter productive and even the Sloth knows it. So I stuck to my diet and ate only my food today with the resolve that I was gonna revisit that chart when I got home from work. I got home and googled again. I found the chart I originally looked at. Low and behold, it was for a weight loss clinic. Had I had the time this morning I would have read where the image originated. Anything that comes from a place selling a diet, I take with a grain of salt and move on.
Healthy Weight
Many moons ago Ki and I had a discussion on BMI but it was so long ago that I can’t remember if either of us found a suitable answer to this problem. And so…I continue to Google and found a chart for women over 40. I am 40 and therefore I qualify for this chart. According to that chart I will just be overweight when I hit 190 pounds. Well thanks for that, that seems like a very doable goal.
Then there was one that went by body frame. How does one measure body frame you ask? You take a measuring tape and wrap it around your wrist. My wrist measures almost 7 inches. Now you must look at another chart. So I have an almost 7 inch wrist and I am 5 feet 7 inches tall. I look on yet another chart and I move over from “Woman over 5 feet 5 inches tall” slot to the slot that says “greater than 6.5 inches” for the wrist and my frame is large. Great! I have a large frame… now I go back to another chart to find out what my ideal weight is. Yippie!! My ideal weight is between 143 and 163 pounds according to this chart.
Conclusion
It was around this point that the Sloth in me said “Umm, what was the point in this exercise in futility? Did you learn anything? Do you feel better?” The answer is yes. I did learn something. I learned that I need to stop looking for a sign that says “You are on the right path” and start enjoying the saggy butt in the jeans. Do I feel better? yes. Yes I do. I feel like I’ve come to the understanding with myself that no chart is going to be able to tell me if I am doing the right or wrong thing. Like so many things where diets and health is concerned, there is no definitive source that will give me the answer.
I have decided that since there is no great and powerful Oz in this scenario, I’m going to discuss it with my doctor. You know the medical professional that spent a bazillion years studying the body? She may not have the answers I seek, but she can at least tell me the weight I should make my ultimate goal.
I hope this little insight into my stressors helps you in some way. Perhaps you are feeling the same. Just as lost and feeling around in the dark as I am. The more information we acquire, the more we will post. In the mean time, you’ll get a look into our heads from time to time.
Until next time, take care of yourself and others.
Beck
P.S. If you’d like Ki’s free weight loss progress chart to use for yourself, just submit your name and email in the box at the upper right hand side of this page and it’ll take you to your own free copy.
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Such an interesting story to be honest. I loved reading through the whole article. It is always interesting to read other person daily life and how they think and their thoughts and stuff. I actually learned a lot from your article which is full of lessons if you see it in the right way.
Thank you for writing this article and sharing it with us.
Sujandar,
You are welcome! That’s our point here. Struggle and hopefully get a giggle out triumphs and failures as well.
See you next time,
Beck
I have to say that I expected more exercise routines etc when I visited your site tonight. But I am glad I did visit because you made me laugh and to think more balanced about weight loss. I get frustrated often and all those guides that tell me what my ideal weight make me feel like I will never be ideal.
I am looking forward to checking out more of your site but I just had to tell you how much better your post on trivial Tuesday made me feel. I used to be more fit but the last few years I have felt like a sloth too… Thanks for the encouragement to move forward…
Raymond, Thank you so much for your kind words. It means a lot to me to know that my rambling mind helps other people on their journey. I hope you stick around and follow along. It is frustrating but hopefully we can laugh and learn some things together.
From one Sloth to another, you are awesome!
Beck
Hi Raymond,
Thank you for the feedback! It’s always motivating to be reminded that we’re not on this journey alone and it’s great to see that we’ve been able to reach out to someone else on the journey. You’re absolutely right, we do need to get some more exercise routines on our site and share what we’re doing with others. We will do better with this going forward!
Regular exercise is very important and we’ve even written about that. I think we’re just now really able to say that we’ve implemented regular exercise into our own journeys and are starting to experiment with different work out plans. So we’ll definitely add to this area on our site in the near future. I’ve got some ideas for some exercise plans to try.
Thank you for the recommendation!
~Ki
Hey Dear,
I am 6’5″ tall and was 181 lbs. My doctor who I trust set me the goal of dropping pounds to be between 108 and 148. She also put me with a dietitian. I was Severely Vitamin-D deficient then. The diet for me was changing from vegetarian to pescatarian, eating high fiber foods, controlling portions, eating nuts for snacks and adding lots of greens to my meal to fill the stomach. She put exercise on my routine. I followed her recommendations strictly and religiously.
After 21/2 years I was 148 lbs with no dieting and still maintaining that kind of level for another 2 years. I never could lose any more though.
I agree, it is so confusing to find where you are with your age, height, weight and BMi and what not, it makes you feel I would not care. Good you have some solution to find your ideal body weight which will help everyone.
Thank you for sharing an very useful article.
Anusuya,
I’m so glad your journey has been a positive experience! Thank you for reading and sharing your journey!
Beck