It's Just a Number

Throughout this weight loss journey, it occurred to me that we tend to get hung up on numbers. My number is 40. That was the waist size I wanted to avoid. Or, when I gained weight, the number I wanted to get under. That number gave me my identity. If my waist size was over 40, too fat. Size 38, doing great. This is an arbitrary number. I have child bearing hips. So, a waist size of 40 gave no indication of my fitness, or even how I looked. I have no idea whether I was overweight when my waist was 40. I was too caught up in the number to be concerned with how I looked. In fact, I look back at pictures when I was younger, and had a waist size of 40, and I can't believe I was that thin. Although I realize this is a false number, I still want to get to a size 38.

Even should I reach size 38, that isn't the telling number anymore. Today, everyone is caught up in BMI. BMI is Body Mass Index. This is determined purely by your height. I have no idea about the science behind this number, but I believe it is bunk. According to whoever came up with this scale, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25. A 6'1" male such as me should be less than 189 pounds. I don't even remember when I weighed 189 pounds. It certainly is not a good indication for athletic people that are muscular. Perhaps when I get anywhere close to that number I will reevaluate and determine BMI is a proper index.

The numbers that I am most interested in is blood pressure and cholesterol. I also pay attention to my percentage of fat. I would like to get this number under 22%. I am a long way away right now. It will be interesting to see whether BMI and body fat are comparable numbers. I will certainly let you know.