Healthy vs ideal weight

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Healthy vs ideal weight
11
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 8:43am

Is your ideal weight different from maintaining a healthy weight?






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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-02-2003
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 10:02am
I think so. My healthy weight is about 130 and my ideal weight is 120. I am somewhere in the middle about 126. I really think as much as I work out and work, I need the extra calories to keep me healthy. When I diet and my weight goes down I feel it, I get lethargic and sometimes even can get the flu. I talk to people sometimes who just don't have to eat as much and they work out so they are very thin. I don't understand it, and I know if I don't eat enough I get sick.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 10:11am

With all that I have gone through in the last year, it's become abundantly clear that the ideal weight and healthy weight are not the same thing for me. I have been doing my best to let go of having emotions attached at all to whatever my weight is. Obviously, I'm not there yet as DH is still weighing me and I haven't peeked. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

I am working on finding a size/weight where I feel happy and okay with myself... regardless of what the scale says.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 10:18am

for me, they are SO not the same.


maintaining healthy weight is easy for me. though it would be very hard for a lot of people to live the lifestyle i live to maintain a healthy weight, for instance

Avatar for soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 10:53am
I agree w/ Jen about them not being the same thing. They were vastly different for me as a dancer, were a little different when I entered the real world but now, many years later, have run into what is surely a rather unique problem - I have no proposed 'ideal' or 'healthy' weight. Wonderful for me that I have, after a lifestime of self-hatred & poor self-esteem, reached a point where I really don't care about the numbers. Unfortunately I think it's impacted me in some negative ways as a pro. How do I assist clients in setting quantative goals, which maybe one of the best tools for working towards a positive lifestyle change for some, when I have no use for the simplest one - weight. Yes, I do measurements, BF% (for a rare few), encourage lifestyle goals but the average person looks at weight before anything else. Clients want to know what would be healthy weight for them & I can no longer confidently answer this particular question. I try to shift their focus & am successful the most part, but when everyone's had all the weight related stuff pounded into their brains all of their lives they still hang on to the idea of setting weight related goals.
Soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 11:21am

that reminds me, i should be more precise about how i speak about healthy vs. ideal weight. i don't have specific numbers for any of these concepts. what i was referring to when i said "healthy weight" or "ideal weight" was a visual of how much fat and muscle i can see (and pinch) on my body. in fact, if it weren't for dietpower (which requires a weight to work correctly), i'd rarely weigh myself.


so i should really be more clear and say "healthy size" and "ideal size"... i know that when i eat and exercise in a manner that is effortless for me, i know by how i look that i am within a healthy range. i can double check my instincts by getting on a scale and calculating BMI, but that is really secondary to me. i also know that to look how i want to look is nearly impossible - that is what i was calling my "ideal weight" even though i don't know what my actual weight would be if i looked like that. i can guess, but the number itself doesn't mean anything to me. the visible six-pack and lack of bingo arms is what matters to me.


likewise, when i calculated where i am now, i wasn't thinking about the number, i was thinking something along the lines of "still no visible stomach muscles, but only a small pinchable roll below the bellybutton... still have bingo arms, but some definition around the shoulders and biceps..."


i've never been motivated by weight goals, i'm motivated by vanity!!! who's going to care (or even know) if i weigh 110 pounds? but if i have a six pack, well-defined shoulders and back, a smooth butt with a nicely defined curve at the bottom, and no bingo arms, then THAT will look hot!! as i said a few weeks ago, if i looked like jennifer garner, i wouldn't care if the scale said i weighed 300 lbs.

Avatar for soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 11:29am

Bingo arms...I love that!

Gosh, wouldn't we all like to look like Jennifer Garner. But you hit the nail dead on the head here. That's precisely the problem w/ the focus some people have on weight - they can't see the truth in the mirror because they're blinded by the numbers on the scale. And hey, Jen, there's nothing wrong w/ a little vanity. We wouldn't be human w/o it.

So, are you getting all one shade or high & low lights? Hope it turns out great!

Soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 11:50am

one shade. i'm so over two process hair color, that's why i'm dyeing back to brown. well, one reason.

Avatar for soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 12:12pm
Yeah, >>>sigh<<< she's even got great hair. Good luck w/ the colour & good on you for venturing into uncharted territory w/ your new chosen colour.
Soleilune
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 12:34pm

That's a better way to put it--a healthy size vs. ideal size.


Mine is different. When I gained weight when we moved, I was still healthy but it was much higher than I'd like to be.






iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Fri, 02-11-2005 - 12:46pm
yes, that makes sense - good point actually! even when i was much smaller, i also still wanted to be smaller. so i see your point.

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