In the country I grew up in, rice is life. It’s a staple. Hence, it’s part of every meal on the table from breakfast to dinnertime. Some afternoon snacks are even made out of sticky rice, that’s how much we love it!
Carbo-loading is every Filipino’s favourite activity over the dining table, next to endless chitchat and catching up, or maybe a bit of karaoke, most likely during special occasions.
Despite this reality, they say Asian people are tiny people. But that doesn’t mean we’re a healthy bunch, which brings us to the topic of this post – our healthy body weight!
Ask anyone from our culture, and they will surely say that we tend to use as a greeting our assessment of a person’s body weight if they gained or lost since we last saw them. It may sound awful to some, but that’s how we show our deep connection with others, by caring about their overall health as evident in their physique.
Anyhow, let’s talk about what seems to be a dreaded subject for some of us.
Though I did not struggle with severe weight issues growing up and all the way to adulthood, I knew that I may not be in tiptop shape when my health issues came. Though far from being an expert in the subject, I dare say that I’ve developed a deep friendship with it over the years as I tried to lead a healthy life.
What is your body weight?
They say that your body weight is not the end-all and be-all of your overall health. True. It’s but one piece in the large pie of our wellness journey. However, it’s still an important one and we cannot completely ignore it in our fitness goals.
Though the figure that will show on the scale may differ from person to person and in every stage of life, keeping it to a general healthy range is still key to knowing if you are truly well or not.
Nevertheless, what this tells us is that knowing your body weight and keeping it in check will help us in the long run and it surely doesn’t hurt to make it part of our broad health targets.
Ideal weight
Though there are a plethora of sources that will provide standard figures for body weight, it’s truly difficult to set an ideal weight for every person. We are created quite uniquely by our Heavenly Father such that no two individuals will have the exact same frame, fat distribution, height, and other parameters to know your healthiest weight.
A person can be slim but has unhealthy fat levels or another may be a bit on the heavy side but maintains a good level of fat mass. We cannot tell just by looking at the scale. And again, this fat percentage will vary across age, sex, and even ethnicity, so it’s really hard to say.
Target body weight
As conflicting or even unbelievable as this may sound, there is a perfect bodyweight for you! It is the range where you feel that your optimal health, physically and mentally, is both achieved and sustained. Rather than looking at table standards when you search online, consult a dietician who will consider all factors to come up with a recommendation for you.
Now, what are we trying to get at here? People, like me, who have spent blood, sweat, and tears going after that weight target, need to both loosen up and tighten up in terms of hitting our fitness goals. What does this mean?
It means that we must keep our ideal weight in focus as part of our overall health objectives but at the same time not elevating it to the ultimate that we forget other metrics which are far more important. What are these?
What is your body composition?
As I shared earlier, our weight does not tell the whole story. Though people who are way beyond their healthy weight are more likely to be at greater risk for diseases related to their obesity, the aim must be towards a better body composition more than weight loss.
Fat mass and muscle mass
I’m not an expert on the subject matter and I have actually just recently learned about fat mass and muscle mass. My whole life I have also simply put emphasis on my body weight as my health target. But I know now that apart from total weight loss, we must also go after improving our body composition.
To better understand it, 10 lbs of fat mass is as heavy as 10 lbs of muscle (of course, they’re both 10 lbs!) but because muscles are much denser than fats, they will occupy much less space in your body. So, what we want to aim for is a higher muscle mass and a lower fat mass apart from being in a generally healthy weight range.
Without delving too much into the topic of muscle mass and weight loss, let’s just say that an excellent macro-nutrient diet and calorie intake, resistance exercises, and maybe some supplements may be recommended by your dietician to help get rid of excess fat mass while maintaining or increasing lean body mass.
Tracking your body composition
Smart scales
Today, there are smart scales available (Fit Track Smart Scales) that will help you track your body composition as you strive to eat healthily and exercise. These useful tools will show your weight but will also guide you as to your lean body mass, hence, giving you a better picture of your overall health.
Clothes
Also, because your muscle mass is denser than your fat mass, you will surely feel the difference in your clothes. They will fit better and will be looser on your body as time goes by and you continue to work out. You will likely size down if you keep pushing and feel lighter, stronger, and quicker on your feet.
Tape measure
Your weight may not move on the scale but by using a tape measure to track your body stats (waistline, hips, chest, legs, arms, etc.) you can track your progress in terms of better body composition.
A body that is more muscles and less fat will have shred off inches all around. Imagine a pack of marshmallows that is so light and yet fills up so much space compared to hard lollies that will occupy less but will be so much heavier. That’s how your body will be as it gains weight and loses inches everywhere.
Again, it’s not about weight loss, but fat loss and muscle gain. Maybe professional athletes or bodybuilders will surely have numbers that are off the charts but as for us ordinary people, keeping to a healthy weight range while working to improve our body composition levels is surely the way to go.
What not to do
In our journey towards fitness, it’s very important not to walk down the wrong path. There are so many mistaken ways to go about leading a healthy lifestyle and I’ve admittedly gone down a number of them. So, let me share with you some to help you not make the same mistakes.
Don’t compare yourself with others
I used to say that I look at others only as an inspiration and to have a goal I can set for myself. There’s nothing wrong with this.
However, we must guard ourselves against comparison that leads to a heart that no longer thanks God when we progress at our own pace and is ungrateful even when we hit our targets because we want what others have but we can’t seem to achieve.
Like I said earlier, we are created quite uniquely by our Father in heaven, and no one is exactly like us. To look at others while failing to realize this is surely a recipe for disaster.
Don’t deprive yourself of food that you need
Because of the heavy emphasis on weight loss today, we may think that going without food is the best way to shed those extra pounds and live happily thereafter. Apart from this being such a sad state of being, it’s depriving our body of the fuel it needs to operate on a day-to-day basis.
Remember, what brought us to our current unfavourable physique is not just eating too much but also having mostly unhealthy food in our diet. What will likely bring us back to our healthy body is then eating the right foods in the right amounts, not taking it to the other extreme by sheer and excessive food deprivation.
To read more about dieting and fasting, feel free to read our previous blog posts on the subject (Did Anyone Say Diet, Fasting Your Way Through Holistic Fitness) to gain a bit of guidance.
Don’t rush your progress
Every person will move forward in their fitness resolve a certain way. Just as we are fashioned by the Lord in our mothers’ womb fearfully and wonderfully, He also made us such that everything that we will do in this world will be at our own special pace and in our custom-made lane.
Don’t swerve on roads that are meant for others or speed up and slow down with no clear go signal and direction from the Lord. Without looking to others for your progress, compete only with yourself as you pursue your health goals.
Don’t lift your weight to the ultimate
Though important, your weight is not the only measure of your success. It shouldn’t then be the sole focus of your efforts to be fit and healthy, without thought of other things that can also track and show your progress.
Don’t totally disregard it
Your weight is not the ultimate but it’s still a vital part of your journey. So, put it where it should be, on the board of your dream fitness goals but only a certain part of it.
Some people give too much importance to it while others think too little of it. Strive to be around the middle, where you know to monitor it but not get too bridled by the ups and downs on the scale, because you realize there are other equally essential things.
Wrapping up
I’ve been somebody whose only idea of a healthy life centered around hitting that ideal weight. How little I knew then and how far God has brought me to broaden and deepen my understanding of what it means to truly honour Him with my body.
I pray that you have also learned to put the concern about weight where it should be in our hearts and minds. It’s surely not what we should live for but something that matters and has its rightful place in the huge backdrop of the healthy life God intended for us to live.
The Fit Stewards 