Find Your Perfect Weight - Part 3

I read all 3 parts of the articles. I think what he said makes a lot of sense. I am usually more comfortable at the high end or a little over my weigh range for my height. I have good muscle ratio and am very active. I look good in my clothes, usually a size 8. I still have some excess weight on waist, some loose skin, went from 335 to 135.
The fact that we all don't have to weight a certain weight is good, unless someone misinterprets weighing more, a lot more as the norm and thinks that is good..
A few pounds over weight, no harm, more than that ,dangerous for your health.
And no one should fit into the obese category.
I used to model, was good weight almost whole life,ten got obese. For 14 years I hated myself. Lost weight and am living again. Maybe being thin doesn't bring you instant happiness, but it sure beats being morbidly obese and hardly living. Just like money won't bring you happiness, but it sure makes living a lot easier. - 9/19/2012 12:58:07 PM

Coach Dean, you are the thinkers' weight loss coach! I love how you challenge us to view things from a different perspective. It is so easy to get caught up in the numbers, but a number in weight loss is kind of like a diamond. It only has value because WE assign it value.

My happiest memories have nothing to do with the size I was. Having my babies, getting married- those days would have been just as wonderful even if I weighed my current size. But I can say that some of my worst memories are related to weight- specifically health issues.

But as far as what is enough- you're right! I'll know it when I get there and it won't be about the number on the scale- it will be about what I see when I view my profile in the mirror. I don't know what that number will be, but I'll know the moment when I see it!

Thanks for a great article. - 9/17/2012 2:06:31 PM

Wow! I feel like a light bulb just went off! It wasn't until I read the last page of this article, that whole little scenario of imagining myself on a planet where weight/body size/shape didn't matter . . . I really imagined myself there, I could see it. I could feel what it would be like to not have the emotional weight of "not fitting in". And for the first time, I've got a grasp on doing this for me and not someone else! I can see myself taking the focus off the numbers, and putting the focus on reaching the place where I can breathe, and move, and LIVE! Wow! I can't even explain how different my mindset is just from reading this. Thnak you! - 8/20/2012 1:23:40 PM

In 2000 I weighed 430 pounds. I underwent weight loss surgery (RNY) and lost 135 pounds before my weight loss stalled. After three years of unsuccessful dieting, I had my RNY revised to a Duodenal Switch and lost an additional 160 pounds. While I was within the healthy BMI range, I looked terrible at 135 pounds (I'm 5'3"). I was horribly underweight, emaciated, and looked like an Ethiopian refugee. I was told by my weight loss surgeon, hematologist, and internist to gain back weight until I reached 175 pounds. Now I weigh approximately 242 pounds and have a BMI of 43 and body fat of 49%.

I have come to the conclusion that since I have always been overweight (since age 4), I will never be a size 0 or weigh what the Metropolitan Life Insurance Height/Weight Charts say I should weight (115 pounds). According to my body fat percentage, I am carrying 124 pounds in valuable lean muscle mass. To weigh 115 pounds would mean losing muscle mass and that is pure insanity. So I have decided to set my goal weight based on my lean body mass with a body fat percentage of 25% or 165 pounds. Once I reach that goal, I will try and maintain it for at least six months to see if I am truly comfortable with that weight. If I discover that I would prefer to be a little leaner then I will lower my body fat to 20% for a new goal weight of 155 pounds.

My ultimate goal is to reach a body weight that will reduce my risk for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancer (all in my family history) and let me enjoy life to the fullest. Trying to be stick thin like a fashion model just isn’t in the cards for me and I accepted that fact. The most important thing is to maintain a good body weight for the sake of health and not appearance.
- 7/5/2012 3:03:10 AM

The hardest part of my journey has been TO STOP CARING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK!

I thought my obsession was centered around being born and raised in California and an American. Now living the past 6 months in Northern England, I do see it as a global problem. Once I stopped being focused on what I thought other people (STRANGERS) wanted me to look like, told those thoughts to "SHUT UP" and focused on what my eyes saw and want to see, my healthy lifestyle hasn't been a struggle to maintain.

I am a UK size 12 and wear a bikini to the beach and walk around in it. I walk into a room with confidence, my head held high because I know I LOVE what I see in the mirror before I leave home.

I no longer let the numbers on a scale or strangers form my opinions about myself.

- 6/1/2012 5:58:33 AM

I so agree with this article and how to decide if you really are at an acceptable weight. Made me rethink some of my issues. And to get moving to get losing.. thank you - 2/7/2012 6:33:30 AM

This article echoes how I feel. I am actually okay with being "overweight". What I'm not okay with is being "obese".

I remember what I looked like when I weighed 175, and I looked GOOD. Even though I was overweight. I've seen my husband drool over pictures of me from then.


175 is not dangerously overweight. 225 IS.


To quote something I saw on Pinterest the other day,

"I'm not training for a 5K. I'm not preparing for a competition. I'm not trying to set a new record. I'm not trying to impress you. I'm saving my life." - 2/3/2012 1:56:16 PM

Dean, you have helped me more than anyone. your articles are great. I have lost over 50 lbs in 9.5 months. But it has been the journey what I have learned about myself along the way. god bless you. - 9/13/2011 9:52:43 PM

This article really helped me to re-think my 'perfect' weight. It will be a weight where I can do all the physical things I need this 55 year-old body to do and not based on a page from a fashion magazine. I am not sure that is the actual weight that holds us back from living life fully as much as how we feel about it.
Thank-you for a different, more realistic perspective.
Kathy - 6/21/2011 9:11:28 AM

I don't need scientific evidence to know that people judge you on the way you look, but charisma and personality count for a lot, too. - 5/22/2011 2:28:48 AM

This is one of the best articles on this topic I've read here, and in my opinion Dean's best.

I just want to feel strong, and that means having a low mass to strength ratio. Which for me is usually around 150 lbs, assuming I'm also around 15-19% body fat. - 2/16/2011 2:54:36 PM

Thank you so much for all of these great words. I read this article very early on and I just re-read it today to confirm my convictions. Several years ago I was at a weight more than ten pounds lower than my goal weight. I am now more than thirty pounds heavier than back then, but because I have become happy about who I am and what my body is, I am far happier. I think I am healthier too, because certainly I am fitter and eat better food. But I could never be happy if I didn't accept certain things about my body.
Back then, I wanted to be an ectomorph so badly, but I am a meso-endo (or perhaps endo-meso) with broad hips. That HANWI formula made me crack up! Even after starving myself for months I wasn't even close to my "desired" weight. Now that I know how to dress for success and how sexy an athletic meso-endo can be, I really look forward to being a healthy weight. - 10/19/2010 9:36:05 AM

As one of the others have posted, I have had issues with an eating disorder for 25 plus years.

This article is just what I have been looking for as I quit smoking March 2nd and have gained 5-8 pounds, it depends on which day I way. This article is something I needed to read years ago and it is the same thing my DH has been telling me for a long time.

Thank you!
Zimmy

- 7/1/2010 10:26:07 AM

This article helped keep my focus & purpose in perspective and not get carried away with a scale number. I am doing this for me to be a fit and healthy role model for my son. There is no saying how small I need to be. Just that I stay consistent with my healthy habits so they absorbed into my son's lifestyle too. By being active and finding fun ways of adding fitness for myself and family we are all improving. I am NOT focusing on a model's body, since I've never had one to start with. The idea is to be around to see my son grow into an adult and still be an active role model.
Thanks. - 4/30/2010 11:54:25 AM

I AM APPLE SHAPE AND NEVER LIKED IT SO THIS REALLY HEPLED THANKS - 2/14/2010 11:43:47 AM