You look in the mirror, “Oh My God!” you say to yourself. “Is that me?” What’s with the sagging, love handles hanging around your waist, those jiggly rows of fat under your chin and around your neck. And the butt that doesn’t seem to fit back into those pants that “must have shrunk in the wash.” Your thighs that seem to hang like saddle bags. Eeeek!!!
All those things make it quite clear that it might be time to lose some weight. It’s a clear signal that something has gone amuck and it’s time to do something about it. And it’s not something that happened overnight either, but gradually, and until it becomes glaringly apparent, you may not even notice.
Sometimes, the signals are not always so clear. Sure, if you step onto the talking scale and it starts to cry, you know its time to get yourself in gear to lose some of those extra pounds. But many times, it is something more subtle. A glance from someone passing by, or just the way you feel when you look in the potato chip bag and its empty, and you just bought it!
Signals such as those do get people flocking to the internet in waves looking for answers to their weight loss problems. And one of the first things they may look for online, is a chart to figure out their ideal body weight.
These are in no short supply online, and along with weight loss calculators, can give you an idea of your weight loss goal and how fast you can reach it. But there are a couple of drawbacks with using these kinds of tools, especially on the internet.
One problem is that you need to take a closer look at the website that is providing that ideal weight chart or calculator. Many times these sites are designed solely for one purpose – to get you to buy one of the products that is being advertised on that site. Some sites may even skew the chart or calculator results to emphasize it too!
Nothing wrong with advertising a product or service, after all, business is business. But if every time you look at the ideal weight chart and there is no way you can ever be that weight without buying their dietary plan or supplement that just happens to be for sale, you might want to give it a second thought.
There are ideal weights for various people. But in fact, each individual person has their own ideal weight. Not to sound silly or anything, but if you want to find out what your ideal weight is, you need to look on more than one website and take a look at the differences in those ideal weights. Compare them, see if they all concur or if there are big discrepancies.
Sometimes, there is also a discrepancy between what the charts say you are supposed to weigh, and what you think you are supposed to weigh. This happens more often than not. You look at the chart and input your height and weight and then check the results, but the number doesn’t seem low enough to you. You are sure that if the chart says 160, that it must be wrong and your real ideal weight is around 135.
Truth is, your ideal weight is probably around 160. The way you think you look, and how you feel, have a lot to do with whether you think the charts and calculators are accurate.
You also need to be aware that all these charts give a range. That if you step on the scale 10 times a day, your weight is going to be different each time. And that the charts often give only a single number.
Much easier to say that your ideal weight is around 160 pounds or whatever it is, than to view those numbers as something absolute that you need to accomplish or else. That is not how your body works and you will wind up with a lot of self-effacing resentment if you think like that and don’t accomplish your goal, which only leads to setting yourself up for failure.
The real world is not the Biggest Loser. That is a TV show. You are you and your body will respond a lot better if you view it as your friend instead of something that won’t measure up to a chart you found on the internet. So make sure that you get the information you need, but that YOU make the final decision about your ideal body weight. And then do something about it!
