Ideal Weight Is Not A Constant
A few years ago, my aunt went to visit her doctor because she was worried that she was underweight. She had read a chart that told her her ideal weight was roughly 130 to 135 pounds, and she was only 118 pounds. She told me that she had never really felt ill or weak, or anything one might associate with being underweight, and because everyone in our family knew her so well, we were of no help. She came back from her doctor's appointment feeling much better about her situation because she found out that the ideal weight for one person does not necessarily hold for someone else.
She said she was concerned because she did not know if she could develop problems later on in life from being underweight. Of course, she has heard of all of the problems with obesity in this country and has often times remarked to some of our other family members that she would be quite content to split their extra weight with them, in a nice way, obviously. To her great relief, the doctor told there there was not a problem.
He said that ideal weight is just a term that is used to give people a basic idea of how much a person of a certain height and body type should weigh. He added that he had a number of athletes he saw who would actually be considered overweight by most weight charts, even though they have less than 10 percent body fat and are in better shape than the vast majority of the people who fit comfortably into that chart.
He also informed her that even though she as considered to be below her ideal weight, that it was slightly underweight people that were considered to be the healthiest of all. I told her how interesting it was that she went into her appointment concerned that there might be something wrong with her and came out knowing that she was actually healthier than most other people.
The doctor said that some people who appear to be overweight may actually be healthier than people who are within their ideal weight range as well. He said that exercise is the great wild card in those instances, and that if you are a few pounds overweight but are active, you are often more healthy than a person who is at a normal weight but leads a sedentary lifestyle.
Ideal weight is really just a frame of reference for people to try to get close to, but not necessarily a scientific measurement that should striven for regardless of the consequences to one's body. My aunt learned that lesson rather later in life, but at least she does know now and can stop worrying.
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