Weight and Health

[Guest guest]

I have been reading through the last couple weeks' posts as I got behind

I have been disturbed by the assertions that a number on a scale makes us healthy or unhealthy. My weight does not make me sick, either physically or emotionally, as some have said. Now, to an extent (but certainly not the extent the public generally believes), a person's weight may *reflect* health, but I genuinely believe that it's health that affects weight, not vice-versa. For instance, many believe that diabetic folks put on weight as a protective mechanism, and the fact that fat diabetics outlive thin diabetics bears this out! Also, we all know that our emotional health can sometimes be reflected in our weight.

However, being fat in and of itself is not unhealthy. Many of us who have spent a lot of time dieting in our lives will *never* weigh as little as we would have otherwise, because biology and dieting simply don't go together. And being fat in and of itself should not keep you from being active. I know it doesn't keep me from being active, and I weigh somewhere around 250 lbs (I rarely weigh myself). I walk, bike, swim, kayak, hoop, etc. These things used to be more difficult, but the more activity one does, the easier it gets, at whatever weight!

For those wanting more information on how weight and health do and do not relate, I would recommend "Health at Every Size," "When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies," "Rethinking Thin" and "The Obesity Myth." The 'junkfoodscience' blogspot is also very helpful.

If you do weigh yourself, please remember that the number on the scale tells you only one thing: how your body and gravity interact. It doesn't tell you how healthy you are, how beautiful you are, how valuable you are or how smart you are!

~