You're Not a Dress Size

[talon]

A quote from America's Surgeon General, Regina Benjamin: "You can be healthy and fit at different sizes. The real message is that you don't want to limit yourself by your dress size. You need to be comfortable with yourself and have a good body image. Don't have some dress manufacturer tell you what size to be. Be a size that makes you fit."

You are not your dress size.

You don't have to be a collection of bones barely held together with skin and tendons to be healthy.

I do wish she'd stop beating the BMI horse, though. BMI is not a realistic indication of fat, it's simply a height/weight comparison and some people are physically denser than others.

You can be fit and healthy at a variety of sizes, not just the narrow ones listed in the height/weight charts.

The message should be to be fit. Weight isn't part of the equation unless you are not fit.

Fit includes being able to do all of your regular chores without getting out of breath, without a rise in blood pressure, without working up a serious sweat, without getting chest pains, or becoming exhausted. I don't know what your daily chores are, but mine are along the lines of: walking (from house to car, from car to office, up and down stairs, walking the dogs, walking to the bookstore, walking around the parks), vacuuming (although that will switch to sweeping once all the carpet is pulled up and out), washing dishes, cooking, making the bed, light gardening (even in winter, there's stuff to be done), scrubbing (countertops, stove, toilet, tub, sinks), dusting (TV, books, knick-knacks), not to mention all the stuff at work (lifting packages up to 70 pounds, shifting reams of paper, pushing the key cabinet, walking all over the 30+ acres of grounds to the other buildings, walking up and down stairs, moving AV and presentation equipment, shifting books). Then there's weekly stuff like mowing. Even in winter. And medium level gardening - pruning, removing stumps, chipping twig debris, weeding. Then there are my extras - the camping trips, the wildcrafting, the geocaching that all require walking in rough terrain and pitching tents and so on.

I don't think you need an exercise regimen if you have chores that give you an equivalent workout. You only need exercise as a supplement to your chores if you only have light chores.

Point is -size isn't as important as health.