As a follow up to the last post about taking regular measurements and weigh-ins, I wanted to chat about defining your own “success.” As I progressed in my health goals and the number on the scale kept going down, I began to wonder when would I be “done”? When would I know I was at the “right” weight for me? I googled “how much should I weigh?” about twenty times, read various health articles, and played with numbers on the BMI calculator to try to figure it out. It’s kinda funny, but there is a thirty-six pound range that a woman who is my age and height can be and still fall into the “normal” BMI range—from 110 pounds to 147. Thirty-six pounds is a lot—it’s more weight than I’ve lost in thirty months. But I’m pretty sure the last time I weighed 110 pounds was in middle school, so my goal is nowhere near that number; it’s simply not achievable for me. And the higher end is just a little too much; my triceps are still a little too jiggly when I weigh in at that number.
Knowing all of that and having the information from a few different hydrostatic weigh-ins and Inbody scans informed me about the body fat/ muscle mass analysis of my body. I decided to focus on my body fat % as where I wanted to make adjustments for myself. Plus, I wanted to have other health goals that were important to me in addition. So, now it’s less about “how much should I weigh?” and more about “what does healthy feel like to me?” For me, it’s a goal of a scale weight between 140-145, a body fat percentage around 20%, AND being able to run a sub 8-minute mile on a treadmill and do 30 consecutive push-ups. If I can do that and manage a 2 minute plank hold, I’m feeling pretty good about my health. That’s my version of “success.” For now.
That’s the other great thing about this: what “success” looks and feels like to you can change. You can make it more rigorous, or less. It’s your health, after all. Don’t be afraid to define what you want it to be. While the medical world has published its numbers and studies, you know what it feels like to be you, inside and out. If your numbers are close to what the professionals deem “healthy” and you’re able to accomplish the fitness benchmarks that you want to, then it’s okay to feel successful.
