Our Health Journey

There is so much obsession these days with trying to look like the skinny actresses and models we all see on TV, in movies, and on magazine covers. What we don’t always realize is that, while some of these women and girls are naturally blessed with a thin frame and a quick metabolism that burns every calorie they consume, many of them must work out daily and nearly starve themselves to maintain their thinness. And in the case of magazine covers and print ads, often the photos are retouched to make the women appear thinner than they actually are.

However, there is a big difference between being trim and healthy, and being so thin that one could count the ribs of your ribcage. Losing excess fat is one thing (and except in some rare cases, a good thing), but losing muscle mass in the quest to be as thin as possible is just downright dangerous. We rely on our muscles for strength, mobility, and stamina.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because my mother-in-law recently experienced a health scare that required major surgery. Thankfully she’s recovering quite well now, but for several weeks following her surgery she was unable to keep down solid foods, and as a result she lost roughly 15 lbs. Anyone thinking “wow that’s great - wish I could lose 15 lbs so quickly” should first understand that my mother-in-law is a petite woman who was far from overweight to begin with, so 15 lbs is a very significant loss. I am thankful that she wasn’t stick-thin to begin with, as some older women are, because she probably would have wound up back in the hospital.

While I fully realize that people are going to do whatever they think is necessary to lose weight - sometimes with the mistaken belief that they actually look better (and we all know those thin women who keep insisting that they need to lose a few pounds). If you’re overweight then great - lose enough to get down to a healthy normal weight for your size and age. If you’re close to a healthy normal weight to begin with, then quit worrying about it and just try to stay toned and in shape.

But if you are older, please realize that a normal part of aging is the increased risk of health issues, many of which can cause you to lose weight unexpectedly or unwillingly. So it is to you that I write this advice - keep a little bit of extra weight on. Not a lot - I’m not saying it’s okay to be overweight - but being at the upper end of the weight range for your size and age is better than being at the lower end. Try to stay at least moderately active (walking daily is a great way to do that) and get in enough daily movement to keep limber and mobile. But don’t worry about losing weight unless you are truly more than 20 lbs over what you should weigh. Keeping a little extra on may just help you survive a health scare of your own.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 4th, 2007 at 2:45 am and is filed under The Daily Diet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.