Chuck the Guidelines

I often get questions regarding what I think a person's goal should be for weight loss. It's such an interesting question---and I can't answer it. I mean, I could, but I don't think it would be a responsible thing for me to do. Most people know the old height weight charts are pretty useless, but people are still grasping for some kind of guideline.

We also mostly know that what we do and how we live are more important than pounds on the scale, but it's difficult to change our way of thinking about it. We know that skinny people can be unhealthy and being overweight doesn't always indicate a poor health status either. There are many reasons for losing weight, and just as we all have different reasons, we also all have different needs and appropriate goal weights. I enjoy working with people on figuring these things out for themselves.

Recently, I was discussing weight with someone who is pretty slim. She has a goal to lose a couple pounds, and people really give her a hard time for this goal. They tell her she is small enough and they treat her like she's crazy for having this goal. My opinion is that if you're living in a healthy way and you can reach a lower weight---and you want to---then you should. If you're happy and healthy where you are, then just be there.

Sometimes people who are overweight indicate that I don't understand anything about what they go through because I'm not and have never been overweight. In some ways, they are right. But please don't assume that a thin person does not work at being thin, just as you surely wouldn't assume a heavier person doesn't put effort into improving their health or losing weight.

We are all different.

A little bit crazy all in our own ways.

We weigh what we weigh today---we live how we live. We can work to improve ourselves, and this can be a negative or positive experience. I vote for the positive, non-judgmental, experimental, fun way of it all.

Be who you are and say what you feel; Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter.

Just as you refrain from judging a person, their appearance, their lifestyle---don't judge yourself either. Improve yourself because you care about yourself and your well-being. If you have other reasons, then let's just work on that :)

And remember, what anybody else thinks about you is none of your business!