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Weight Scale Talk
You've always gone by the numbers, but there may be better ways to assess the shape you're in.
Think about the experience of weighing yourself. Isn't it strange that we've been taught to judge ourselves, and sometimes even our self-worth, by the numbers on the scale? Ever on a quest to get as lose as possible to our "ideal" weight (which is usually in the neighborhood of what we weighed in college-right after encountering a stomach virus), most women aren't satisfied with being merely healthy, energetic or even slim if they can't also win the numbers game.
You may be surprised to learn that your scale is an accurate gauge of neither fitness nor body composition, two factors which play a far more important role in your health than your weight. "The number on the scale is just a number," says Denise Bruner, M.D., president of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and a bariatric medicine specialist in private practice in Arlington, Virginia. For example, two people may both weigh the same amount, but they could be different heights and have different amounts of muscle and different bone densities. Their bodies could be polar opposites: One could be very fat, one could be very fit, she explains.
