Off the Deep End, Part I

I'm sure Part 2 will come around later.

I took the kids to the arcade the other day. Lately, thank God, my daughters are able to choose female characters for the skateboarding or race games. Since they are pixelated athletes, you get heights and weights, always interesting to the fat-loss-obsessed. For the boys, a little on the light side, I thought, but okay-- one male character was 6'2" and 172 lbs, for example. So a BMI of (google that calculator): 22. The only female had a nice rounded shape, not too skinny. Her fictitious height and weight? 5'6 and 108 pounds, for a BMI of 17.

No wonder I don't tell anybody what I weigh. I remember a young substitute teacher in high school, talking lusciously about the date he had lined up. He described her as 5'6" and 115 pounds. I was nearly 5'8" and had a terrible time keeping myself under 140 pounds. 136 or whatever I weighed at the time seemed like a badge of shame. And yet, you know what? I suspect most guys are not that good at guessing women's weights. Standard girl weight is supposed be 110 if you're short and 125 if you're not. At this friendly BMI site: http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi.htm (wish I knew how to hyperlink that for you), at 180 pounds I am at the 60th percentile for my age, which means... there are probably some other women out there you don't really feel like announcing what they weigh.

So where am I going with this? Just that I'm not going to be talking about my weight anytime soon In Real Life. I don't tell anyone, not my husband, my best friend, or my kids, though the former two could probably deduce it pretty readily from my open admission of how much weight I gained with my first kid. I'm the first to admit it's completely silly. It's just a number. My body is out there everyday for all to see: what does it matter what pull gravity exerts on me? I'm betting that most people, unless they are medical, personal trainers, or weight guessers at the fair, really have difficulty guessing weights. It's harder than portion sizes. One of the joys of weight training is that you get to kind of scoot around the weight thing. Muscle is heavy and compact. There's some healthy, tasty-looking men and women out there who weigh more than 172 or 125.

What about YOU? Are your blogs open to friends and family? Do you mind when other people find out what you weigh?

PS I did my 5-Factor today (50 lunges total-- just can't do 80!), even though I am still not 100%. Two days off seemed to help the plantar fascitis in my left foot. I ate well and didn't gain weight, so I'm hoping the mini-break was not a bad thing.

Comments

  1. No one in my family knows about my blog outside of my wife and kids, none of which read it. I have told my best friend, but to my knowledge he doesn't know what a blog is and has not done anything other than type the website address in. I have thought about telling others, but I guess I don't see the point. I have told those that matter most. The exception might be my parents and siblings, but I am not sure I want the comments from any of them. Hmm, that was probably not where you expected a comment on this to go.

    To answer your second question, I have never really cared if others knew my weight, but that seems to be one of those guy/gal differences.

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts