5th
August 2013
Self-discipline is when your
conscience tells you to do something and you don't talk back. W.K. Hope
Last
night on my Bev’s Weight Watchers facebook page, I asked the question, How much have you lost so far? How
do you feel? And I got some fabulous answers and I could also feel the
love which was as always wonderful, then one lady who isn’t one of my members
asked “how much have u lost Bev's Weight Watchers?
X” Well she couldn’t have asked a better
question to give me food for thought on a Monday morning, let’s start by saying
if I’d kept every pound off I’d ever lost I’d be a keycharm! At my heaviest I was a size 20 at 14st, at my
lightest I’ve gone to 8st 13lb! My goal
weight now which was set in 2004 is 10st 6lb and I won’t lie the last two years
I’ve struggled to maintain, I can maintain around 11 stone pretty easily and
get away with most things but getting back there has been a battle of
wills. To the point where yesterday I
was even considering asking my doctor to sign off a special gold weight for me so
that I could do my job without having to worry about being at that magic
illusive number!
This
morning I’ve decided I won’t be asking him though, why? Because it’ll just give me an excuse not to
try and because if I’m trying to get to 10st 6lb at least I’m hovering around the
11 stone mark, if I’ve got a goal of 11st would I be hovering around the 11st
7lb mark, would I use it as an excuse?
I’ve
never been a fan of the BMI chart, yet yesterday it was suggested I measure my
waist as that’s another way to gauge your health, so I’ve just gone to look and
the British Heart Foundation and NHS guidelines say this;
Your BMI is a
great starting point but you should also measure your waist. This is because
people who carry too much weight around their middle have a greater risk of
developing coronary heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
How to measure your waist
Use a tape measure
and follow the steps below:
1.
Find the top of your hip bone and
the bottom of your ribs.
2.
Breathe out naturally.
3.
Place the tape measure midway
between these points and wrap it around your waist.
4.
Check your measurement.
Your health is at
risk if
you have a waist size of: |
Your health is
at high risk
if you have a waist size of: | |
Men
|
Over 94cm (about
37 inches)
|
Over 102cm
(about 40 inches)
|
Women
|
Over 80cm (about
31.5 inches)
|
Over 88cm (about
34.5 inches)
|
Asian men
|
Over 90cm (about
35.5 inches)
| |
Asian women
|
Over 80cm (about
31.5 inches)
|
Why are there separate measurements for Asian men and women?
People of Asian
backgrounds tend to have a higher proportion of body fat to muscle than the
rest of the UK population. They also tend to carry this fat around the middle.
This leads to a greater risk of developing problems such as diabetes and
coronary heart disease at a lower waist size than other people in the UK.
-------
So that’s my new goal, it’s to get my waist back down to a healthy
measurement of 30 inches, I was a little surprised that it had crept up to 34
inches if I’m honest, yes if I breathe in I can make it 32 inches but that’s
cheating, I’ve just realised when I look in the mirror I just see me, I don’t
see my weight anymore which is great from a self esteem point of view but maybe
not so great from a health point of view.
My family has a tendency towards the bigger body and I need to watch
that!
So that’s my
motivation, at last I’ve found it, I’ve been looking for it for weeks! A healthy heart is most important I think we’d
all agree on that one, so why does it matter you might ask, well while body
mass index (BMI) is a good way to tell if you're a healthy weight, it
doesn't tell the whole story. BMI is a measure of how healthy your weight is
for your height, if your BMI is over the healthy range, this
means that you're probably carrying extra fat. But did you know that your
health could be at greater risk depending on where you store that fat? We store spare body fat under the skin, and also around the vital organs in our abdomen. We now know that this fat around the abdomen causes more health problems than, say, fat carried around the bottom or on the thighs. Now this is where I’ve always thought I carried my weight round my legs so “I’m alright Jack!” and now I know that’s no longer the case since I’ve hit my 40s my bodies obviously changed shape.
Having a large amount of tummy fat (when compared to having fat around the bottom or thighs) makes you more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and heart problems.
So that’s the plan, a healthy heart, would you agree!
Have a great day, Eat Gorgeous xx
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