In middle school, I went to the doctor, stepped on the scale, and was told that according to the BMI scale I was slightly overweight. As a young girl who played multiple sports, was constantly active, and ate pretty healthy I was confused. How am I supposed to lose any weight? Why am I considered overweight when I live what is considered a healthy lifestyle? I brushed it off and credited it to all the muscle I had but the thought of being overweight still loomed in the back of my mind. It started with pinching myself to see how much “fat” I had and then became weighing myself whenever I saw a scale. There has never been a scale in my home but there was access to one in the athletic training room, friends’ bathrooms, and the weight room. I had a mental chart of my weight in my mind at all times down to the decimal. Everything changed when the COVID pandemic started at the end of my senior year.
The pandemic hit and everything completely shut down. Like many, I was confined to my home with only walks outside and late-night drives as a way to preserve my freedom. During this time I struggled with disappointment, depression, and a fixation on the weight I might be gaining. However, as mentioned previously there is no scale in my house. As a result, I began to focus less on the numbers and more on my health in general. I began to acknowledge what I had known all along: health is not a number. I made a pledge to stop fixating on my weight.
When the gyms reopened, I started to get more into weight lifting. I took the previous knowledge I’d gained from earlier athletic endeavors and learned more about fitness. Instead of being obsessed with weight, I learned ways to be healthier and feel better.
A few key things I learned are:
- Do something active every day (even just a short walk)
- Change isn’t easy but gradually creating good daily habits is important
- Sleep is a vital part of being healthy
- It’s ok to miss a day at the gym to get some rest
- What you eat is important but sometimes you should treat yourself
- Listen to when your body needs food
- Being healthy looks different for everybody
- Numbers are a benchmark and aren’t directly applicable to everyone
Now I not only feel better, but I also feel more confident in myself. My focus is not on my weight but on how I feel. How you feel and your health, both physically and mentally, is what is truly important. It’s ok to know the number on your scale, but maybe you should step off if that’s all you’re focused on.