Originally Posted by Gwyn
It is almost the end of the month and I have some news for all of you hungry people trying to starve yourselves into a size 6 before Christmas. IT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN. The only people with a chance to make HUGE weight changes are like Missy who can do it surgically. I'm so happy for her. She will not only get to have a New Year, but a New Life, in a New Shape. But, for the most part, she will always be our wonderful and sweet Missy - Mike's special friend.
NOW, Pay Attention to Me...I have big news.
Dr. Oz may not be a show you watch, but he is a qualified doctor with great ideas about helping people lead healthy lives. There are 5 numbers we need to know when evaluating our health and only 1 of these is on the scale (and it isn't the important 1)
We should know our Blood Pressure, making sure the top number is never more than 140 and the bottom should always be less than 100. Also, your top number needs to always be above 90.
Second is our cholestral numbers HDL, (healthy) LDL (bad) and tryglicerides (fat in blood) . I can't remember exactly what the limits are,just that mine is perfect, but I have to take a cholestral medication to keep the tryglicerides lower = a problem for diabetes)
Resting heart rate - never more than 100.
Height & Weight
Waist Measurement: Below 30, but never more than 1/2 your height in inches. I figure if you are 4 ft. tall you can go as high as 24" waist but no more. At 6ft tall you can be 36" waist at the most. The rest of us probably fall in between, height wise.
This measurement is most important because it tells you where your fat is... Fat around the middle gravely increases chances for many cancers, heart disease, stroke, lung and other organ problems. Plus it makes you top heavy which is hard on your back, shourlders, hips and knees.
I would like to suggest that instead of awarding only for number reductions on the scale, perhaps we could also reward for the most inches lost around the tummy.
For those who are stuck, this may be a huge place to shine. If your scales are working for you, go ahead. Weight IS important, but it isn't the only important number. Frankly, if I could wear a size 12-14 and not feel tight or rip seams, the scales could call me a two ton tessy. I'm not going to really compete with scales anymore, I'm using the number of days my blood sugar is below 150 and my waist measurement.
Great work and congratulations to you all who are losing. Keep it up. Start looking for routines, recipes, and reactions we can plan to use to keep us healthy and fit as we enter this holiday season. With winter upon me, I crave hot rich soups with home made bread. I also want sweet things with my tea. Need to find some ways to keep it healthy and still be happy.
Sorry for my rant. It just hit me today that I'm not looking at my whole picture. I'll do better as long as I keep perspective )expecially about the scales).