Are You Obsessed with Your Weight?

Weight is an issue that is constantly being reported upon in the media, with mixed messages being relayed to the general public. On the one hand the media is critical of celebrities becoming too skinny and the message that this is sending out to young people, particularly young girls. On the other hand, though, news stories seem to be dominated by the supposed obesity epidemic and the implications of obesity for people's health. It is little wonder, then, that so many individuals end up becoming obsessed with their weight when they live in a society which is appears to be fixated on people's size and weight.

It is not necessarily a bad idea for individuals to regularly monitor their weight in order to ensure that they stay within a healthy weight range for them, particularly if they have a tendency to yo-yo diet, as they are then in a position to limit their weight gain. However, some people can become obsessed with checking their weight, deciding to step on the scales at least once a day, rather than every week or every couple of weeks. When they see how much they weigh they might feel good or bad about themselves, depending on the number. This, in turn, will no doubt affect their relationship with food and exercise.

If the number is higher than they want it to be, they may choose to eat less and exercise more during that particular day, rather than considering that it is perfectly natural for their weight to have slight fluctuations. It is not unusual for people trying to slim down to become preoccupied with how much they weigh, because this is how weight loss tends to be measured. When they step on the scales at the end of the week it is the reading on the scales which tells them whether they have had a good or bad week. The trouble is that if they do not lose any weight, or not as much as they would have liked, their disappointment could lead them to turn to comfort food.

It is important for people to realise that health is much more important than size and weight. Medical professionals seem to have an obsession with using the Body Mass Index to ascertain whether individuals are healthy or not, which seems to have filtered down into wider society. However, there are plenty of people who are skinny but eat lots of junk food, smoke, and do very little exercise, just as there are overweight people who eat a balanced diet and exercise everyday. Weight can be a useful tool for alerting individuals to whether their lifestyle needs to change or not, but it is not the only one, and people ought to remember that there are more significant factors affecting their overall health and well-being than just their weight.