What is your ideal weight for good body image and healthier lifestyle.

I should first start by saying that I do not have a magic formula to offer that says if we hit a certain "ideal weight" we will automatically achieve good body image and a healthier lifestyle. But I think we would all agree that, at one time or another, we full figured women will have hit a certain "ideal weight" that seemed to ignite a light within us that made us feel absolutely great about our own body image. This may have been achieved by "straying" into a healthier lifestyle for a short time, perhaps to look extra good for a party or wedding but the point is ladies - we did it !

So, what we need to do is capture this feeling more often by finding, or perhaps I should say accepting, a particular weight as our ideal weight, that we should maintain as consistently as we can in order to continue to feel and look our best. Body image is mostly about how we think other people see us so if we are feeling great and looking great, we know that other people will see us the same way. It also goes without saying that to keep at, or around, a certain weight will require adopting a healthier lifestyle in terms of eating healthy and include some degree of exercise.

As full figured women I am not advocating we aim for that ideal weight we had when we were 21 !  We have grown and matured and are now naturally bigger women and proud of it. We must not fall into the trap of aiming for something that quite clearly is impossible to attain. If we feel our body image is important then we need to be realistic about what weight and body shape we are prepared to accept and be happy with. As I've already said a healthy lifestyle will make weight control easier but even when we stray away from this and occasionally indulge ourselves, and why not ! getting back on track will be a lot easier if we have our own acceptable weight figure in mind.

So, what should we aim for as our ideal weight, which when reached will trigger our look good-feel good factor, boost our self-esteem and exude positive body image ?  If you asked someone in the medical profession chances are they will say that healthy weights are judged by using the system known as Body Mass Index, or BMI. This is calculated by dividing a persons weight, in kilograms, by their height in metres, or, in pounds and ounces, the weight in pounds is multiplied by 703 and dived by the height in inches squared. A rating below 18 is regarded as underweight a rating over 25 is overweight and a BMI over 30 is regarded as obese. So basically if you fall between 18 and 25 you are okay and probably living a healthy lifestyle.

This is not good news for us fuller figured women, however, because if you do the sums, as I did, most of us will be somewhere between the 25 and over 30 rating. So, psychologically we're off to the worst start possible in setting our ideal weight and accompanying positive body image, even if we know we are already living a reasonably healthy lifestyle. According to latest research, however, things may not be as bad as they seem and I must confess to agreeing with this research in that I know how I feel when I am at the right weight for me, compared to the BMI method.

The American research to be published this year (2006) in the American Journal of Public Health, studied some 33,000 adults and discovered that putting on a few pounds can actually lengthen your life and we could all be half a stone heavier than doctors recommend without harming our health. This is good news for us full figured women seeking to set our acceptable ideal weight and our best body image. The research found that the average person classified as overweight in the UK actually lives longer, casting serious doubt on the way GP's judge healthy weights. The study found that adults with BMI's as high as 35 have the same life expectancy as those stick-thin people who have BMI's of 20. According to the research only those with BMI's over 35 face a marked reduction in life expectancy. There is still a clear link between obesity and ill health, however, so this research should not be a signal to eat any amount or change an existing healthier lifestyle.

The BMI method of determining an ideal weight is clearly flawed, and as stated by the National Obesity Forum, it does not discriminate between fat and muscle and does not look at quality of nutrition and levels of physical activity and exercise. This leads to the conundrum of being fat and fit and lean and unfit. Research by the Forum indicates that people with excess weight around the stomach face more health risks than those people who store excess weight on the hips or thighs. Apparently it's not your overweight as much as where you carry it. All important factors too when considering how body shape relates to body image and how lifestyle choices can impact on these.

So, where does all this leave us in our quest for our ideal weight for good body image and healthier lifestyle. Extreme overweight and obesity apart I think the BMI method should be viewed sceptically in light of the research and a rating of under 35 is probably okay anyway if you needed a maximum marker. For fuller figured women though I think the "right" weight is very closely linked to the right body shape. If we are happy with our shape we should be happy and accept whatever weight it comes with. It's more about accepting the weight we have that gives us the look good-feel good factor than trying to reach some arbitrary number on the scales that we think we should be on. We will never win if we constantly strive for weight loss for the sake of it. But we will win and feel that forgotten burst of euphoria that comes with re-discovering our preferred self image providing we concentrate more on our body shape and our positive attributes.

 I hope you find my tips useful and as always if you have any positive suggestions of your own that you would like to share then please send them to me direct at:  Carole@fullerfigurelifestyles.co.uk

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