JARGON BUSTING: does it matter how much I weigh?

Whilst peering through gaps between your fingers, screaming and a fear of needles has echoes of a hospital horror, the same situation occurs in the bathroom as many tentatively tip-toe onto weighing scales. But, does it actually matter how much you weigh?

Simple answer? - kind of, but not really...

There is no definitive yes or no, however times have moved on and there are more useful measures of a persons physical condition. Weight is a crude measure of someone's physical condition. Consider this:

If you could have your ideal body shape, tone and figure, but weighed 15 stone, would you?

Frequently men and women say they want to lose weight, however, their real desire is that they improve their body composition - reduction in body fat, improvements in lean muscle. A frequent mistake for many individuals is to rely on their weight changing as a reflection of reaching their desired goal of improved body composition.

As you begin to exercise consistently, your body will store more carbs, water and there may be slight increases in muscle - all of these will add weight! Your body will also draw upon your energy stores of carbs and fat and burn these, which will reduce weight. Try not to be too disconcerted when the scales don't say what you want them to.

BMI - any good?

The Body Mass Index is used as a way of understanding how much weight a person has per metre squared of their body. It puts it into a way that means it is comparable to everyone else and it is then divided into sections ranging from underweight to obese. However, the major floor of this technique is it does not consider the levels of lean tissue (muscle) on a person's body. Two people could be the same height, same weight, but one has high levels of muscle and the other have high levels of fat. Their BMI would be exactly the same and could be classed as obese, but clearly one of them is not. BMI is mainly useful on the average population that are not full of muscle.


Finally, people are made differently. Its unrealistic to expect people of 5ft and 6ft to look the same and weigh the same. Just be healthy, look how you want to and use a tape measure instead.