I was surfing the net, and thinking about signing up to somesuperstorediets.com* as lately I am struggling to find healthy eating inspiration, but I have been put off it hugely. I am overweight, I am 5ft 4 (just) and weigh 12st 2, but I have recently lost nearly a stone and am quite pleased with the difference in my body shape and fitness.
According to this website my ideal weight should be 9st 5lbs. Which, to me is ridiculous. The last time I was that light I was 18 years old and had yet to develop my womanly curves. Now, I know this website, and others like it use reputable data from medical statistics and the like, but it still seems crazy that nowadays just about anybody can offer this type of advice.
If I lost another 3 stone I wouldn't look healthy, and I don't think I'd feel to good either. I know that the lowest I would want my weight to drop to is 10st 7, and that over the next year, if not two. But what concerns me, is that there are many impressionable people who believe all this hype about being size zero, or being super skinny, who would actualy work to achieve that degree of weight loss.
To my mind, sites like this one could and will encourage the number of people with eating disorders as people struggle to be a weight set automatically by a computer, rather than speaking to their doctors or someone who has access to their whole lifestyle and health history.
Getting to 9st 5 would invariably result in reducing my portions drastically, I've already reduced them somewhat to get where I am, and doing heinous amounts of exercise. Can you imagine though, if you were my weight, pretty comfy with your size, just wanting to lose a few pounds for the summer or an occasion, what a shock to be told, actually just lose 2 stone or 3...
Weight isn't the be all and end all of being healthy. Surely body fat, fitness levels and energy are equally important. Yes, I'm proud of myself for getting into a pair of size 12 trousers, but I am enjoying the health benefits too, the new found muscles, the extra energy, the trimmer shape. There are so many people out there who only need to work on muscle tone, or even on their posture who are gonna feel compelled to lose a shitload.
I just think it's wrong that companies can cash in on what is already a crazy market, prey on peoples insecurities, yet because they are well known brands they must obviously be right.
Grrrrrrr. Rant over with.
* name changed to protect me from being sued or anything like that
