Saturday, October 2, 2010

Could I Be Getting OCD About My Weight Even Though I'm Not Really Trying To Lose Any?

I've been checking my weight bascially every day, and often more than once a day. It's often within the general vicinity of upper 130's to low 140's. At various times, I'd plug in my height and weight on http://www.am-i-fat.com/. According to the calculations, my BMI is estimated to be 24, which is considered marginal, and the comments I got from that site are that I needed to watch my diet and get more exercise.

I didn't use to take part in the weekly weigh-ins on the Bookcrossing forums, but I've started to as of a few weeks ago. I was welcomed in even though, unlike the other participants, I wasn't trying to lose weight per se, just keep it under 145 lbs.

I've been a bit on the heavy side for as long as I can remember but not necessarily obese (that I can recall). As a teenager, I've weighed as much as 155 lbs. The lowest I've ever weighed as an adult was 125 (much of which was attributed to a lot of walks I had been taking; my first year of college, I went from a size 14 in the fall to a size 10 by spring). When I got my BMI tested in a fitness class I took in college as a freshmen via the skinfold caliper method, I was considered to be in the "average" category.  Despite weight I've lost over different times of my life, I'm a bit thick in the thighs (part of why I don't like wearing shorts that much) and the stomach (which sticks out a little, but it's not too bad).

I'm not on any kind of diet at this point. I usually eat lightly in the day, but it's mainly because of time constraints. I do a lot of my commutes on foot as I don't drive. Also, the nature of my volunteer work has me moving about (or at least on my feet) almost all day. My weight will go up or down a pound (or a fraction thereof) in any given day. I just now stepped away from my laptop to check my weight. It has gone up half a pound since this morning.

Maybe it's the easy access to a scale. Maybe it has been all of those episodes of Money Hungry on VH1. Maybe it's symbolic of some other issue in my life. Whatever it is, I seem to have an obsession with my weight to the point where I feel constant urges to check it.

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