Body Image Awareness: BMI

Kristen Bouchard
November 28, 2011
Filed under Opinions&Reviews

Students at Albany College of Pharmacy can definitely relate to the fact that numbers are everywhere. As a society, we try to constantly hold values to these numbers in order to get better perspectives, a diagnosis, or test grades (what ACPHS students are really familiar with).  However, sometimes this can get carried away when we pertain it to body image. Counting calories, numbers on scale, and BMI all give us values that may pertain to our self-worth and how we feel about ourselves. It is time to stop letting numbers define us!

I am sure all of us at ACPHS have come or will come to recognize this chart. We use it for a lot of different purposes. However, are we holding to much value to one number? My answer would be yes. One number that takes into account only our height and weight leads us to believe we are either at healthy weight, overweight, or obese. We use the same criteria for everyone. Everyone has different shapes, different muscle mass and circumstances.

I think that being told what we are by a chart that holds two values is very inaccurate. Athletes tend to have more muscle fat and therefore will not have an accurate BMI. Also, pregnant woman obviously have another little body to account for and will not be accurate.  Either way, we should not let a chart or a number define who we are. Overweight and even sometimes normal weight can be defensive to some people as it is often acknowledged as a bad thing, especially in the media.

According to Weight Watchers, 50% of women weigh themselves daily or weekly. This can be a problem for a number of reasons. If we let that number hold too much value it can sometimes define our progress and how we feel about ourselves that day.

For instance, someone trying to lose weight may gain two pounds the next day and feel defeated when this could be a result of muscle gain or water weight.  Bodies normally fluctuate and will fight to reach each person’s set point. Set point is a theory that the body maintains its normal weight for each individual. Some people have a naturally higher set point as others have a naturally lower set point.  It is important to note that with healthy lifestyles and moderation we can stay at our individual set points. More information is available about set point in a number of online and book references.

Although numbers in millions of other categories can be significant, there is no need to let them define who we are as people. Whenever we take something external and judge ourselves by this, we are conflicting with our acceptance of our bodies and minds.  Internal feelings on who we are as a person and how we positively affect people can be much more satisfying.

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