What is Average Weight??

What is Average Weight?

Love it or hate it, "average" is a word people love to throw around. Average weight, average height, average intelligence – what do they really mean to the average person?

First of all, have you seen an average person lately? It seems that a majority of people in the U.S. weigh more than the average person, and I find this confusing.

We get way too hung up on numbers that other people have computed and charted – some people think that anything they see in writing is undeniably true. And while there is some research to back up the numbers, many of the "formal" averages are given in ranges, based on our body frame size. And frame size is subject to interpretation – people who weigh more than they think they should often explain it away as, "I'm big-boned."

Another problem with referring to charts that offer average weight ranges is that many people strive to attain the lowest weight within in the range. In other words, if a chart says someone should weigh between 120 -133, there is a tendency for them to aim for the 120-pound target. Why is this bad?

Take Sammi here, as an example.

Sammi weighed 130, but used the chart to set a goal of 120 pounds. She drank lots and lots of water so she could get extra exercise in by running to the bathroom every five minutes.

She ate protein bars that tasted like dust-coated chewy candies from last Halloween - because that is how she thought they should taste. Sammi tortured herself with mental images of all the yummy goodies she would like to eat, then patted herself on the back for being strong enough to refrain from eating them.

Sammi did sit-ups and crunches and aerobics. She sucked in every part of her body that would suck, and walked around the house ten times, ignoring the horrified look on her loved one's face. She could feel the slim Sammi emerging from her average-weight cloak.

She was gaining shape.

After a week of taste bud deprivation and muscle-screaming exercise, Sammi decided it was time to reward herself by hopping onto the bathroom scale to see how much weight she had shed. She imagined she had lost 5 … 6 … 7 pounds! She felt certain she had lost weight, because she could now breathe while wearing her jeans. It was time for Sammi's great reward - time to see how much closer she had come to the sacred low on the Average Weight chart.

Sammi jumped on the scale and began to count: 1 … 2 … 3 pounds. What the hell! She had GAINED three pounds? She tried the scale a few more times, wishing she had worn some clothes for the ceremony so she could have peeled them off in an effort to reduce the scale reading.

Sammi was confused, frustrated and suddenly had a strong craving for chocolate ice cream. She felt lighter, looked better, her clothes were looser … and yet she had gained weight?

The fact is, Sammi can blame this confusion on her tricky new friend, Muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, but it looks a whole lot better on an abdomen. That's a good thing, right? Right. Unless you are a chart-reading newbie who thinks that being at low Average Weight is the mot important goal to reach.

Muscle looks better and helps our body shed pounds faster than fat does. Keep fit through exercise, and when you reach your "mirror" goal of looking great while feeling healthy, realize that you have reached your perfect personal weight, no matter what the Average Weight chart tells you.