Numbers

Numbers, they mean so much to so many people, in so many different ways.  I'll look at a few numbers that have been floating around in my head.

60% That's the percent of weight loss of the most recent Biggest Loser Winner.  Now this on previous seasons has been viewed as a success story- but this year this number is being waved around as too much.

Picture Source: CNN.com

I haven't watched the show in a few seasons because it all spun a little too out of control for me, and the contestants seemed to care more about "the game" than their health.  All the same, I couldn't help doing a little research into this.  Rachel is 24 years old and at the start of the season, weighed 260 pounds at 5'4 (BMI: 44.6), at the end of the season she took away the $250,000 prize money by losing 155 pounds (60% of her body weight) and went down to 105 pounds (BMI: 18).

Now everyone is all in a stir about this.  I'm not one to place judgement, especially not when I don't know the story.  All I do know is, too much emphasis is placed on the number.  We get caught up on the scale, or the dress size, and don't pay attention to the feedback our body is giving us.  Do you feel good?  Did you eat enough for your body to not eat away your muscle mass, for you to get your workout in?  Did you eat junk and now you're not running at your top efficiency? These are questions we don't ask.  Instead we ask, how many pounds did I lose/gain?  Do I need to buy biggest pants?  Even the BMI is not a perfect number, 18.5-25 is a "healthy BMI" 25-30 is overweight, that means that at 5'4 and 148 lbs, a woman is overweight.  Also a 5'10 man at 175 pounds is overweight. 

COME ON!  Seriously?  We all know someone in incredibly good shape that meets this description and these stats and we would have never thought of them as "overweight."

So really, lets stop with these numbers, scale, BMI, GUIDELINES ONLY!  Lets go based on how we feel.  I am just as guilty as the rest- on the scale once daily, but I am trying to use it as a sign of hydration, and less as a measure of anything else, certainly not of how I am doing.


More Numbers: 8.... hours in a work day, 16 in a double shift.  These are hours we beg to be over, count them down, and in some cases dread.  Can we learn to enjoy these?  Can we get something out of work (other than a paycheck)?  I don't know the answer, just a thought.

17
Number of hours that I have to complete 140.6 (more numbers) miles.  Holy crap, seriously?  A double shift worth of that?  Although some days I think working out for 17 hours would be easier than 17 hours of medicine (certainly 17 hours in the ED).

24
Hours in a day- doesn't quite seem like enough most days.