Hand on heart: Which number is the first to pop into your head when you think of your dream weight?
This is exactly the question you should ask yourself, with complete honesty, before you dive into your next weight-loss attempt. Because in the vast majority of cases, a personal desired weight lies miles below what would actually be a healthy, stable ideal weight for your own body.
Where does this urge to weigh as little as possible actually come from?
Its origin lies in a beauty ideal that many of us grew up with. If you came of age before the turn of the millennium, you know this constant barrage all too well: from TV series, magazines and fashion shows, extremely thin women stared back at us. For years, we were subtly taught that if you are slim, you are disciplined, healthy and successful. If you are not, you have lost control.
No wonder, then, that we adopt such distorted images entirely unconsciously as the yardstick for our own bodies.
Let me be completely honest and share something personal:
For years, I, too, could not free myself from this. I chased that unattainable image endlessly – until at some point I found myself in the middle of an eating disorder.
That cursed flat stomach in particular was the holy grail for me. But no matter how thin I starved myself, no matter how hard I fought: a small belly always remained visible. Why? Because my spine is naturally very straight and has hardly any S-curve. You simply cannot starve your way past your own anatomy!
On top of that came this absurd fixation on numbers: for heaven's sake, no 6 at the front of the scale! 59 kilos? Just about okay. But never 60. Yet my true, biological ideal weight – the range in which my body functions optimally and feels completely well – is 61 kilos. Utterly crazy, isn't it? Today I know: my view of myself was completely distorted.
“Your comfortable weight is not a number on a plastic scale – it is the feeling of starting your day full of energy, without a single thought about calories.”
Anne Krenzin
Perfect on the outside, healthy on the inside? If only it were that simple!
Fortunately, this rigid image is slowly changing. More and more people show themselves as they really are, proving that success and charisma have absolutely nothing to do with dress size 34 (US size 2).
Remind yourself again and again: a seemingly perfect body says absolutely nothing about how healthy someone is on the inside!
Today, you see countless people who sweat in the gym five days a week, show off defined abs and let themselves be celebrated online as fitness role models. But take a look behind the scenes: it is almost entirely about appearance alone. Often, it no longer has anything to do with real health!
Fact Check: Desired Weight vs. Biological Comfort Weight
Desired Weight (Aesthetic Ideal)
Often shaped by social media or weights from our younger years. Only maintainable through permanent restriction and high stress.
Biological Comfort Weight (Sustainable Balance)
Optimal basal metabolic rate, stable hormones, a high quality of life and lasting stability – entirely without diet stress.
Synthetic powders and capsules are swallowed en masse, and in my career I have actually met people who forced down 20 egg whites a day – maximum protein, zero fat, whatever the cost. This kind of circus has nothing whatsoever to do with balanced, enjoyable eating.
So before you set off the next time, pause for a moment: Which weight do you actually want to reach – and above all, for whom? For a number on a display? For strangers on the internet?
Be honest and gentle with yourself. Question your goals, say goodbye to unrealistic templates and start listening again to what truly does your own body good.
