June 2003. One of my clients, Natalie, was discouraged this week. She's 5'8" and beautiful, and has lost around 75 pounds in the last year. I get free magazines from publishers on a regular basis and had given her a copy of the July 2003 "Fitness" magazine, which usually has some really good stuff in it.

This particular issue, however, was celebrating its 3 winners of their Fitness contest. The magazine had spent some time finding women who most strongly represent "fitness" and had chosen 3 5'8"-5'9" women who were 115-120 pounds each!!!

Now, Natalie isn't 115 pounds and she was upset with the new "realization" that she was further from being fit than she had thought. When I last left her she was feeling great. On this day, she was feeling more like a failure and I was really ticked off!

People, I'm 5'4" and I'm 115 when I'm at my very leanest after dieting very very very strictly to get into "photo-shoot" readiness. It's extremely difficult to get to and impossible to maintain for long, and IS NOT REALISTIC for a 5'8" woman! I am going to write a letter to the editor and tell them, too!

As one of my first orders of business when I get a new client, I do a body fat measurement. The opposite of body fat is lean mass. So, if a person registers 20% body fat, for example, they are 80% lean. Most 5'3-5'5 SEDENTARY women, meaning they have very little muscle, register ~95 pounds lean mass. At that small frame, 115-95=20 pounds of fat mass. Lean mass is comprised of skeleton, organs, skin (which is an organ as well), eyes, hair, muscle etc. Think about it. Does 95 pounds seem like enough weight for all of that for someone who is nearly 6 feet tall? It might if there is absolutely no muscle or a problem with bone density, but not for a healthy female!

Ladies, I don't want you to be discouraged. Your weight is what it is. It really doesn't matter, but I know you fret about it. If I were you and I was 120 pounds at petite height, and 130 pounds at an average height and 140-160 at a taller average height and 170-200 at a tall height, as long as my clothes were the size I wanted them to be and my body was basically slender (not skinny!), and I FELT GOOD, I would be happy!

Be encouraged, okay? Not everything you read is good for you. Health is the primary thing, right? Spiritual, physical and intellectual health. You go for those things and you'll be doing just fine.