Fatness not necessarily an indication of overall health

a pretty poor return on the investment. One representative study that I often quote suggests that most people regain 95 percent of lost weight after five years.

Let me share two points with you on this issue that I’ve been teaching my students for a long time. Here’s the first one: Measure what you want to measure and change what you want to change. This sounds like common sense but I’ve had lots clients over the years step onto a bathroom scale, get disgusted with the numbers and go about trying to reduce their weight. Weight is mass times gravity. Without getting too technical about it, your body mass is not only a function of how much fat you carry around but it also includes your muscle mass, your bone density, and your hydration state. You could certainly wrap yourself in garbage bags, step into a sauna, and lose weight but... would you be any healthier as a result? Of course not. That’s why you need to forget about the bathroom scale and get your body composition measured. A qualified fitness professional can do this for you. Once you know your lean mass (e.g. muscle and bone) you can begin a weight training program to help you maintain or increase that important tissue.

Another thing to keep in mind is that your body composition is only one dimension of your physical fitness. You are physically fit in terms of your health (e.g. aerobic abilities), your motor skills (e.g. reaction time), and physiology (e.g. blood pressure).

Although your body composition is part of your health-related physical fitness, it is quite possible to lower your blood pressure, improve your reaction time, and run a marathon without much change to your fatness. This fact struck me a few years ago when I found myself at the finish line of the Seattle Marathon. People with not-so-impressive physiques were finishing that race in less than four hours. Yours truly at 9 percent body fat could not do that.

If how you look matters to you, then by all means get your body composition measured and work with a fitness professional to reduce your percent fat. It can be done. But if your resolution involves improving your personal health through physical fitness (A very, very worthy goal!), don’t think that you have to look like an idol to make it happen. I’ve met some of them, by the way, and even have a tough time keeping up appearances.