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by Joe Grossberg.
Original Post: A Big (No Pun Intended) Milestone
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This morning, I got on the scale and it read 199.8 lbs. Of course, I got off and back on and it read 200.2 lbs., so it's only accurate within a half-pound. And I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, or had any water to drink.
But, for the first time since college (almost ten years ago — yikes!), I am under 200 lbs. Even if it was only for a few seconds.
Weight surely isn't everything. Going by pounds alone, a champion boxer is in worse shape than a feeble old man. But, like SAT or IQ scores, it's not worthless guideline either. Unless you're a real athlete or really malnourished, extra weight is probably bad and you want to will probably be healthier if you shed it. But I digress.
When you are trying to get into shape, it's important to have specific goals. Losing some weight, getting healthier, looking more attractive, feeling better — these are all noteworthy concepts. But they give you nothing to aim at.
Like Yogi Berra (allegedly) said: "You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there."
If you want to get into better shape, it is really helpful to have a specific, quantifiable goal: lose 20 pounds, fit into that old pair of size-34 jeans, run 3 miles in 30 minutes, bench press your own weight.
It gives you focus and it gives you a good way of measuring your progress. I know it worked for me. It wasn't a steady path down, and every time my weight bumped up by four pounds along the way, I had an objective that I needed to stop slacking.
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