Much has been written about finding your healthy weight but in recent years, some of the focus – especially in LadyMag Land – has shifted to finding your “happy weight.” I’m assuming that by happy weight, they are talking about a weight at which you would be both comfortable in your own skin and also healthy. And I can see that numerical Shangri-La actually existing. After all, don’t we all have a weight we feel best at?
The other night, Gym Buddy Megan sent Gym Buddy Allison and I the Self Magazine Happy Weight Calculator, asking us what we thought of our prescribed healthy weight. This amused me mightily. (On the “Friends” scale, I would put it as funnier than the episode where Monica goes to Bermuda and her hair grows to gargantuan proportions but not quite as funny as when Joey puts on all of Chandler’s clothing. And of course nothing beats Ross singing “Baby Got Back” to soothe baby Emma. But I digress.) I was giggling for two reasons:
1. The first thing you will notice about the Happy Weight Calculator is that is says in big bold letters NOT FOR USE BY PREGNANT WOMEN. Megan, as you will recall, is in her 3rd trimester. Gym Buddy Allison is also pregnant. That leaves, um, me as the only person who is actually allowed a happy weight at this point in time. And we all know I’m crazy.
2. Where does anyone get off telling me what my happy weight should be? Isn’t the very word “happy” subjective? Shouldn’t a health-loving girl be allowed to decide her own happy weight? Given the above requirements, I’m guessing that if women were really honest, our happy weights would vary widely from girl to girl. I mean everyone from Kim Kardashian to Kate Moss to Scarlett Johansson and Beth Ditto seem happy and healthy at their widely differing weights. Notable exceptions would include people with eating disorders who are obviously unhealthy and also, in my experience, pretty darn miserable.
What Makes a Weight Happy?
So what criteria does Self Mag use to determine a woman’s happy weight?
1. Height. Okay, whatever. Every weight tool uses height. Taller people get to eat more cheeseburgers, it’s a law of nature.
2. Frame size as determined by your wrist measurement. This is an interesting one to me. Bigger bones theoretically mean you weigh more, right? I suppose that is true. But is wrist size an accurate measurement of frame size? Gym Buddy Megan said she measured at a “small” but from personal experience would put herself as a “medium.” As a sad sidenote, this study discovered that frame size – the one thing you absolutely cannot change by dieting – was the #1 predictor of body dissatisfaction and dieting tendencies among young girls.
3. Obese siblings or parents. This was included, I assume, to make some accounting for genetic weight variables as well as patterns learned in one’s family of origin. In non-science speak, they’re essentially saying that apple trees don’t grow carrots.
4. Age. Sigh. People’s weight usually increases as they age. Although this can be ameliorated by watching your diet and making sure to exercise.
5. Children. The Self question actually reads “Do you have children?” Notice that it doesn’t say “Did you birth children?” Studies have shown that mothers gain weight when they get a new child whether said baby actually surfs the placental wave or finds its way cribside via other means. Of course pregnancy adds a degree of difficulty thanks to the associated weight gain. I do wonder about the inclusion of this factor though. For me, the weight I am most happy at didn’t change when I started popping tots out. To really feel like “me”, I need to get back to my pre-preg weight. But then perhaps I just have unrealistic expectations?
6. Exercise frequency. Cardio and weight training are lumped together in this factor, with emphasis on the number of workouts rather than type or intensity. It’s not ideal but it’s better than not including it, I suppose. I would have preferred to see this factor broken down further.
7. Recent smoking cessastion. Having never smoked in my life, I can only assume that people gain weight when they quit smoking as nicotine is a known appetite suppressant (oops! I think I just spilled the real “secret to Hollywood weight loss”!)
8. Treats. Seriously? Part of your happy weight (about a pound, I discovered) is accounted for by whether or not you occassionally allow yourself a treat. It doesn’t read “Do you eat sugar every day?” but rather “Do you allow yourself a treat now and then?” Who doesn’t do this? Teri Hatcher and Nicolette Sheriden come to mind as possibilities but we all saw where that got them. There’s a wide range of options between “now” and “then.” I think this question is ridiculous.
(Side note: Men are apparently not allowed to have a happy weight as the calculator makes no allowance for gender. I can’t decide if this is dissappointing or encouraging. Consider yourselves freed, men.)
My Happy Weight
According the Self calculator my “happy” weight is about 10 pounds higher than my panic weight and about 20 pounds higher than my personal feel-good weight (which, incidentally, is still a healthy BMI for those of you wondering if it is my ED voices typing this out). I would definitely not be happy at their prescribed weight. In fact – and I’m not trying to tempt fate here – but I can pretty much guarantee I’d be so miserable at that weight that I would employ drastic (read: unsafe) measures to get it back down.
But, let’s not forget, I have issues.
I think what this calculator is trying to accomplish is to manage your expectations for what your weight realistically should be. And that, I think, is quite a worthy goal. There is only frustration to be found in striving to achieve a goal your body is not made for (again, see the poor girls from the frame size study). I applaud Self for taking other factors besides just height into account. However, I don’t think this calculator necessarily accomplishes that purpose. First I think they are missing some critical factors like ethnicity, chronic illnesses, area of the country and/or world you live in, and hormones among other things. But the real problem for me is that rather than calling it what it is – a reasonable weight expectation tool – they instead promise the ever-elusive happiness in a number.
What did you think of this quiz? Did the number match up with your own happy weight? Do you think it’s a helpful tool or just one more way for us to drive ourselves nuts?
I find this a bit strange. Like you the concept of “happy” seems the wrong term, and them telling you when you will be happy, I don’t know.
I did get the idea to pitch to Men’s Health of a “How to find your happy length” test 🙂
lol! I’m cracking up at Dr. J’s comment.
To answer your question, I think it’s another way to drive us nuts.Weight is subjective. I can’t bring myself to take the quiz because it will probably depress me more than help at this point.
Gosh, I’d be so depressed right now if I gained what I needed to be at my happy weight.
I think they’ve got it all wrong.
Heck, if I lost ten pounds, no, if I lost 7 pounds, I’d be at my happy weight.
I’m glad my weight obsession hasn’t failed me after 5 decades. It keeps me healthy if I keep it controlled, and I do, it’s just part of my nature now.
my real happy weight is around 125. this calculator says i would be happier at 111.
i sincerely doubt that.
maybe they should change the “treat” button to “donut every morning” “happy hour twice a week” and “cupcake on my birthday… and your birthday”
that’s my kind of happy
I’m going to hide behind the shield of anonymity to share that my husband used the survey as evidence as why it’s okay for him to ask me to lose weight. See, he was able to say, it’s not just me. This website says your fat, too! Ah well… perhaps I’ll go and have my occasional treat.
I took the quiz out of curiosity and it said that my happy weight is 144.9. I have tried in the past to get my weight down under 150 and ended up looking and feeling sick. I have a large bone structure and huge muscles and at 150 people thought that I was starving myself (which I was) to get there. Even now people often underestimate my weight by at least 50 lbs and are usually shocked by how much I actually weigh. All this calculator did was depress and anger me. 150 is still my goal, but I will stop when I feel healthy and alive, not when a number tells me to!
Jenn
My supposed “happy weight” is about 20 lbs under my goal weight…great. I’ve not been at that weight since Junior high. I have, however, been 20 lbs more than it and I looked really good. I think I’ll keep that as my goal for happiness.
I think my “happy weight” will ALWAYS be ten less than whatever I currently weigh.
Anonymous #1 – you should go tell your husband to (insert appropriate 4-letter word here) off, IMO (sorry, Char)
The calculator gave me 154. I’m not so sure about that. Turns out I was pretty happy at 170, before I gained weight. I’m on my way back to 170 and we will see what happens then. I’m pretty sure the happy weight calculator doesn’t account for bad-ass chick muscles!
Wow! I have a lot of weight to lose then. Not feeling so happy anymore. If it’s a true ‘happy’ weight calculator then it really needs to ask how much you are willing to do (and still be happy) to maintain said ideal weight. Treat time!
My “Happy Weight” is 123. As an adult, the lowest I have been is 137, and I could not maintain that. I look at the women in my family, and most of them are large, a few are really obese, but the only small ones have a lifetime of dieting behind them.
I curl 20 lb. dumbbells, I ran 5 miles yesterday just for fun, why should I not be happy with myself? Shouldn’t the calculator take into account more factors like how big you were when you became an adult (the same size I am now) and whether you would be happy at the top of your healthy range, not the bottom?
Mine was 138.5, which sounds fairly reasonable to me. When I get close, we’ll see how happy it is. Seems a little random to me, sorta like the cosmo “what sort of kisser are you” tests, but again, doesn’t seem too off to me.
Ahh!! Mine is so high. A little more than 20 pounds higher than what I am now. I’m currently 5 pounds above my feel-good-in-my-body weight.
I did this quiz. It told me that my Happy Weight is the one that I'm at now. I can assure you I am not happy. I am about half a pound away from having a nervous breakdown! I already avoid having photographs taken of me due to cheek & chin issues! My genuine happy weight is about 8lbs lighter than what I am now, it sounds like so little but it feels like such a challenge! 🙁
Your post about Perfection has given me a lot to think about. It's silly how some things hold such high esteem in my head. Like a Perfect person would drink 2 litres of water, every day, and not forget about it. Like I do. 🙁
yep.
methinks a scale by any other name is a happy weight method of measure.
and yep.
methinks Dr J is hilarious.
Interesting. My happy weight was calculated at 168.1. Very close to what my perceived happy weight is-170. I’m currently around 190 due to stress eating so truly will be happy to get back to the 170’s where my closet full of jeans fit again.
I certainly appreciate what self is trying to do (eg make use not feel like we must strive for the lowest healthy…or unhealthy, BMI when it might be appropriate for us, even if it is in a “healthy” range). Their concept of “happy weight” is one where you are physically active but not starving yourself or overly depriving yourself to be at…which really who’s really happy like that (I know when I was suffering for anorexia I was at many weight I thought would make me happy….they didn’t).
I like the concept, but I agree with you charlotte they gave me a weight that was a handful about my just shoot me weight, a perfectly normal healthy, even thin weight, but too high for me. Partly I think they fail to take into account, in my case, that I just do work out 5+ times a week, but that for Track I run more miles in a week than 1) I drive and 2) than most people who are training for a marathon.
Anyway. another interesting post.
They’ve “tweaked” the calculator since it was published in the mag last year – I wrote a scathing letter about it at the time. Then, it told me that my happy weight was 114, which would make me unhealthy, unhappy and sickly-looking. Also, borderline BMI etc and impossible to maintain.
Now, it tells me something pretty close to where I am and it is a happy weight – I get to treat myself and still feel healthy and confident. Better.
But I still hate these stupid calculators – too many people rely on them and allow themselves to feel angry or depressed because of it.
The “happy weight” given me by the calculator is about the weight I was at when I was 13, 138 lbs. To get back to that weight, I’d have to go to drastic measures and be incredibly miserable. And my husband would start worrying about me. Really, he started worrying about me a few years ago when I hit 145.
My actual happy weight is about 150 lbs. I’m a medium framed gal, and I look better with a little meat on my bones! It also means I’m not hungry all the time, and I have the energy to pull the occasional 18 hour day at work.
All these calculators and weight guides never really seem to be that on target for anyone. How about, for a change, health and fitness magazines start focusing on health at any size? Whether a person is rail thin, “average” (what does that really mean anyway?) or overweight, we can be healthy and happy. And honestly, healthy and happy means so much more and is more important than just being skinny.
For what it’s worth, the “happy weight” they suggested was exactly (to the pound) what I had in my head before I took the quiz. It’s the weight that I look and feel good and don’t have to starve myself to get to. It’s the weight I have been trying to get myself back to since giving birth to baby #4. I am 8 lbs above that right now and I constantly notice the difference – clothes don’t fit, get tired easier, etc. Will this quiz work for everyone – no, of course not.
Ugh, even when all I ate every day was 2 yogurts and one bowl of oatmeal I was nowhere NEAR this “happy weight”. I can’t even imagine what it would take to get down that low. Now I’m going to go obsess over it all day. Thanks Self.
Hmmmm…I took the test and it says my happy weight it about 10 pounds more than “my” happy weight. I’m currently right in the middle and I’m not happy (not unhappy either, just meh), so I know adding 5 more pounds would not make me happier. Now…if I could add 5 pounds of muscle I would be thrilled!
I also think it’s funny that if I don’t allow myself a treat once in a while it says my happy weight is one pound lower. A pound? I’ll take it!
Let me preface my comment by letting you know I have spent the past 14 months losing 70 pounds by exercising regularly and eating healthy.
Having said this, I am currntly the healthiest I have EVER been and up until yesterday … I thought I was pretty darn happy!
I agree that attaching the adjective HAPPY to a weight calculator is ridiculous because it implies that if you are not at the suggested weight, then clearly you are NOT happy (or shouldn’t be)!
I’m sure SELF did not intend to cause such a ruckus, but really if they thought about it for one nano-second they would have realized that the ONLY people getting in line to take this “Happy Weight” quiz would be people who are obsessed about their weight!
My “happy weight” is 15 pounds less than what I currently weigh. I’m sure if I pushed for it I could get there, but would I truly be happy once I got there and realized the work I would have to put forth in order to maintain this “happy weight”? I think probably not!
I think instead I will throw away my scale and stop worrying about numbers! Now that would make me a happy girl!
I’ve already identified my happy weight – I’ve been there!
And I took the quiz, it came out 10lbs over my self-determined happy weight…
oh, dear. my happy weight is 20 less than what i currently weigh. my goal right now is to lose 15. i think the calculated “happy weight” of 119 would be darn near impossible for me.
Wow, my “happy weight” is 20 lbs above my current weight according to this. Yet I still feel happy. Should I not be? I absolutely enjoy the amount of activity I do (a lot) and the amount of food I eat (also a lot and plenty of treats). Maybe *some* people would classify running 40 miles per week as “extreme measures” but I happen to enjoy it. So shoot me.
If some drastic change happened in my life where I had to juggle priorities differently and could no longer be as active I am certain my weight would reflect that. I would like to think I could accept that and still be happy.
I’m almost at my “happy weight”, according to Shape (2 pounds to go!). Which is news to me, as I check myself out in the mirror every day.(It started as a challenge my therapist gave me, to find something good about my apearance. It snowballed.)
Judging from all the comments, nobody’s ever happy with being told what their weight “should” be!
I took the quiz a couple of times, changing things a wee bit until it finally came up with a weight that I was happy with! (Not that I weigh that, you understand, but I might be able to get there without cutting off a limb or something!) Of course, now I’ll have to quit smoking and find proof that I was adopted…..
sigh.
mine was 125.0, which I haven’t weight since I was about 15 years old. It’s about 50 pounds less than where I am now, and 25 pounds from where I would like to be and have been known to be happy. Honestly, I think I would be very UNhappy at 125 pounds…
Hmmm, the calculator informed me that my “happy weight” is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now. My weight fluctuates between 118 and 125 but tends to stabilize around 122. And I’m fine with that. I’m not sure this particular calculator accounts for the difference between muscles and flab. 122 pounds with muscle looks (and feels!) a lot different than 122 pounds without.
Hmmm, the calculator informed me that my “happy weight” is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now. My weight fluctuates between 118 and 125 but tends to stabilize around 122. And I’m fine with that. I’m not sure this particular calculator accounts for the difference between muscles and flab. 122 pounds with muscle looks (and feels!) a lot different than 122 pounds without.
Hmmm, the calculator informed me that my “happy weight” is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now. My weight fluctuates between 118 and 125 but tends to stabilize around 122. And I’m fine with that. I’m not sure this particular calculator accounts for the difference between muscles and flab. 122 pounds with muscle looks (and feels!) a lot different than 122 pounds without.
The last time I was at my ‘happy’ weight, I was not eating due to a severely stressed-out life. I think this calculator needs new batteries.
All the same, I always try these sort of things. Curiosity rules 🙂
My "Happy Weight" was right on – not that it is realistic for me to reach my happy weight right now…but the quiz was correct. If I said I was medium framed I got a much better more realistic for my life today goal; now if I could just get time & motivation together simultaneously to get going.
This test was close to my happy weight.. maybe high by 2-3# if indeed I am a small frame. But I know at that weight, my body fat is still 30%… which does not make me happy.
If I could get teh body fat down, and have that weight mean more muscle.. then yeah. I’d take it. So the number on the scale really doesn’t mean a thing…
It seems silly. Mine prescribes my happy weight as being about 10 lbs heavier too.
The thing is, when I was at that weight that they tell me is my happy weight, I WAS happy, because it had been my goal weight when I was trying to lose. But then I realized that I could still stand to lose a bit more weight, so if I went up to that weight NOW I would not be happy with it.
But kudos to Self for trying!
My vote goes to “one more way to drive ourselves nuts”.
The “Happy Weight” that the quiz gives me would indeed make me happy…If I could figure out how to get there without starving myself.
my happy weight, oddly enough is the same as my drivers license (115) which is about 4 pounds less than I weigh now, but I would take my last two triathlon finishes (1st place and 2nd place age group respectively) over being 115. I feel happy and strong.
stupid calculator. you would think Self magazine would know better to include some factor for muscle. The whole “skinny fat” epidemic is ridiculous.
Wow. that’s odd. That whole “happy weight” thing seems so…arbitrary.
(I’m still laughing at Dr. J’s first comment!)
So, I did my own experiment. I was told a LONG time ago that I have a medium frame, but I think I have a large frame. So I calculated my “happy weight” with both. With a large frame, it was doable, with a medium frame it was unattainable without starvation and exercising 4 hours a day.
In the end, I think an arbitrary number on a scale is BS. (They don’t take into account muscle mass, for example.)
I say we all toss our scales out the window (or, y’know, in a dumpster) and focus on feeling good and being healthy!
I too took this test a couple of days ago, after seeing a link on someone else’s blog.
I thought – oh, here’e the secret I have been waiting for, since I seem to have issues with deciding on an optimal weight for myself.
So I enter in all my info and WOW!
It tells me my Happy Weight is 153. If I weighed 153 I think I would have a breakdown. And here I am at 138 and panicking. I think my happy weight is more like 133 or 130 even. But who knows, like I said, I too have issues
I don’t have outlook, so everytime I click on the email you part you your page, it won’t let me access your email address. Do you mind just responding in the comment section with your address? Thanks!
Lauren
I’m right at my happy weight (according to the calculator), but it’s on the high end of where I like to be.
I think it’s funny that my happy weight is a round number no matter how I fiddle with the radio buttons…
Yeah, this thing is a load, but it’s kind of funny to tinker with it to see what it spits out.
HAHAHAHAAAAA! I just took that test, and as an experiment, used my current stats: workout 3 times a week (when I add martial arts back in next week it’ll be 5, but right now it’s 3) and a treat now and then.
The weight it came back with was a weight I’ve been. A weight where I exercised for an hour and half, 6 days a week and ate one meal a day, plus some lollipops to curb my hunger.
“Three days a week with a treat now and then,” my a$$.
Also, re: the wrist measurement? I never go by that. I average out my frame, because my wrists, ribcage and neck are teeny-tiny, but my shoulders, hips, and thigh bones (femurs?) are relatively large. So I always select for “medium.”
This is stupid.
MAYBE they could come up with a “happy body fat % number”. That would be a lot more accurate.
There are SO MANY FACTORS that very from person to person when it comes to determining what is a healthy lean body mass for that person. Some perfectly healthy and happy people would probably have to saw off a limb to be at their “happy” body weight. Others, like Charlotte, would have to pile on the poundage.
Ridiculous.
Happy is a different thing for everybody. When I think “happy weight” I think its one that I feel good at – but most importantly, it is one that I don’t have to go to extreme measures to maintain. And according to Self I am now at my happy weight. Hmm . . . I don’t feel especially happy though. I’m not going to be throwing a party to celebrate my weight. 😉
I meant “vary”, not “very”.
having been a bigger girl in my past, I was kind of happy that it gave me a reasonable weight to strive for, just 10 lbs less than where I am now, rather than the 20-30 that I might try to lose to look like Angelina Jolie. I think it can be helpful to give some women a more realistic idea of where they can go, but there are certainly no guarantees that they will be happy there. I have a feeling that I will look like a head tipping off the top of a stick if I lose another 10 lbs…
“Happy weight” is so relative. I’m currently at a weight that many here would recoil from with horror; but for me, it’s the least I’ve weighed in about 14 years. I’d like to lose more, but gotta admit, I’m feeling pretty darn healthy-happy right now. I give more credit for that, though, to being active and eating healthfully than to the number on the scale.
I took the quiz because I set a very ambitious goal weight, and I’ve been questioning lately what it would take to achieve it, and whether I’d be happier setting it at a different point in the healthy BMI range. The calculator result was more than my goal, but still a weight I haven’t seen since college, and I’d probably be content with it. I don’t think I’ll really know until I get closer to it.
A note on using the wrist measurement for frame size: Mine currently puts me in the “medium” range, but I know my wrist size has shrunk as I’ve lost weight. So had I taken the quiz several months ago, I would have gotten a different “happy weight.” For my height and age, the difference between medium and large frame was 5.2 pounds. Treat vs. no treat difference was only one pound. Oy. Pass the chocolate. And I too had a problem with the exercise criteria: they ask # of days/week you work out, but there’s no specification for duration of these workouts. Or type, as Charlotte noted.
The calculator said my happy weight is just about where I am now, which makes me happy. I feel healthy, strong and content with where I’m at. If I could wave a magic wand and take off 5-10 pounds, would I? Maybe. Well – five pounds, yes. For me I always want to be just a “little” leaner. That said, looking back at my weight history in my life, I am definitely the happiest I’ve ever been.
My happy weight is 23 pounds lower than I consider my happy weight, which is a weight I was thrilled with my body, the way it looked, the things it was capable of doing and the way clothes fit me.
And on another point, they don’t take into account the size of your breasts. I figure mine weigh about 5 pounds each LOL.
I had exactly the opposite experience you did, Charlotte. I input all the factors, and I came up with a body weight a good 20lbs LIGHTER than my happy wieght (which is 5-10lbs lighter than I am now)…and I’m not that heavy! I’m not skinny by any stretch, but I would have to really go through some seriously food cutback measures (possibly to an unhealthy level) to drop 20lbs.
One thing they don’t take into account is body structure. I mean, it’s all well and good to say you have a large frame…but if you’re hoisting a D cup around, and have a proportional hip size (but a small waist), that’s not the same as someone who’s weight is less structure (chest and butt) and more fat. How’s that for a run-on sentence?
Lauren – no problem! My e-mail is chariander AT gmail DOT com
I decided to try it out. To be honest, the “happy weight” they gave me is really hard for me to obtain. When I did reach it, I felt better about how I looked, but I was also in the depth of my eating disordered behavior and there was nothing I could be happy about.
For kicks, I went back and tried their “weight range” calculator for 5’7″. It allows between 118 and 159.
Considering my “happy weight” for a medium frame was 140 pounds, I wondered what it would take to get 118.
21 years old, small frame, 5 days a week, not smoking, not a parent, allows no treats?
129.2
Gonna call shenanigans on this one!
I actually don’t mind the idea of a “happy weight.” I think it’s an interesting concept. BMI and and body fat measurements can help gauge if you’re in a medically healthy range, but they don’t always take in to account the psychological effects of weight. I’m guessing that everyone reading this blog has more of an interest in weight and body image than can be quantified by one of these impersonal and “black and white” charts/graphs. The idea of a “happy weight” that takes into account health, confidence, all all the other variables that come in to play is a good one. However, I agree that happy is a subjective term and will be different for each person. I also think a “happy weight” may not be a number but a range. Maybe your happy weight is a bit lower in the summer because you enjoy walks in the parks with your kids or to the library and a little higher in the winter because you like drinking hot cocoa while watching movies in front of the fire. That’s ok too! So, I’d refine the explanation of “happy weight” a bit too, if I were SELF magazine. I also agree with expanding the questions a bit… what kind of physical activity at what intensity level (hatha yoga v. marathon training v. spinning class v. walking… and so on). And, finally, the last question is completely insane. There’s no other way to phrase it… “do you allow yourself a treat now and then”… uhhhh… the answer for every single person better be yes or they have bigger fish to fry than their happy weight.
My rant has now concluded, although I will throw in, just for comparison purposes, that I thought my happy weight was cited as about 20 pounds heavier than where I feel best.
thanks for the friends episode reference! LOVED IT!!! I read about this in SELF before and my “happy weight” is over what I consider “happy” too! and the do you occasionally enjoy a treat is so WRONG!
Ugh, good thing I don’t go by BMIs and this kind of thing, cause if so I’d be on track to make myself really really sick! To illustrate: about ten years ago I had severe PTSD (from something I will not go into now, but rest assured the perp is in jail for life), and pretty much stopped eating for a while. But since I still had muscles and strong bones and stuff, I was about 15 pounds heavier than my “happy weight.” Which I can assure you was not a happy weight AT ALL!! (And I shudder to think how sick I would have had to be to get down to it.) I am now a healthy and pretty darn happy weight that is a heck of a lot more than my so-called “happy weight.” I am very strong, my waist is a respectable 28 inches, and I am quite content with my body and life in general. That test is ridiculous.
it would be nice if the calculator asked more questions, then at the end, when you hit the button for results it turned your computer screen into a great big mirror.
granted, we all have fitness goals. but, there is a way to be happy at the weight you are right now.
My ‘happy weight’ is supposedly three kilos above where I feel happy, and four above my current weight. Perhaps I should have entered ‘medium’ instead of ‘small’ as my frame size. I also suspect it gave me quite a low weight because I work out so much.
I got close to my supposed happy weight and was just too thin and gaunt. I would not be able to sustain that weight and continue to do all the runnign and cycling that I do. I would burn myself out. As it is I’m right in the middle of the BMI healthy range (and yes, I know the BMI thing has issues as well) and I’m happy with that.
I agree, I have trouble with this being called a “happy weight”. And it’s alleged “happy weight” for me, is 7 lbs less then my goal weight which is like yours, well withing the healthy BMI rangel Needless to say, this “happy weight” didn’t make me happy!
I took the test and found it ludicrous, and quite depressing. It put me at a weight 1 stone BELOW that which I’ve ever managed to maintain – that’s even when I was embroiled in my own version of orthorexia.
Pah- Note to Self Magazine. I’LL decide my happy weight thanks!
CP x
ha! i have teeny tiny wrists but 12-inch (c)ankles. wonder if that would skew my results? ps i’m tall but dohn eet cheezburgers 🙂
A video about post-baby weight
http://mightygirl.com/2009/03/02/momversation-post-baby-body/
*UGH!*
Numbers are just crazy-making!
Especially those doled out through some magazine calculator.
I eat whole grains, fresh fruit & veg, balanced with dairy and protein, and I dance three times per week–yet my "happy weight" is still 11 pounds UNDER where I am right now?!?
BULL.
SHIT.
(pardon, Charlotte!)
As long as I am eating right and exercising regularly, I don't need some frigging number as my goal.
Especially not when it's touted as my "happy weight".
Bite me, Self Mag.
My happy weight on this was 126.6 pounds, which is almost exactly where I am right now. And for me, that’s really about right – it’s easy for me to maintain, and I look pretty darn good!
I did find out last week that we will be going to England and France in 11 weeks, and it gave me a motivation to shape up just a *bit* more. I’ve found a little bit of fat in places I don’t want it, and figure I can stick to it for 11 weeks, right?
I ran the calculator (thanks for the easy link, btw) and it says mine would be 140.8
I’m below this now and I’m not any happier with my body than I was when I was 10lbs above this “happy” level. I have concluded that I am likely not to be satisfied at my current weight with my current mindset. Every week I have been dropping a pound or two and every week my “goal” weight decreases in proportion.
The BF and I recently had a chat about this when I said I wanted to be 120lbs. His reaction was “gross” and this reminded me that my goals are not always the most healthy options out there…
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I realize I’m coming to this a bit later than most but I was tinkering on the interwebs and came across this fab blog entry. Kudos to Dr J and the bag lady and a HUGE thanks to Leigh Anne for the boob comment. My so-called happy weight is at least 10 pounds too low. Definitely casting my vote for something to drive us nuts. You’re right, it makes a stab at factors other than just height but doesn’t look at enough factors or sufficiently in depth … I’m petite with teeny tiny wrists but carry around an F cup … Also, according to this, whether I work out 1, 3, or 5 times per week the happy weight changes by no more than a pound between them.
I did this out of boredom and procastinating and it said that I was too young to have a happy weight (I am 18 years old), like what is that supposed to even mean, that I will not be happy with whatever it says or that I am not allowed to have a happy weight until the age of 21. This slightly annoys me but it said that in 3 years my happy weight will be 126.6 pounds, but i disagree with that because I have a high metabolism and currently weigh 114 pounds which is very comfortable for me. So I think self magazine can take their opinion and stick it up their ass. All women need is a weight that feel comfortable while still healthy.
http://smdu85gjSASA.com
Pretty! This has been an extremely wonderful article.
Thank you for supplying this information.
I guess I’m lucky: the happy weight this calculator gives me is the weight I’ve weighed most of my adult life. I was always struggling to weigh 10 lbs less. Now I’ve finally stopped that and I’m just focusing on maintaining, which isn’t always easy, as I could easily weigh 10 lbs more if I let myself.
I thought it as interesting. I tried two different ‘happy weight’ calculators , the one on the ‘self’ website and the other on healthcentral. Self gave me a weight 8 lbs heavier than what I am now, and health central gave me a weight 16 lbs heaver. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. I doubt I will be happy no matter what weight I am.
I also think it is important to note that I am NOT underweight.
Found a link that may be helpful for people determining frame size :
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17182.htm