Bein' Big in a Small World

I'm off the chart! 

I'm thinking about dieting. I'm in the preliminary planning stage.  Planning weight loss is easier than doing.  Planning is one thing I do well.  Doing - not so well.  For my diet plan I start by checking one of those height/weight charts.  I remember someone referring to such a chart and noticing he was the proper weight for someone six inches taller.  He concluded he is not overweight but undertall.  I like that notion and decide to start checking for how tall I need to be for my weight. 

And I discover I'm off the chart.  There is no height on the chart that matches my current weight. 

It gets worse.  I've been thinking of a target weight based on remembering when I last felt good.  Maybe I'll lose about XX pounds to get to that weight.  My target weight isn't on the chart either.  There is no height where even my target weight is acceptable. 

Simply, based on these charts, no human being should weigh what I weigh or even what I want to weigh. 

Now this blog is about women, of which I am not one.  Why am I talking about my diet in a blog about women who play football? 

There is a female side on the height/weight chart I checked, one side for males and the other for females.  And that makes me happy I'm not female.  Proper weights for women are lower than for men.  Even men of similar height.  A male who is 5' 10" should weigh no more than 179 pounds.  A woman of that height, 173 pounds.  The maximum chart-weight for a male is 202.  The max for a woman is 179.

This looks bad for the Outlaw but she told me
afterward that she used her speed to slip off
the block and pursue the ball carrier.

 So as I'm planning (you might call it procrastinating) my diet, I think about women football players.  The Oklahoma City Lightning a couple years ago  boasted their entire line weighed over 300 pounds.  Each.  And the Lighting was a great team, a Nemesis for the Outlaws, a team we just couldn't beat even when we knew we were better.  How much of the Lightning success was due to the big ladies in their line? 

A lot.  If you weigh 200 pounds and you're going against an opponent who weighs 300, you have a problem. 

So the weight chart says the Oklahoma City line are more than 100 pounds heavier than the ideal weight.  Bad.  And the Oklahoma City coaches say their line are more than 100 pounds heavier than the chart.  Good.  And the Oklahoma City win-loss record suggests the coaches may be right. 

We're living in a society where bein' big is frowned upon, especially if you're female.  Society is wrong about a lot of things and ideal size is one of them.  And football is proof positive.  I know several Outlaws who are way off the height/weight chart but are in excellent physical condition, who are strong, who can run up and down the field, who contribute big time to the success of the team.  One of the great things about women's professional football is, to quote KJ Scheib one more time, "they don't tell me to lose weight." 

Some big Oklahoma City players squashing Outlaws.  Ouch!

As I plan and maybe even do diet, I'm going to occasionally use this blog to discuss the subject of bein' big.  Big in general.  From my experience this world is designed by little people for little people. Have you been to a banquet, seated at tables with table rounds of ten?  Flown on an airplane where only 1st class seats are big enough?  Sat on narrow folding chairs in a meeting hall?

I'll be posting about bein' big in this small world. 

And I'll post about "big" in football. 

If you have thoughts I'd love to hear from you.