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"  Writer Abby Ellin went to doctors, fitness experts -- even her mom! -- to find out if she was at a healthy weight. What she learned will surprise you. I hate scales. Just the sight of them makes me break out in a sweat. It could be because I spent the better part of my teens beholden to the numbers on the scale; those little black lines would dictate my mood for the rest of the day. If the number was lower than expected, life was wonderful, beautiful, terrific. But if the scale read even a pound higher than my ideal, I would feel instantly miserable, depressed and convinced obesity was lurking around the corner. I grappled with 25 extra pounds as a kid; I went to Weight Watchers and Diet Workshop, and spent six years, from age 16 on, going to fat camp, where we unhappy campers stepped on the scale every week.  By my early 20s, thanks to almost-daily workouts and the stress of graduate school, I was no longer carrying extra pounds. And for the most part, I felt genuinely free of the weight-number craziness that afflicts so many women. Avoiding any machine or contraption that had the ability to weigh and measure me meant I never again had to play the seesaw scale game.  And then earlier this year, at age 37, I published a book, Teenage Waistland: A Former Fat Kid Weighs In on Living Large, Losing Weight, and How Parents Can (and Can&amp;#039;t) Help. As the title suggests, it&amp;#039;s a memoir about my experiences as a fat kid, as well as an investigation into what does and doesn&amp;#039;t work for other overweight kids. I did a lot of interviews to promote the book, and invariably, each interviewer would ask about my weight.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s fine,&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;d say with absolute certainty. &amp;quot;I never step on the scale, but I&amp;#039;m totally healthy.&amp;quot; This response worked well until one especially dogged reporter pushed me on it. &amp;quot;If you don&amp;#039;t weigh yourself, how do you know you&amp;#039;re healthy?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Because my clothes fit, I exercise at least three times a week, and numbers really don&amp;#039;t matter,&amp;quot; I replied. Besides, I rationalized, even weight-loss experts can&amp;#039;t agree on what a &amp;quot;healthy&amp;quot; weight is. In April of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that carrying around a little extra weight -- 10 to 15 pounds -- could help you live longer. A month later, they retracted their findings. Hmm. No wonder we all feel crazy. But the reporter&amp;#039;s question got me thinking. Maybe I&amp;#039;m not technically, according to the professionals, as healthy as I thought. Maybe I am too heavy for my five-foot-two-and-a-half-inch frame -- even if I can fit into a size 6. Was the answer in the numbers on the scale after all? I didn&amp;#039;t think so -- but I had to find out.  Friends, family and strangers weigh in: &amp;quot;You look great!&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Of course you are!&amp;quot; says my friend when I ask her if she thinks I am a healthy weight. I&amp;#039;ve known her since college, and she tends to be honest with me.  &amp;quot;You look fine to me,&amp;quot; says my ex-boyfriend Peter.  My doorman: &amp;quot;You look great!&amp;quot;  The guy at the Laundromat concurs (&amp;quot;Perfecto!&amp;quot; he proclaims, eyeing me up and down), and so does the woman at the deli. &amp;quot;You are a good weight, healthy,&amp;quot; she says. She laughs and rubs her hands over her rotund body. &amp;quot;Me, not so good.&amp;quot;  Even my mother dubs me &amp;quot;fit&amp;quot; -- one of the highest compliments she has ever paid me -- and my brother says, &amp;quot;You look good.&amp;quot; Gee, thanks, guys! The cardiologist counters: &amp;quot;Technically, you&amp;#039;re overweight.&amp;quot;  I am feeling very smug -- and healthy -- when I walk into the office of Lori Mosca, M.D., director of preventative cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She looks me up and down like a slab of meat and asks me to step on the scale. My heart drops.  &amp;quot;Can we just do an estimate?&amp;quot; I protest. I feel like a high school student about to take an exam for which she hasn&amp;#039;t studied.  She shakes her head.  &amp;quot;Okay -- but I don&amp;#039;t want to know what it says,&amp;quot; I say, heading to the bathroom first to rid my body of excess fluid. I come out, step on and snap my eyes tightly shut while the metal bar clunks against the scale. I hear her sliding it and can&amp;#039;t help myself. I squint and then open one eye: 138 pounds. Hmm. Less than I expected, actually -- and considering it&amp;#039;s the middle of the day and I am getting my period, it&amp;#039;s probably more like 135 pounds, which isn&amp;#039;t bad at all (at my heaviest, right after my freshman year of college, I weighed 150). I am pleased.  Unfortunately, the good doctor isn&amp;#039;t. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s too high,&amp;quot; she says, whipping a measuring tape out of her pocket and wrapping it around my waist. &amp;quot;Your BMI is 25.1. Technically, since it&amp;#039;s more than 24.9, you are overweight. But let&amp;#039;s see the circumference of your waist. That&amp;#039;s what really matters. Twenty-nine inches. Good.&amp;quot;  My blood pressure is a healthy 110/60. I start to relax. But then Dr. Mosca goes and ruins it by taking my cholesterol, which has always been high. My total cholesterol is 241, and my LDL, the so-called &amp;quot;bad kind,&amp;quot; is 145. It&amp;#039;s genetic -- my parents and grandparents have high cholesterol, so I&amp;#039;ve never been too worried. But Dr. Mosca is.  She points to a five-pound glob of faux fat that sits squarely on her desk. &amp;quot;If you don&amp;#039;t lose at least one, if not two, of these now you run the risk of heart disease and obesity later on,&amp;quot;&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re 37. You&amp;#039;ll be hitting menopause in the next couple of years, and most women gain weight then.&amp;quot; It sounded ominous -- three of my grandparents died of heart-related conditions -- but I would never let myself get obese. (Besides, I thought: Menopause? I don&amp;#039;t even have kids yet; I can&amp;#039;t be close to menopause!)  She proclaims me overweight and tells me to exercise 30 to 60 minutes every day and lose five pounds over the next six to seven months.  &amp;quot;Wait a minute,&amp;quot; I said. I&amp;#039;d spent my entire life trying to get to a good place about my weight, and now this person who doesn&amp;#039;t even know me is calling me overweight? &amp;quot;What if you walked by me on the street?&amp;quot; I asked. &amp;quot;What would you think then?&amp;quot;  She doesn&amp;#039;t skip a beat. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re overweight, but since most Americans are, you look normal.&amp;quot; Ouch.   What Should Your Blood Pressure Be? A reading of less than 120/80 mm Hg is optimal; 120/80 to 139/89 is considered pre-hypertension; 140/90 and above is considered hypertension. When you have hypertension, it means your heart has to work harder to get the blood where it needs to go. Over time, this takes a toll on your body. Have your blood pressure checked no matter how old (or young) you are. Weight loss and exercise can help lower your numbers.  The nutritionist explains: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not weight that&amp;#039;s important, it&amp;#039;s measurements.&amp;quot;  I visit Heidi Mochari, R.D., the nutritionist who works with Dr. Mosca. I like Heidi right away. She is a lot less scary, and less certain that I will die a fast, fat death. I tell her I think Dr. Mosca is overreacting. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not overweight!&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not the weight that&amp;#039;s important, it&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Are you meeting the lifestyle goals that we know are associated with a reduced risk of heart disease?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; she says, flipping through my records. &amp;quot;Your weight is a sign that perhaps not everything is optimized. Your cholesterol is high.&amp;quot;  I ask Heidi about my appearance, if she thinks I look too heavy, and she&amp;#039;s silent for a moment. &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t assess people by how they look,&amp;quot; she says carefully, sounding like a shrink well-versed in answer avoidance. &amp;quot;I use measurements. You&amp;#039;re at a low risk for heart disease because of your age, but you do need to watch your cholesterol.&amp;quot; She recommends I get 25 grams of fiber a day, zero to little saturated fat and no trans fat, and avoid processed foods. &amp;quot;Try to exercise a little more, and keep a food log,&amp;quot; she says.  Cholesterol Counts When your body builds up too much of this fatty substance -- due to the foods you eat and/or genetic tendencies -- it clogs your arteries and interferes with blood flow to vital organs, including your brain, heart and liver. Everyone over age 20 should know their numbers. A normal total cholesterol reading is less than 200. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) should be less than 129; high-density lipoproteins (HDL) should be more than 60.  Why Waist Size Matters Extra fat that&amp;#039;s stored around your middle puts added stress on your liver, heart and pancreas, which is directly linked to heart disease and diabetes. The recommendation for women is a waist measurement under 35 inches. If you measure above 34 inches, experts advise weight loss and exercise to lower your risk factor &amp;quot;Don&amp;#039;t worry about the numbers on a scale -- body fat percentage is more important.&amp;quot;  The next day I visit Yoav Suprun, M.D., a physical therapist at EMH Physical Therapy in Manhattan. He asks me to get on the scale. Today, I weigh 137.5 pounds and have a 27-inch waist. My BMI, alas, is still 25.1, but Dr. Suprun is more concerned with my body fat percentage, which he analyzes by having me step on a scale that measures body fat in addition to pounds. My number: 24 percent. The ideal is 18.5 to 24.9, so I feel like throwing a party.  &amp;quot;According to the National Institutes of Health, you&amp;#039;re at the high end of normal,&amp;quot; Dr. Suprun says. &amp;quot;Not bad, but you could do better.&amp;quot; He says I should lose six to seven pounds of body fat. He recommends some kind of cardiovascular activity 45 to 60 minutes, five days a week, as well as weight-training four to five times a week for an hour. Seems like an awful lot of time in the gym, but he says I can do strength-training moves that&amp;#039;ll also get my cardio up. &amp;quot;The number on the scale might increase, but so will your muscle tone,&amp;quot; he says.  &amp;quot;My BMI might go up then, right?&amp;quot; I ask. He nods. &amp;quot;But don&amp;#039;t worry about the numbers on the scale. People should buy a scale that can read the percentage of fat. That&amp;#039;s much more important.&amp;quot;  Body Fat or BMI? The more body fat you have, the higher your risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. The ideal percentage is 18.5 to 24.9. No need to go to a fitness expert to calculate yours. Digital scales available at stores like Target and Bed Bath &amp;amp;amp; Beyond measure body fat for you.  Knowing your BMI is helpful, too. This number identifies what weight category you fall within -- normal, overweight or obese -- based on your height and weight. But BMI needs to be used with other measurements. For instance, if your BMI indicates you&amp;#039;re overweight, but your waist circumference and cholesterol are normal, then weight-related disease isn&amp;#039;t likely a major concern. On the other hand, your BMI might fall within a normal range, but if your waist circumference and cholesterol are above normal, then you need to consider weight loss and regular exercise.  To calculate your BMI, take your weight in pounds, divide it by your height in inches squared and multiply by 703. (Or click here for an easy-to-use BMI calculator.) A normal BMI is 18.5 to 24.9; overweight: 25 to 29.9; obese: 30 and above. The internist and gynecologist reassure me: &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have a small build, so of course you weigh more!&amp;quot;  A visit with my internist, Frederick Ast, M.D., is even more reassuring. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t have a small build, so of course you&amp;#039;re going to weigh a little more,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;It doesn&amp;#039;t mean you&amp;#039;re unhealthy.&amp;quot; My gynecologist, Shannon Hudson, M.D., concurs.   The Personal Trainer Finally, I visit Alex Zimmerman, a personal trainer at Equinox Fitness, in New York City. &amp;quot;The term &amp;#039;healthy weight&amp;#039; carries no weight for me,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;I think the word &amp;#039;weight&amp;#039; stinks!&amp;quot;  I beam. &amp;quot;Me, too!&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;People think that if they put themselves into a calorie deficit they&amp;#039;ll lose weight. But that&amp;#039;s not true. You have to factor in hormones and metabolism. You could come here and gain weight on the scale and be much healthier.&amp;quot; Like Dr. Suprun, he believes that body fat percentage is more significant than BMI. He pulls out some calipers and pinches my thighs, triceps, abdomen, chest and underarm. I have 103 pounds of lean mass and 34.6 pounds of fat mass -- 25.1 percent of which is body fat. This is higher than Dr. Suprun&amp;#039;s assessment, but still within the healthy range.  Then Alex asks questions about my exercise and eating habits, and my stress levels. He also weighs me. I am 138 glorious pounds, with a 28.5-inch waist. Next, he performs a &amp;quot;body age&amp;quot; test, which gauges my body age compared to my chronological age. I do push-ups and sit-ups and lift weights. According to the computer, I have the body age of a 34-year-old -- three years younger than my chronological age.  &amp;quot;I knew it!&amp;quot; I shriek, vindicated. &amp;quot;I am in good shape!&amp;quot;  Alex shrugs. &amp;quot;That depends. You&amp;#039;re in line with average, but I wouldn&amp;#039;t call average &amp;#039;fit.&amp;#039; Technically, you could have the body of an 18-year old,&amp;quot; he says, pointing to the computer printout where it says in big, bold letters: Obtainable Body Age: 18.  That sounds ridiculous to me, yet another attempt by our youth-obsessed culture to turn back the clock. Alex devises an exercise program that he says will help me burn fat by working out for shorter periods at extremely high heart-rate levels. In the end, I consider everyone&amp;#039;s opinion to help me answer the question, Am I a healthy weight? My conclusion is that you really can&amp;#039;t rely on the scale to assess whether you&amp;#039;re a healthy weight -- especially when there are so many other, more reliable tools we can use to answer that. (Thank goodness, because I still hate scales.)  I also now know that my health will benefit from losing seven pounds. To try to lose the weight, I&amp;#039;ve made some changes, most notably cutting back on sweets and trying to exercise four to five times a week instead of three.  I also learned this: that friends, family and people at the Laundromat may tell you what you want to hear. But it&amp;#039;s the weight specialists who tell you what you need to hear about getting on track for a healthy weight. 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<http://www.redbookmag.com/body/health-fitness/advice/a15/really-weigh-yl/>