Q. I'm obsessing over my body fat percentage. How do you recommend managing this from a Traditional Korean Medicine perspective?

Many people fall into the trap of chasing numbers, which often leads to unnecessary stress and dizziness when the scale doesn't move. While tracking metrics provides clear goals and motivation, focusing exclusively on them can cause you to miss the real signals your body is sending. Forcing your body to meet a specific number can deplete your vital energy (Qi) and disrupt your overall metabolism. In Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), we prioritize the 'flow of energy' over simple weights or percentages. For instance, if you feel heavy or experience significant swelling, it is often viewed as 'Dam-eum' (痰飮), a state where metabolic waste and fluids have stagnated. Similarly, 'Eo-hyeol' (瘀血), or blood stasis, can make the body feel heavy regardless of the body fat percentage. If you have 'Bi-heo' (脾虛), or a deficiency in the Spleen/Digestive system, your body may become a constitution that resists weight loss even with restricted caloric intake. The key is finding a 'balance tailored to your specific condition.' Use tools like InBody for reference, but trust your reflection in the mirror and your energy levels upon waking. When you treat the internal environment of your body first, the numbers will naturally follow. We can work together to identify where your energy is blocked and restore balance.