Thursday, July 12, 2007

Another Milestone...

Someone asked me if I'd checked my Body Mass Index (BMI) with my weight loss. I'd tracked it before, but hadn't calculated it recently.

(Side note: BMI calculators can be found at both the CDC and the National Institutes of Health websites).

My BMI is currently 24.8. That is in the normal range. For the first time in my life, I am not overweight.

This is a weird feeling...

4 comments:

RW said...

A. You're fine.
B. Ignore - and I mean treat as a CEO would a copy of the communist manifesto - the BMI. Pretend it doesn't exist. It is crap. Pure, unadulterated crap.

Think I'm kidding?
Michael Jordan during his MVP years: 25.4
Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Olympia: 31.9
Mark Mcgwire when he hit 70 HR: 29.6
Peyton Manning: 27.3

All 'overweight' with the then-reigning Mr. Olympia (and the greatest body of all time) being 'obese'.

The BMI calcs assume that everyone is a Hollywood actor with zero muscle (which actually weighs something) and as such should be relegated to obscurity. The people with great BMIs are vegans, marathon runners and meth-addicts. IOW, the last people on earth that anyone would ever want to look like.

IMO, of course. :)

Jay G said...

Ricky,

Oh, I know. This is just the first time in my life that I have *ever* fallen into a "normal" category rather than "overweight".

I've got a large frame. If I go much lower than where I am now (weightwise) I'm going to look absolutely sickly. However, most charts put the average "ideal" weight for a 6' tall male somewhere between 140 and 180 pounds.

Next time I head up into the attic I'm grabbing a pair of my size 44 waist pants and taking a picture... ;)

Anonymous said...

Congrats! Yeah, the BMI is crap, but it's fun when you've been working toward a goal and you get to a point where you accomplish it. Yay!

Personally, I don't weigh myself. I go by how my clothes fit. Since I don't want to go shopping for new ones - it gives me incentive to watch what I'm doing. ;-)

OTOH - I have calculated my BMI in the past - I tend to fall around 22 or 23 depending. I don't do scales because I tend to fixate. It's better if I just leave them alone. *grin*

Anonymous said...

Small correction:

The CURRENT BMI is crap. The original BMI -which took into account gender, frame size (and even made allowances for amputees) was a pretty good system, as told to me by a few nurses who had used it.

The current BMI (using only "height" and "weight") is crap. The new version is so prevalent, I have yet to find the "original" BMI system.


And of course, I blame the libs: the US abandoned the original BMI system when we adopted the international (World Health Organization) standard in 1998. Figures.